Happy Father's Day

Every year Father’s Day comes around and since November 15, 2006 its been a day that brings back soooo many memories.  This year, rather than say, “Miss you Dad.” I thought I would reminisce a bit, thinking back through our glorious memories, cause my Dad, just like your Dad, was really, really special.

•  My very earliest memory of Dad is fishing along the banks of the Little Miami River in Warren County, Ohio.  Jim and I were playing chase and I managed to slip on a steep slope and fall into the river.  I was probably 4 or 5 years old.  My foot caught on a tree root as I fell in and kept me trapped under water.  I could clearly see, with my eyes open under water, Dad racing toward me, throwing his fishing pole away and grabbing me by my head to pull me up for a breath.

•  Dad was multitasked when it came to earning a living.  Among other things I have memories of going to an old barn he rented outside of Lebanon.  That is where he constructed custom built kitchen cabinets.  Back in those days the counter top of choice was Formica.  Brother Jim and I would go out and help spread the glue that adhered the Formica to the counter top.  I still remember the smell of that glue.

•  Both Mom and Dad were from farming families.  We would go out to the Poff Family Farm in Red Lion, Ohio and Dad hunted rats in the corn cribs and barn.  Those poor rats never had a chance.

•  I remember moving to Florida in August 1957.  It was a 1954 Studebaker Station Wagon pulling a UHaul trailer with all our earthly goods.  Dad was the only driver in the family so cousin David came along to help with the driving.  We moved into a house outside of Pinellas Park that had a roof, windows and outside walls, but no interior walls.  He put blankets up around the stud work of the bathroom so we could have privacy. 

•  As we finished the house, we had to put insulation up in the roof.  It was that pink fiberglass stuff that itched like crazy when you got it on your skin.  The four of us would work on the insulation until late in the evening, then head out to Gandy Bridge to take a swim in the Bay and wash the itches away. 

• Then there was the day that he had the first of his heart attacks.  It was tough times for the family.  He was our rock and at the time the outlook was not good for him.  But he pulled through.

• There was the year, shortly after high school graduation when I wanted to join the Navy and at that time you had to have your ‘Father’s’ permission to join if you were under 21 years old.  Dad said “Absolutely not…no daughter of mine is joining the military!!”  Six months later I was so grateful he held his ground.

•   In 1979 the two of us took off for a 3-month trip to Alaska.  As close as we were as father and daughter, that trip was almost our undoing.  Dad was a pretty straight up male chauvinist traveling with his daughter who was pretty much women’s lib.  Oh the battles that were waged!!  Six months after our return I was still not talking to him.

• Hallsted reunions were held every odd numbered year and along with his brothers and sisters the entire gang would gather in West Virginia, or Kentucky or North Carolina or Ohio or Florida, etc., etc.  Early on there were volleyball games and baseball games and rafting, etc, etc.  Activities changed as the crowd grew older, but always and forever, he was in the middle of it all. 

 There are so many more memories, many more than I can put down in writing, but I’ll just leave it to say that he was our rock, he was always there, no matter what, and he will always be missed. 

Happy Father’s Day Pop!!