TheBanyanTree: My Father

[Tom Smith]

My father had many roles in his hour upon the stage.  In
high school he was on the boxing and gymnastics teams and
earned perfect report cards. He admired teachers and was an
enthusiastic student.  After graduating he signed up with the
CCC and fought forest fires.   Old letters and a diary tell 
these stories with his own young voice.

When WWII broke out he enlisted in the Navy and was trained as
a technician in the then-new field of radar.  At age 22 he was
promoted to Chief and was aboard the USS Franklin during an
attack that killed 800 of her crew and made this ship the most
heavily damaged aircraft carrier to survive the war.

He supported his family in civilian life after the war as an
electrical engineer, and later taught electronics and radar to
sailors.  He told me that of all the kinds of work he had done,
teaching was the most fulfilling and enjoyed.

He was an avid photographer and put on family slide shows.  He
created his own darkroom and I remember his miracle-sharing
excitement as an image appeared on submerged paper. His
photographs of Japan before and during the Korean War reveal an
ability to see spirit.
     
Vital pursuits that I have enjoyed as their own reward were
introduced to me by him.  Music lessons at an early age
resulted later in my violin bow moving in synch with others in
the high school orchestra.  When he rounded me up to go to a
library, the emotional energy was that of a treasure hunt. 
Books have enabled me to live lives beyond my own, in places
without boundary. I discovered time could be halted with the
camera he gave me.  Christmas 1958 he gave me a new 5-yr diary
with a lock and promised time would add value to what I wrote.
   
Things he said had powerful influence. As an 8-yr old, I
believed and acted on his emphatic declaration: "You don't have
to take crap from ANYBODY."  I've been more inclined to sing to
my own son "Know when to hold'em, know when to fold'em." 
Experience has all too often validated his warning: "You will
have plenty of time to regret a move made in haste."  When he
was a grandfather I asked what he had wanted to attain in life,
and he said "Wisdom."

Now, a weathered shoulder-width bronze rectangle states his
name, the first and last days of his life, and "U.S. Navy
WWII."  The marker represents so little of him that I feel
foolish there.   Remembering is the best visit.  Thank you, Dad.

image at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9482738@N07/7383025412