Happy Birthday

About 4 years old

April 29 is a special day for me each year, this year especially so.  April 29, 1920 was the day Theodore Gibson Hallsted was born.  In my book, he was an incredibly special man….my Pop.  Every year for the past 13 years I have paused on this date, remembering him with so much love and adoration, this year for his birthday even more so.

I could of course share a boat load of memories, but what I enjoy the most are the stories that enveloped him over the years….because in so many ways he was remarkable.  Here are a couple of my favorites.

Pop was an avid outdoorsman, a hunter and fisherman.  One favorite story was told by an uncle….they were out rabbit hunting one winter day.  Rabbit, back in the day, was a staple on our dinner table.  From a good ways across an open corn field Pop spied a dark spot along a fence row.  He pointed it out to my uncle and remarked that a rabbit was hiding in the hole.  My uncle could only see the dark spot.  Slowly Dad walked toward it, crouched down, reached in a pulled a rabbit out by the ears.  For whatever reason that bunny was spared its life that day, but my uncle remembered the story his entire life.   

High School Graduation

My Mom comes from a family of 14….8 girls, 6 boys (12 survived to adulthood).  The youngest son was a young teenager when Mom and Dad married.  Both Mom and Dad grew up on farms and were of course very familiar with farm life.  One of Dad’s favorite stories involved Mom’s youngest brother.  

Whatever they were doing that day out at the Poff family farm, I’m pretty sure the original plan didn’t include this adventure.  Everyone knew the barn was filled with rats and that anytime a human entered the barn the rats scattered out the drain pipes into the surrounding fields.  Whatever possessed Pop to pull this one we will never know, but…..he convinced his young brother-in-law to grab a seed sack and hold it over the open end of the drain pipe as Pop entered the barn.  Within seconds the bag was filled with screaming rats and brother-in-law had more than he could handle.  He was running across the field with the bag full of rats flying above his head.  He eventually flung it out into the field with the bag and rats flying in every direction.  I don’t think he ever forgave Dad that one.

Another outcome of living your entire life on a farm is becoming a ‘jack-of-all-trades’.  Dad could fix anything….you name it, he could fix it.  As a result, during WWII as the male population of Warren County, Ohio depleted due to the draft, there were fewer and fewer men who could fix farm equipment.  This was a big deal as farmers depended on men like Dad.  Dad had a reputation in the county as being very good at farm machinery repair and fair in price. So, as time passed and his number came up in the draft farmers organized in the county and went to the Daft Board to plead their case for Pop not to be drafted….it worked, multiple times. 

Marine Corp

Eventually, of course, the Army did get him.  But on his way to Basic Training a Marine Recruiter came through the train looking for 3 volunteers to switch to the Marines.  No one stepped forward.  A short time later he came through again and called out 3 names, Hallsted being one of them.  Might have been a good thing; Pop never left Parris Island when the Marines found out how good he was at fixing machinery.  They were also short good repair men for the same reason.  It helped that Pop was finally drafted near the end of the war.  

Dad fishing in Alaska

So….April 29 brings back all my memories and so many stories of this remarkable man.  I think of him so often and am so grateful that he was MY Dad.  

Happy 100^th Birthday Pop!!