MY HERO
Allow me to introduce you to my Hero.
His name is Gene and he is my Father.My Father
worked very hard all of his life to assure that we had all that we needed.
He also made sure that his family came first in his life. In doing so he
without even realizing it, made us the luckiest family in the world. The
memories that we all hold so dear are those that revolve around all the
family activities that were at the time common place and nothing more than
routine. His wounderful skill of making the routine special, has given
us a lifetime of wounderful memories.
His faith in our Father in Heaven and our church
was like a rock.He was always a pillar to us when we were weak. He was
always there to help steady our faith with his.In 1976 when he was diagnosed
with cancer we were all devistated. Little did we know, that this would
be the begining of intense suffering. After surgery and several years of
treatment he made a list of things he needed to do,each item on his list
was something he felt he needed to do to make things eaiser for all of
us. Each time he finished one of his projects he would cross that item
off his list.The further down his list he got the worse the pain got for
him. When someone mentioned how unfair it was for him to suffer, he would
remind us of the story of Job, and how he suffered and that his pain was
nothing compaired to that of Job. Several of the things on his list were
to write a letter to each of us kids. These letters will always be treasures
to us all. Another item on his list was to wait until the birth of my child.
This picture will always be special to us because it was one of the last
ones taken.
Along with his strong faith and his love of his
family was his devotion to The Boy Scouts Of America. He had a very strong
belief that if a boys father was unable to spend time with his son it was
my father's duty and calling in life to do so. Many times a child approched
our doorstep and asked if "Gene could come out and play". One family of
boy's from our street that spent there spare time at our house,after more
than half the summer sat down for dinner and their father asked if they
could please have one meal without Gene. It was this strong dedication
to children that led him to become a leader in the scouting program for
more than 15 years, always incorprating scout activities with family activities.The
boy's would spend months in our backyard and garage working on projects.
The most popular was the annual Colorado River kayak trip. The boy's under
the guidance of the leaders would build their oun boats from cutting out
the patterns and pieces to complete assembly of the boats. While working
on the boats they learned teamwork, the importance of following instructions
and that every job well done has a reward. The reward was a week long trip
floating down the Colorado River. This gave the boys a lifetime worth of
memories and lessons that are as important today as they were then.Hunderds
of boys were helped by my Father and today hold a special place in their
hearts. So strong was his love for the scouting program that it was his
request that in leiu of flowers at his funeral donations be made to The
Boy Scouts. All of this is why he is my Hero and that this is the type
of person that movies are made of.
My Dad And I 
Be Sure To Check Out All My Link's And Sign My
Guest Book.
To Return To My Main Page.
Background music credits, Daddy's Hands performed
by Holly Dunn, Written by Holly Dunn, EMI Blackwood Music Inc. Warner Bros.
Records Inc.
