TheBanyanTree: My Father

[Roger]

A lovely remembrance, Tom - thank you!

Roger

On Sun, Jun 17, 2012 at 11:03 AM, Tom Smith <deserthiker2000 at yahoo.com>wrote:

> 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
>
>