My father reveled in being the smartest person in the room and was always challenging everybody's intellect. His gift for sarcasm was legendary. He loved to challenge friends and family to a game of pool and or a battle of wits. Everybody always came away from a conversation with him feeling a little more informed. He was a brilliant man who loved to gather facts and information.
My father was a member of the greatest generation. His parents were immigrants from Slovenia who settled in a coal mining town in Pennsylvania. They had a chicken coop and grew their food in a garden, not because it was organic, but because they had to eat during the Depression. After graduating Valedictorian of his high school class, he worked one day in the coal mines along side his father and brother. Deciding that the coal mines were not for him, he joined the Army. He served in the South Pacific during World War II and rose to the ranks of Staff Sargent.
After returning from the war, he went to Pitt University on the GI Bill and studied chemical engineering. He married my mother, and settled in Cleveland.
My father taught me the most important lesson in life. The things worth having do not come easy. I miss my father's humor, insight and intelligence every day. I hope I carry a little of that with me, and I can only hope he is looking down proudly from Heaven.
I love you Dad. I know the angels are playing a polka for you in heaven. Happy Father's Day.
