Any man can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a DAD!!

Time out for a hug at a rest area in Silver Dollar City on our last vacation together. We rode the rides, got wet on some of them. When I said last vacation, I simply mean, before they went off to college and eventually got married. A time when they were still our "little" boys.
Summer of 1971, Dad with his boys at Eldorado Lake. It was a "Young" family camping trip with Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Burt's family and us. We had a tent city, and always enjoyed the time together, that is, until it started to rain. It seemed to always rain on us. It would not rain for weeks, then let the family put up the tents, and here comes the rain. We were magnets for the storms. This was Mark's first summer at this type of adventure. It looks like Tim and Daddy were in a very important discussion. Tim probably wanted to go lakeside and fish. The other man in the picture is Gary's brother Bill (Burt).

Yep, you guessed it, in the recliner with full control of the remote. After a hard days work you would find him there, sometimes asleep with Skippy and LT. Skippy would sleep on the top of the back of the chair, and LT in his lap. Later the pets were replaced by sweet little munchkins who joined us.

One of his passions was playing golf. He always said that you needed dress sharp and look the part you played. That way no one would ever know if you played the game well or not. His only request on Father's Day was that his boys play a round with him. Being the age that Mark was, he rebelled about that, but always went, and always had a good time. Gary said that Mark was a natural at the game, his center of gravity was low and that gave him the advantage of playing well.

Wonderful pictures tell the story of a gentle man who was a wonderful father, and memories of Father's Days past. In later years, he always fired up the grill and cooked steaks, chicken, and shrimp on Father's Day. According to Valleri, her "Papa cooked the best chicken she ever ate. " She was his sidekick at the grill. I am sure those who were present at those Father's Day cookouts remember the RED apron he wore. Looked good, because he always wore shorts and his legs were always hanging out. What fun we had!!