![[Nate Dodge]](ned.jpg)
Nathan Edward Dodge, my father, was born October 20, 1914, in West Exeter, New York, and died January 22, 1982, in Dubuque, Iowa.
Imagine an average looking boy. A handsome young man. A gaunt soldier. A muscular sprinter. A glasses- and cardigan-wearing man with a Santa-like twinkle in his eye. My dad was all of these.
Son of a Methodist minister and a Canadian farmer's daughter who met picking hops, Nate was an athlete, beloved brother (and uncle, husband, father, and grandfather), World War II combat veteran, science teacher, rock hound, flower presser, wrestling coach, peacemaker, gardener, nap-taker, liverwurst sandwich eater, iced-tea drinker, cribbage player, ride giver, whistler, long hauler, quiet mantainer of things needing to be maintained.
As a schoolboy basketball player Nate "could dribble faster than his amazed opponents could run" (according to a now-yellowed newspaper clipping). As an adult he was friend alike to old ladies and troubled youth.
His name lives on in a grandson, Nathan Daley Dodge, but his influence lives more widely in those of us he gently nurtured and encouraged.
In this Dodge family photo , my grandparents Wilbur and Kitty stand beside their nine children. That's Nate, my dad, fourth from the right. The picture looks to have been taken circa 1923-24.
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