Dad

I've known it was going to happen sooner rather than later, but I still haven't been able to take in the news yet.

Just before 8:00 AM this morning my Father passed on. He was 89 years old. Two days ago he had a massive heart attack that put him back in the hospital, so I knew it was likely his time was real short. He had had like 5 minor attacks over the last few years, but they were so mild that they were only diagnosed through treating some other problem.

Dad's parents came over from England just before the turn of the century (1900) and settled in Northern California. His Dad was a carpenter who built a large part of the town of Fortuna California and had the misfortune to step on a nail and get tetanus when my Dad was five. The vaccine was newly discovered, but had to be brought up from San Francisco and it just took to long.

He grew up as the baby of the family through the Depression with a single mother, two brothers and three sisters.

He and one of his brothers ran a radio repair shop for a while, then he went to college. He never finished due to WWII, enlisting in the Army Air Corp as a radioman and served in the Pacific.

After the war, he sent to work in the aero-space industry, working for McDonnell Douglas, JPL, Space General/Aerojet General, and Hughes. His work was always "classified", so I never knew what he specifically did. I knew he had worked on a early seeker torpedo, so I just assumed he was involved with radar and guidance.

Every year he would "disappear" for two weeks to do testing up at Vandenburg. We didn't "know" he where he was and had to call his office to leave a message to have him call us back if we needed him. Course when he brought back pictures of the fields of wild flowers blooming we could guess where he a gone.

My Dad's finger prints are on the moon. Some component that went into the lander was worked on by his team, and just before it absolutely had to be shipped they found out something hadn't been plugged in properly, so they told him to go into the clean room and open it up and re-hook it, no gloves, no bunny suit, just get it done. I guess it worked OK.

He was always there for us, providing what we needed, and giving us more than we probably deserved. The only time you couldn't find him was Sundays. My Mom, brother and I are night people and never got up before 10-11 AM, Dad was long gone. He would take MY dog, Tori, get in his '59 VW bug and hit the road. It was just his time for himself.

I'll miss him so much. I just thank God I was able to see him two months ago and tell him I loved him.