FASHION PLATE...NOT!

This picture show my dad with my son, Jimmy.
No one can accuse my father of ever being on the "best dressed" list. He has a style all his own. He is a jokester, loves teasing, and can tell a good story.

One time when I was visiting my parents, my mom announced we were going out to dinner and told my dad to go change into some decent clothes (he was in his casual hanging-around-home duds). He sauntered off to the bedroom and a few minutes later emerged wearing a t-shirt with a partially clad woman pictured on the front. My mom took one look and announced, "Harold, I said to get on some decent clothes! I am not going out with you wearing that!" I just had to laugh because I knew my dad did that on purpose to get a rise out of my mom. With a big grin on his face he replied, "This is clean. I just got it out of the closet." My mom nudged him down the hallway to change again!

As I said, my dad loves to tease.

And my father is one of the brightest people I know. He has no college degrees but can carry on intelligent conversations about so many subjects that it always amazes me. He is also very talented! For years he has built many very detailed radio control model airplanes. I was always amazed at how he could cut out all those pieces of balsa wood and put them all together to look just like an airplane or jet. The stunts he would do with them had me awestruck as well.

He was the first in our family to get a computer and learn all about the Internet when it first came about. I was afraid to even turn on a computer then, but he would teach me things on his so that I eventually felt comfortable and got one of my own.

When I was a kid, he was the "go to" man in the neighborhood. He could repair just about anything. When a neighbors vehicle was having problems, they asked dad for help. Now, he did have a dislike for Volkswagen's (bad experience with owning a VW van for a very short time) and when the neighbor girls would ask him to fix their VW bugs, he would always tease them saying that the best thing they could do would be to take them to a junkyard. But he would help them.

One time a little neighbor girl, Cynthia Simpson, asked my dad what he ate for breakfast. He announced that he eats little girls for breakfast. She was very wary of him after that and would always ask "has your dad had his breakfast yet?"

He was a very handy man about the house as well. My 3 siblings and I have often turned to dad for help with just about everything--putting in flooring, replacing garbage disposals, repairing furniture--everything.

Whenever something happens here at my home now, the first thing I always think is, "I sure wish dad were here. He could fix this." In a way, my dad has always been my Superman.