Arrgghhh reading this again with my glasses on and on a much larger screen and the glasses are fogging up with good tears.
So yeah, my friend spilled the beans but any thought about this gesture, also a very foggy time, was interrupted by proverbial fires here and fires there and initial navigation and newness of being fatherless.
Mind. Blown. Truly. The fact that animals will benefit is fantastic and my dad would be tickled. He wouldn't want the attention but it is deserved, so thank you all from the depths of my broken heart.
If you're bored, stuck inside on a rainy day, have insomnia.... here's a bit of my dad's history (or skip towards the bottom for just one of many stories of his stealth shenanigans):
My dad's life was quite bumpy with learning the hard way as a kid that he was adopted (a "bastard" back in the day), had to navigate his doting adoptive dad dying when he was around 10, his mom gone most of the time working, a sister 15+ years older who hated him and left her toddler with my dad (in his early teens) to raise for many years.
Signed up to join the Army after high school with a few buddies and went to Europe (I'm not sure why there... Korean War related)... came back, married my mom, somehow bought a gas station/repair shop and started having kids. The 1-truck fire station was next door to the gas station so he managed that and volunteered for 25+ years.
Early 70's he and another guy started a plastic injection molding and tool & die company. I still remember the brands of the first 2 machines - the random shit my brain retains...
He went on to employ hundreds of people over the years who absolutely loved him. Quiet, unassuming (jeans & flannel shirt - one of which I'm wearing as I type this), approachable, gave people a few chances and earned loyalty he wasn't seeking.
Going through a divorce was miserable for all at the time but everyone knew it was best for he and my mom and the rest of us. All survived and thrived. His business grew, he traveled all over and occasionally lowlifes would dump their unwanted dogs and cats in the country and they'd find each other like whales in sonar and the critters would live long, envied lives. At one time, we had many horses while my parents were still married, no thanks to my sister and I. Our first was a mare shipped to Michigan from Mississippi. She had been severely abused by men and had the scars and fear to prove it. A week in with our family, my dad was her best friend. It's amazing watching people who have that animal magnetism. (We found a photo of him recently with a turkey on his lap and it wasn't his second wife.). Ha!
A few months into his stay at an assisted-living space, we agreed that he was too at-risk behind the wheel so we did "that" move (sold the car). Understandably, a huge change for him even though he always told us, when it's my time to move and/or stop driving - do what you have to do. Soon after, he wandered away one day. We estimate that he was gone anywhere between 12 & 24 hours. When he was found and taken to ER to be checked out, the ER doc asked, "So, Bill, what did you do today?" My dad's response, "I found a dog!!" (Search and rescue dog who found him prone, sunburned, dehydrated and 1/2 unconscious in a local marsh.) He LOVED his dogs and pets!
In spite of his upbringing and no formal education, he did well enough to retire fairly early. He built a log home, dug out a big pond, planted a bunch of trees and had nature at his back and front door nearly all the time. Grandkids, friends kids, random kids would show up and he'd let them fish. Cheese, corn kernels, pieces of hot dogs - were the best bait for bass and catfish. It was not an experience that taught kids patience because you'd toss your line in and instantly hook one. Whether at this sanctuary or in his room at the memory care facility - being with him was the blood pressure medicine you didn't know you were getting.
He was creative with his pranks and the best to my knowledge went something like this:
The city attorney - a large, gruff, chain-cigar smoking Italian lived across the street. They had a bunch of kids of all ages so the drive was always full of cars. When Hondas were first imported, this guy made sure he got the first one and that everyone knew. This was in the late 70's / early 80's - energy crisis times. Gord(on) - the attorney, bragged non-stop about his Honda's gas mileage and how much money he was saving. Soooooo.... my dad took it upon himself, in the dark of night, to top off his gas tank. He did this for I don't know how long... months at least. His gas mileage went from 30+/- mpg to about 100. My dad eventually slowed the complimentary top offs. Gord started taking the car to the local Honda service dept to figure out why the vast, inexplicable swings in mpg. They of course couldn't find anything wrong and sent him on his way. He made multiple angry and inconvenient trips out of his very busy day as "a very important attorney" to the service dept, would yell and scream at the service people when this couldn't be fixed and when my dad heard the abuse these guys were dealing with, he stopped the top-offs. Inconveniencing an egotistical, blowhard was a just another community service he quietly took upon himself for the greater good.
Thanks to everyone here, animals at Harbor Humane will benefit because of this guy. I don't know when I'll be back that way so I'll have one of my sisters go and take some photos.
Again, our sincerest most humble thanks.
p.
