JUNE 18TH--FATHER'S DAY--STRAWBERRY PIE

what do those three have in common, they represent alsmost every father's day I can remember. Let me tell you about my Dad. He was born on June 18th and he loved strawberry pie, so every father's day we would celebrate his birthday and my mom would bake a strawberry pie. I was always very close to my dad, being the oldest and being almost 13 years older than my brother. As kids, my sister Darlene was basically with Mom and I was with Dad.
I loved it. A kinder, gentler man I have never known. He and my Auntie Alma were two people I never heard a bad word from, never talked about other people (gossiping) and were always there to listen. They were the peacemakers in the family. I miss them both a whole lot. I remember the last time I saw my dad. It was Thanksgiving of 1982 and we had had dinner at our house on Shipman. It was customary in our family to give kisses when we said goodbye, but this one time not only did my dad give me a kiss, he added a hug for good measure and said "it was the best thanksgiving ever" the following Tuesday my mom called me in the morning and said she couldn't wake dad up. If ever a person was ready to meet the Lord, I believe it was my dad. He hated arguing with my mom, and one funny story I remember was when we lived on 8th and Center and mom was mad about something and was yelling, and dad was saying now, Minnie, let's just talk thisover quietly, all the while shutting windows, so the neighbors wouldnt hear my mom, and she right behind him throwing them open saying she didn't care what the neighbors thought. Another time, he was tr ying to pacify my mom (in case you wondered she was the outs poken one) It was my sister's birthday and mom had baked a cake and my dad
picked it up saying something about helping her and wouldn't you know it, dropped it on the floor. We scooped it up, served it in a bowl witth ice cream and called it "dropcake"

On a light note, I remember one Father's day when we all went to Pomona to celebrate the dual occasion and Chip and my brother Bob were on a softball team, so after dinner, before pie we all went to the ball field for the game, then back to mom and dads for pie./ Jeff and Emery were just teeny babies. Dawn left Jeff with me while she ran to the store for Diapers. Of course the moment she left Jeff started screaming, he was hungry. Nothing would appease him and I certainly was not equipped to feed him After about 15 minutes of this, Allyn said Oh for crying out loud give hime to me. I did she promptlylet him share emery's dinner. When Dawn returned to a quiet sleeping child I told her what happened, not knowing exactly what her reaction would be, only to relax when she said I will just say in his baby book that Jeff had dinner out that night.

Go in peace, and HAPPY FATHER'S DAY