Day 105

Today is Father's Day - 

So I thought I would share a little bit about my father. He was born in January, 1924. Here he is with his mother and older brother, Lyle. 
Lyle drowned when he was around 12 or 13 - so I never knew him.
One of the things I inherited from my father was his brow (it's kinda big). I don't have a picture here, but there is a 'famous Watson scowl' that my dad had and I can do a pretty good imitation too. 

Dad, Lyle, and his younger sister lived on a farm in Rutland, Iowa and attended a country school. Here's Dad is with his whole school. He is front, center, and closest to the camera. His brother, Lyle is the tall, dark haired boy on the other side of the pole.
When Dad was a freshman or sophmore in high school he contracted rheumatic fever and missed a whole year of school (this is before antibiotics and he was VERY sick). It affected his heart and we always needed to be very careful if any of us got strep throat or other infections for the rest of his life. 

He served in the army during World War II. He and my mom got married in Riverside, California on June 20th, 1944. I always wondered if they met down there or in San Francisco. Well, this picture is of the flats in San Francisco where my mom lived and the date on the back says, "April 15th, 1944". So I guess that answers my question.
He had three sons, my older brothers, Michael, Steven, & Peter. After he was discharged, he lived part of the time in San Francisco and part of the time on the farm in Iowa.  

With the milking machine

  Once my grandfather retired, my dad took over the farm. 
It was hard work and he kept with it until 1959. Then he felt that he could no longer make a living doing that so he moved all of us out to San Fran-cisco. He got a job working as a garbage man in San Francisco with the help of his brother-in-law. Later he worked at Safeway stores as a checker. I think he enjoyed that, but at night he took mail order courses and got a degree in accounting. With that degree, he got a job with the State of California as an auditor. His love of numbers and anything mathematical is another thing that I inherited from him. 

Dad holding me

Dad holding Jason

I'm assuming this is after he started work for the state
because he's wearing a suit. My mom worked for the state too.

Mom & Dad were married for 38 years before we lost her. Dad had a pretty tough time and attended lots of grief workshops where he met Rita. Within the year they were married - July 20, 1984

Rita has 10 children and so that meant lots of step brothers and sisters. But another thing I inherited from dad is my short-ness. He's pretty short too. And Rita was pretty tall and her kids were all taller than her. So at family gatherings, you could always tell which people were Watsons and which were Wards. 
In March of 1998, Rita called me in Rome, NY and said I needed to come home. I flew out the next morning and drove from San Francisco to Sacramento where he was in the hospital. All 3 of my brothers came too - from Minnesota, Oregon, and the San Francisco bay area. All of us spent the day in the hospital with him. He was not responsive, although his eyes were open, but we were all together. That night when we left, we all said good night to him, hugged and kissed him and left. And early the next morning I got a call in the hotel room that he was gone. I am very grateful that I got to spend that last day with him. 
So what do I remember about my dad? You know, he wasn't a very huggy, feel-ey person. But I knew that he cared about me, about all of us. He worked very hard to provide for us - and he showed his love for us in the way he provided for us and cared for us. He washed dishes, he did laundry, he even sewed a costume for me one time (I needed a sheik costume and he came through on that).
He loved coffee - drank coffee all the time - which is another thing I inherited from him. When I was an adult I would go visit him and Rita. Dad and I would sit at the kitchen table and drink tons of coffee. We both liked it black with no cream or sugar. 
And my dad could talk to anyone. It was just an assumption that whenever we stopped for gas he would get out and talk to the guy pumping the gas. (Yes - this was way before self-serve stations). 
Plus, he could sit straight up and fall asleep anywhere. And if we got up to change the channel on the tv he would wake up and tell us he was watching that show. Thanks to him I can now fall asleep sitting up too - but if you wanted to change the channel I wouldn't care. 
So switching to today...... I went to church and Pastor Mark had a very good sermon on fathers and absent fathers. At the end of the service he invited all fathers, grandfathers, etc. to come forward and share in a prayer asking for help to be the fathers that God has intended for them to be. It was an excellent message. 

I sat in the balcony this morning.

 And finally - Wade sent me a picture of his goodie shelves. He is having a hard time eating the food that is prepared for him, but he does have snacks and goodies to fall back on if needed. 

This office is a pretty popular place to visit and they are sharing the goodies with other people that come by too. This week I will be stocking up on Little Debbies to ship off to him.