My dad was a first-generation Italian American and very handsome. He worked at the Water & Gas Dept from before he was married until he died (one month before his retirement). He started out digging ditches and worked himself up to a repair tech. He was a very handy guy and could fix most anything.
He loved tinkering with electronics, CB radios, old TVs, etc. He loaded his own bullets. I remember helping him at his basement workbench. He loved airplanes. He had his pilot’s license and had his own plane for a while. He made countless airplane models, many with engines that he would fly. He had one that was huge. It had pontoons on it and he would fly it at the cabin landing it in the lake. He loved the cabin. His dad built it in the 40s when he was a kid. He would have lived there if he could have. We spent every summer weekend there plus his two-week vacation. He loved deer hunting, mostly for the week he spent by himself at the cabin!
He loved his four daughters but I know he would have loved to have had a son. When my son was born, he came to the hospital all smiles and said to me - Good job! He loved his grandkids fiercely. He would do anything for them and loved having them around.
He could also be crabby! When my sisters and I were kids, we’d ask my mom first if we could do something. But she always said, you have to ask your dad. Oh, how we hated that. His first inclination was to yell or swear (his favorite was JC) and say no. Bu he usually came around after some begging.
Sadly, he was only 54 when he died of a sudden heart attack. It probably could have been prevented. He was one of those guys that would not go to the doctor - ever. His dad died at the cabin when he was only 58. My dad always said that he wouldn’t live much past 50.
He’s been gone 29 years and I still think about him every day. He would have loved the new crop of great-grandkids.
Happy Father’s Day Daddy 