TELL ABOUT YOUR FATHER-

PERSONALITY, CHARACTERISTICS, STATURE, COLORING, TALENTS, TEMPERAMENT, FAMILY STORIES ETC.


He is 5’11”, and handsome to a fault. He is a handsomely crafted man—in his early manhood—before he started putting on the inevitable weight; he was not too big and not scrawny. Brown eyes, dark, soft, curly hair and white skin which tanned handsomely. Mom would cut his hair and I would clean it up afterward-so I know his hair was soft. I never touched it on his head-that would be gross-I was his daughter.

He loved the outdoors, hunting, fishing, camping, anything to do with them. He had a natural man interest in everything. He liked anything to do with Indian lore and crafts. He ran around in the summer months-at home both inside and out-with just his pants (long-never shorts) and thongs. He was always bare naked from the waist up. You could see the scars from when his spleen was removed, 2/3 of his liver and the much smaller scars from the drain tubes (a hunting accident in Kentucky). The big horn sheep head tattoo with MONT. under it on his upper right shoulder was always visible. I think it was a leftover from being in the Navy.

He was such a natural man that when we would go to Jungleland in Thousand Oaks he'd stand in front of the chimpanzee cage (it was fairly small) and make noises and actions and get the chimpanzee all riled up. That animal would get his cage rocking back and forth.

His talents lie in thinking he could do anything and everything. He could read well enough, but wasn’t interested in being well-read (the great works of literature were not on his list, but rather a magazine called Sports Afield). He dropped out of school when he was in the 11th grade to join the Navy. Oh, it wasn’t for the sake of patriotism during the Korean War. It was because he had a physical altercation with his adopted father and the choice was either join the service or go to jail. He chose the service. He was later honorably discharged (barely—he’d been caught once too many times smoking while on duty during the Korean War and on deck where his glowing embers could give away their position).

When he felt I hadn’t taken very seriously my responsibility of feeding and watering the dogs and cleaning up their poop then it was time I read a magazine article from the perspective of a hunting dog and how he thirsts and is so faithful to his owner who sends him hither and yawn while the owner walks comfortably with protection on his own feet and drinking deep from his canteen and not sharing with his faithful companion.

If mom complained to dad about how we misbehaved during the day, he would get us up at 10:00 at night and yell at us and then beat us with a belt—his famous, “Over the end of the couch,” was a well-feared command. If you cried while he was whipping you, he whipped you longer and harder. If you made no sound—it was short and over quickly. If mom complained about our younger siblings misbehaving, it was still Bob and I that were gotten up at 10:00 at night and told, “Over the end of the couch,” as we were responsible to watch them and if we weren’t doing our job—we got their punishment. Yes, mom was a stay at home mom but she couldn't be expected to watch the young ones that closely.

Thanks to dad's game gaining prowess we ate fish (fresh and marine), squirrel, raccoon, opossum, rabbit, deer, wild goat and even rattlesnake (I didn't like that last one most of all). He also gardened. What I liked best from the garden was green beans and artichokes. He planted the artichokes as a border to the garden. I loved harvest-even though I hated cleaning them and trying to get all the earwigs out.