My first car was a 1968 Buick Skylark. My dad always wanted his girls to be able to do at least some things on our cars, like, change tires, check fluids, and do an oil change.

I got on that "dolly" thingy and rolled under the car with an oil drip pan. My dad said, "See that thing that looks like a bolt?" I said, "Yeah, I see it!" Dad said, "Ok you need to unscrew it." So, I did. Dad waited just a little while and then started say, "Make sure you get out of the way." He only got half the sentence out when I received a faceful of oil!!! My dad knew what had just happened as I proceeded to say, "Oh S**t!!" Dad was having a great "belly" laugh. I got the drip pan under where the oil was draining. "Ok, Dad, the oil stopped coming out!" Dad gets down and hands me the "special" wrench to take the oil filter off. He says, "You see that be white canister looking thing?" I said, "Yeah, I see it!". He replys, "Ok, put that wrench I just gave you around and unscrew the filter." Once again...................I bet you see this coming!!!!..........he starts to say, "Make sure you get out of the way." And, once again, he only got midway through the sentence; and, you guessed it....................Another faceful of oil. By this time, Dad was laughing so hard he almost couldn't catch his breath. You know, the kind of laugh that makes your face and belly hurt and makes tears come out of your eyes.

At the time, I didn't find it especially funny. Once I grew up, I thought back on that story and it, still to this day, makes me laugh!!!!

I love you, Daddy. Thank you for taking the time out to make sure your girls could do "some" guy things!     

I can remember the first time my Dad took me fishing.  He took me to a creek behind my grandparents' (his parents) house in a town called Dunellen located inNew Jersey.

I could see a whole bunch of fish swimming through and around a bunch of wooden pallets in the water. I cast my line there. The fish scattered and all I caught was the pallet! Dad chuckled and cut my line. He put another hook and worm on for me. And, guess what?  Yup, you guessed it.............I cast into the very same place.  Dad chuckled again, but explained to me while he put yet another hook and worm on for me, that I couldn't put my line there. I needed to cast away from the pallets.

I cast my line away from the pallets. The water was so clear, I could see the line, hook, worm and fish. I caught a sunny. This being my first time fishing, I knew absolutely nothing about it. I certainly did not know that sunnies have spines on their top fins and there is a "special" way to get them off the hook. I grabbed the fish and............OUCH!!!  I got a palm full of spines. That was my first lesson in how NOT to take a hook out of a sunny!

There are many memories and stories I have about my Daddy. I want to share these with my children and grandchildren so that they will learn more who you are and be able to have a "sense" of memory of him.


Anyone who has any stories or memories, please feel free to add them here.