Derby Trail Forums - ROI Results 1/28 @ Gulfstream

Quote:

Originally Posted by DonGuido (Post 1171747)

My dad went to work in his father's barbershop and later had his own shop, making enough to provide but not much more. He served in the Navy in WWII and the Korean War as the ships barber and was a "dfamage Control" team leader. He cut hair for just over 50 years, that's a lot of standing on your feet and talking and he loved to talk to his customers. He used to brag about my baseball playing years growing up to the point of annoyance I'm sure. After he quit, age 65, he moved from Endicott, NY to Clemson to be near us. I was happy thay he lived long enouhg to see me graduate from Clemson and go on to Rice University for my Masters. He passed away halfway through my second year at Rice, smoking all his life and cancer finally got him. My mother died when I was 10. Most importantly everyone that new Al the barber loved him. That in itself is special and something for me to be proud of.

I can't say that my Dad was a war hero, but I guess he did his part as all those planes and ships and tanks and trucks, etc. would have been useless without the oil and fuel that they ran on. Also my Dad contributed in another way to the military in that he had four sons and they all spent some time in the military; however only one was in a combat situation. One of my older brothers is a veteran of Korea. He served as a munitions specialist which means he loaded B-26s with 50 caliber machine gun rounds and with bombs. He also served another tour in Korea much later during the Pueblo Crisis.

I guess, it would be easy to overlook the sort of ordinary heroism of a parent. My Dad worked for 50 years in a dangerous dirty job. He was always out in whatever weather situation presented itself. Whether it was the burning heat of Summer in the South or the sometimes sub-freezing cold, rain or snow of the Winter, he was out in it and I know that he worked long hours. Drilling rigs go 24/7 for as long as it takes to either get a producing well or give it up as a "dry" hole. He was in charge of one shift on a rig. Not sure whether it was all that physically taxing as he was the guy that operated a pair of twin
diesel engines that were I guess about the same size as those in a locomotive.

In contrast to your Dad, mine didn't have much to be proud of on the educational side. Three of his four sons didn't graduate from High School including myself, but I later had the G.I. Bill courtesy of Uncle Sam so took a test for the GED and passed so I guess I must have gotten more than I thought out of my short stay in High School. Went to college and became the sole college graduate in my family, but on a more positive note, both my kids are college graduates and of course my daughter has a medical degree and all three of my grandchildren are on their way to a college education and probably post graduate too.