Happy Father's Day to all of you who meet the criteria of being a "dad." We hope it's a great day for you - one that's filled with the love and affection of your family. Both my husband's father and my own father are deceased, and I know we'll miss them lots on this special day. But we'll have a little Father's Day ceremony out by their trees which we planted in our memorial garden.
My dad's tree is alongside my mother's tree and the two will grow old together, just as my parents did during their 50 years as husband and wife. In honor of Father's Day, and in memory of all of our fathers both living and dead, I'd like to include a poem by Nina Wicker that sounds a whole lot like my own father.
I Remember Daddy
The look of his face
before he was old
The sound of his laugh
when a yarn was told
The blue of his eyes
when he winked with care
The crisp of the curl
when I combed his hair
The feel of his fingers
when I held his hand
The length of his steps
when I tracked him down
The long hours of labor
as he tilled the soil
The smell of his shirt
after a hard day's toil
The red of the melon
he thumped and sliced
The taste of the peach
he peeled and diced
The rhythm of his feet
to a fiddler's tune
His wild, wild tales
under a hot summer moon
The rustle of the paper
as he waited to eat
The many checker games
he allowed me to beat
I remember Daddy
and his psychology -
T'was Love of Life
instilled in me.
Besides my dad's big purple robe locus tree out in our memorial garden, we have two large, pink-colored Martha Washington geranium plants of his. He started them from little snips he cut off the old mother bush that was growing in his flower garden down in Southern California. That was the garden of my youth. Although we don't have the mild winters of Southern California here, we can still enjoy some of the color and flavor of the garden by keeping a few plants in the house in a sunny, south-facing window. They bring both beauty and joy to my heart. Even though my fathers been dead for many years now, my memories of him live on in his beautiful blooming geraniums.
Retirement: Our very best wishes for a wonderful retirement to three special ladies who have worked at Gardnerville Elementary School for a total of 81 years. Our big thanks to school nurse Gail McCormick, 23 years, teacher Linda Tobias, 26 years and speech therapist Mary Boykin, 32 years. And happy retirement to a really great English teacher from Carson Valley Middle School, my Fish Springs friend Kathie Hudson. We certainly appreciate their long-time dedication to our children.
-- Linda Monohan can be reached at 782-5802.
