Loss of my Daddy

January 21, 2015 my entire world crashed down on top of me. My Dad was not only an amazing dad but he was an amazing man. He was the next to youngest of seven children. He was born in 1928 just before the great depression. His parents did not have any money, his dad was a barber and his mother took in washing to help feed the family. Daddy always said we were poor but we didn't know it. He was a child of dyslexia long before they had any idea what that meant. He was labeled dumb and put to the back of the class. Bye the time daddy reached 8th grade his dad and mother had divorced and his mother was trying to take care of four boys on her own. My dad's dad was battling kidney caner at the time. So dad quit school to get a job and help keep food on the table. Dad and his family lived in Portsmouth when the 1937 flood hit. He use to tell us stories about that time. People back in those days just took what ever came at them and survived. They didn't spend time complaining or figuring out how to get out of work they went to work and made it happen. A few years after dad quit school he joined the CCC camp and left home for the very first time. All alone he traveled to Idaho where he and a bunch of other young boys helped clean up after forest fires. It was Idaho that my dad worked his way in to running the canteen and he went to night school and completed his education receiving his high school diploma from a High School in Idaho. Dad stayed in Idaho until the war broke out. He then at 18 joined the Merchant Marines. Dad was very good at steering the ship and he was offered a war time safe position of teaching others to steer the MM Ships. Dad didn't do that though instead he opted to sail all the way around the world risking his life to deliver ammunition and supplies to those fighting on land overseas. After the war dad came home and did several jobs, milk company, bakery, played music, and eventually met my mother got married and moved to Northern Ohio for work. After a winter up there they both decided that they wanted to come back to Portsmouth. Dad was working for the milk company when an opportunity rose for him to work as a radio deejay. He applied and was given the job and his life carrier was born. All of those things and a lot more I left out happened way before I was ever even thought of. After I was born Dad and Mom were playing music everywhere and Dad was doing his radio show and appearing everywhere. Doing a television show and a live show at the County Fair. What a fun life I had growing up. Later they started running bus tours and I was able to go all over this country and see all kinds of wonderful things thanks to my parents. Daddy loved entertaining, making people laugh and feel good was what he lived for and it wasn't just his listeners it was everyone. I think he successfully entertained people for the biggest part of his life. Daddy and I were very very close. I was the youngest of his children, his baby. I went on sale's calls with dad all the time and spent as much time at the radio station as possible. My senior year of high school I got out of school at 11:30 every day because I had a job. I didn't have to go to work until 6 pm in the evening so I headed to the radio station every chance I could to be with dad. Dad shared a love for animals with me and I spent a large amount of time with him outside with our dogs and cats. If dad was home I was usually wherever he was. I confided everything to him. He and I shared the love of story telling and writing and would often have contests on writing poems and such. As daddy became ill and started dealing with his Alzheimer's he would confide in me that he knew something was wrong and he leaned on me a lot. I'm so glad he did. The last years of daddy's life he couldn't see very well at all or hear and so it was really hard to communicate with him especially in his confusion. One thing was perfectly clear with daddy he never forgot any of us and any time we would walk in the room he would light up and smile that beautiful smile. My heart will never mend from this loss. I know he has peace and is in a better place than I can ever imagine but I know that he lives in my heart and my memories and there are times that's enough. There are other times though that I can't imagine not hearing him talk to me or tell me a silly story. I will miss you for the rest of my life. I love you daddy.