Someone to look up to
Everyone looks up to someone. We have all admired someone who is strong and encourages people, who is smart but knows a good joke, who loves life and life loves them back. There is one person who I have, and always look up to, who has all of these qualities.
This person who I look up to I have known for a very long time but didn’t realize how much he affected my life until later. When I was young, I saw the love and compassion he had for his family and others. He was hard working and always finished what he started with sincere diligence. He always had time for anyone and everyone, and if he didn’t have the time he made time. He loved to talk and tell stories, and everyone he spoke to loved to listen. He was someone who never met a stranger and was a friend to everyone he met. This man was my father.
He was raised in a small family, with his parents and two brothers. When he was growing up as a young man he tried his hand at many business ventures. He started a little newspaper when he was a young teenager. He gathered news in the community and had the 8 ½ x 11 sheets of paper printed and then he delivered it to his subscribers. He even sold subscriptions to pay for the printing. He continued to work hard and came up with new business ideas to help make a living when he went off to the University of Tennessee. In college, he started a dry cleaning delivery business. He was working with a dry cleaning business off campus and was doing so well with the business that the president of the college called him to his office. The president of UT asked him to not offer the dry cleaning delivery on campus because it was cutting into the profits of another business that was run by and alumni of UT. He told the president that this business was supporting him while he was in school and could not do that. But he did venture out to start a campus coupon book that had all the restaurants, clothing stores, and grocery stores coupons that students could use on campus.
It was a big hit on campus. However, he decided to take a break from college when he was a sophomore to serve in the United States Navy where he served for four years. He came back to graduate from college with a degree in Marketing.
He met the love of his life when he was thirty-one and married three months after they met. He was involved in the community and local politics trying to make a difference in the local town of Lawrenceburg where they lived. He was on the board to help get the first public health department built and an airport which helped bring in more jobs and industry. He bought his first house after he and his wife had their third child. It was a sweet little three-bedroom, one-bath home for their family. He continued to work hard and invested in newspapers and a printing business and watched them grow with his family by his side. Before he knew, years passed by and he had six children and another one on the way. He had to work long hours but he always made time for the most important people in his life...his family. The family he taught and encouraged to work hard, love and be compassionate to others, and always remember family comes first.
He is my Dad and he taught me so many great things about life. One of the most important things he taught me is staying positive because being negative will not get you anywhere. He encouraged compassion and empathetic toward others. He lived a long and prosperous life. He was 91 years old when he died on September 21, 2020. I remember everything like it was yesterday. His stories and memories will always live on.