As you know from yesterday's Poetry Sunday post, my father passed away last Friday night. Although we are grieving, I think that an important part of the process of accepting the loss of a loved one is remembering the high points of that person's life, and the good times that will serve as the legacy. Here are a few vignettes that will help introduce you to Bilbo the Elder ...
Dad was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1923. Like everyone else in his generation, he lived through the Great Depression and still managed to go to art school. He was a very talented sketch artist (more on that later), and this may have helped shape his military service during World War II, in which he was an aerial combat photographer ... when not manning a machine gun to defend his B-24 bomber, he was lying on the deck of the airplane, taking photos of their attacks to help assess their bombing accuracy. Dad won his Purple Heart during one mission in which their aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire while he was on the deck taking pictures ... the turret gunner above him panicked, thinking they'd have to bail out (they didn't), released his harness, and dropped to the deck below, landing with both feet on the back of Dad's head and knocking out his front teeth! Here's Dad as the manly young stud who took the war to the Nazis in the skies of World War II Germany ...
Coming home from the war, Dad worked in the art department at Kauffman's department store in Pittsburgh, taking their advertising photographs. It was there he met Mom, who delivered a package to his shop one day that included - among the official papers - a nickel and a note saying "Call me." He did, and the rest is history. Here's their wedding day ...
Dad was a very talented artist, and drew many wonderful pictures for us. He did one series of caricatures featuring various puns on the fearsome Tyrannosaurus Rex: Tierannosaurus Rex wore a garish tie with a glittering stickpin; Tiredrannosaurus Rex was napping against a tree; Tire-rannosaurus Rex had a huge Firestone body; and Tyrannosaurus Wrecks was painfully slamming at full speed into a tree. We were at a restaurant for dinner one time, and Dad - who hated waste - was eating everything the rest of us left on our plates. We laughed at that, and Dad whipped out a pen and drew a sketch on his napkin of a battered garbage can with a jaunty hat and a remarkable resemblance to him, walking away from the table with a satisfied burp.
I was stationed in what was then walled-in West Berlin in the early 1980's, and Dad visited me there. We had a genuine adventure when we were driving back to Berlin from a visit to my sons in Wiesbaden: there was only one route approved for American, British, and French personnel to drive into the city (the Helmstedt-Berlin Autobahn), and we had to check in with the Russian guards at each end. When we arrived at the Berlin checkpoint, a Russian military officer came out of the guardhouse and talked with me, trying to convince me to visit him in East Berlin since he wasn't allowed to travel to the West. Dad watched all this (the conversation was in German and Russian, neither of which he spoke), and when we left and arrived at the American checkpoint and I reported the contact to our security people, Dad offered to draw sketches of the Russian officer ... he turned out several very detailed front and profile pictures that helped to identify the man as a known Russian military intelligence officer. He was always proud of that story. Here's a picture of Dad in Berlin with my sons Jason and Matthew ...
As his children married, Dad became the patriarch of an ever-expanding clan. We tried to get together twice a year - at Memorial Day and at Thanksgiving - for family celebrations, and Dad was always a hit with the swelling number of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. In this 2007 blog post, I showed you two pictures that encompassed five generations of the family. Here's dad in 2011 with just a few of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren ...
More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
* "The pale, stale ale with the foam on the bottom."
Sending love and hugs your way Bilbo
ReplyDeleteThat was a fine tribute to your Dad. Bilbo. Hugs to your family during this sad time. Your Dad lived his life well; that should be celebrated.
ReplyDeleteWhat a handsome fella! It was great to read the real emotion in your post this morning. He really was a very multi-talented man, giving you lots of happy memories. God bless.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this with us, Bill.
ReplyDeleteMy deepest sympathy to you and your family.
Bill I'm so sorry for your loss.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great story and tribute to your father. I must admit the story of your mom sending your dad a nickel and that note really grabbed me. That was pretty aggressive of her in those days and I just love it! And growing up in Erie PA I sure know Kaufman's.
Is that a northern pike he is holding? :-)
Bilbo, I'm so sorry about your dad. He was a good man.
ReplyDeleteBilbo, I'm so sorry about your dad. He was a good man.
ReplyDeleteYour tribute to your dad was excellent! I'm sorry for his passing; he was a good one. My condolences to you all.
ReplyDeleteMy deepest sympathies, Bill. Thanks for the fine essay on your father.
ReplyDeleteI hate it when my allergies act up. It always seems to coincide with reading stories like yours. ::reaches for a tissue::
ReplyDeleteA wonderful post, Bilbo. I'm really glad to know more about your father. Those are great stories. I bet he was (is!) very proud of you and pleased with the man you became. Best wishes to your entire extended family.
ReplyDeleteGreat tribute to your dad.
ReplyDeleteThis was a wonderful tribute to your dad, Bilbo.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry for your loss. What a wonderful post this is in honour of your father.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry at the loss of your father. He must have been proud of you.
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