I originally published this post about Pap on Father’s Day back in 2008. I still feel the same way about him.
Pap
Pap is the best father a girl or boy could have and I’m so very thankful he’s the one my brothers and I were given.
Me and Pap
I’ve always been a Daddy’s Girl. On the few occasions Granny ask me not to tell Pap how much money she spent- I ran and told him before he could even get in the door.
Pap
Why I love my Daddy
My Daddy is wise
My Daddy is the hardest worker I’ve ever seen
My Daddy is the humblest man I’ve ever met
My Daddy is the kindest person I’ve ever known
My Daddy is strong on the outside & on the inside
where it matters most
My Daddy instills hope in me and all he speaks to
My Daddy delighted in his children & takes extra delight in his grandchildren
Pap, Me, and my 80’s hairstyle
I’m going to leave you with 3 random facts about my Silver Haired Daddy.
*I’ve never seen Pap in a pair of tennis shoes-only boots or loafers.
*Pap never spends any money on himself-his only splurge-guitar strings (in days gone by he bought tobacco but not in the last several years). He literally seems to need nothing other than the basic necessities of life.
*I remember one time begging and pleading with Pap to take me swimming after he got home from a hard days work. There was a pond down below our house-where all us kids learned to swim. Granny forbid us to swim without an adult-she couldn’t swim so it was never her. Pap had to go somewhere that night to sing-but I wouldn’t quit pestering him to go down the hill. Pap finally gave in and took his bath in the pond so I could swim before he left.
Happy Fathers Day to all the Father’s!
I hope you’ll leave a comment and tell me 3 random facts about your Daddy.
Tipper
My dad was a quiet man, and all it took was a look from him for me to straighten up and stop whatever it was I was doing that I shouldn’t have been. He worked 12 hours days most of his life, never ever once complained. We weren’t an affectionate family…it just wasn’t how we all grew up. But there wasn’t a single moment in my life that I worried about our safety or having to do without the things we needed.
He took care of our family of 8: my three older brothers, two of which were twins, my mom and me, and his parents (my grandparents) who taught him the value of hard work and sacrifice. We didn’t have much money. By most standards, we were poor, but we always had good, clean clothes and shoes, food from the two huge gardens he tilled and planted after he came in from work, and the fresh deer, squirrel and fish that he so loved to bring home for us.
He and mom had the same birthday, March 23, but he was a year younger than she. They were total opposites in every way possible, but they made it work because our family was the most important thing to both of them.
He could fix anything. Anything. Not just patch it or rig it…fix it like new. I am blessed to have inherited a lot from my dad. And a lot from my mom.
When I look down at my hands, I see my left hand is just like mom’s. And my right hand is exactly like my dads.
Happy Father’s Day in heaven, Dad.
A very beautiful tribute to your Pap. I was also blessed with a wonderful dad that did so many things for us I can’t even mention..The list would go on forever…Happy Late Father’s Day Pap
*Our dad was a practical joker with a great sense of humor who’d give anyone in need the shirt off his back and never expect it back. I wish I could remember the number of times he’d pass a clothes basket for family members to fill with food for a needy member of the family or a friend. He’d start with a turkey or ham, then tell everyone else to add something.
*Our dad had a weird way of saying a few words, and you couldn’t change him no matter what you said. For instance, instead of geriatric or generic, he said it was one word – “geanatric” that to him had two meanings, something for old people and something without a brand name. Aluminum was alunamum. It wasn’t that he was an uneducated man, he wasn’t. He just had a different way of saying a few words, and that never changed.
*And our dad always read the obits in the paper first. I asked him why one day, and he said (I’ll never forget this), “If my name is there, there’s no sense reading the rest of the paper.” ROFLOL
In truth, I wish I’d kept a journal of some of our dad’s funny sayings and pronunciations. I think it would be great fun for us and generations to come to read on a sad or cloudy day.
God bless.
RB
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1. My daddy was a smart man-he did 4 years of college in 3 while working fulltime. 2. The actress Bette Davis (minus make-up & plus curlers) was his hostess one night when he was stationed in California during WWII. 3. He called my mother his angel & called himself the luckiest man alive because he got to be married to her for 53 years. I miss him.
Tipper:
My father would have really loved you. He loved to see pretty women. My Mama and Daddy are both dead. Daddy was a large man, weighing 185 lbs. and six foot tall. He was a hard worker and did a little of several types of work, we never did go hungry.
Daddy had a stroke, which put him in the Tsalie Care Nurseing Home, he kept having little mini strokes and got to where he could not walk and had to use a wheel chair. He couldn’t remember very much, but still remembered his bear hunting days. After three years he finally remembered my name. He was in Tsalie Care for nearly 6 yrs.This is only one mile from our home, so we could see him every day. Our daughter is the Phy.Therpist there, has been for 12 yrs.She was with him every day. He died Dec. 21, 2006 at the age of 101 yrs. and 7 mons. old. Miss him very much.
“Hillside Walking”
Loved hearing about your pap, Tipper.
1. My father laughed with his eyes instead of his mouth.
2. When I was growing up, I thought my father was the wisest man in the world. Sometimes I still do.
3. I miss him everyday.
Tipper–As you know, my siblings and I were more blessed than most in that Daddy enjoyed an exceptionally long life–101 well-lived years, with his mind being sound and incisive right to the end. All of us children were blessed, although we probably didn’t appreciate it sufficiently at the time, by taking turns living with him and looking after him in his final years.
There’s never a day that passes that I don’t think of something he said or did or of some question I wished I had asked him. His entire life was lived in Clay County (first five years), Haywood County (a year or so working at Unagusta), and Swain County (well over 90 years). He was truly a son of the Smokies in every way. Practical, gifted in terms of being able to figure out or engineer what was needed to suit most any task, incredibly hard working, and caring in his own quiet, reserved way.
I miss him terribly, and your readers might want to know that Jerry (Pap) and Paul sang him home in a most moving and fitting fashion at his funeral service. Don and I both offered eulogies. While I’ve had a lot of experience with public speaking, it was without question the most difficult thing of that sort I’ve ever undertaken.
I treasure his memory beyond measure, and he remains an inspiration.
Jim Casada
http://www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com
Tipper,
One thing I can say about your Pap
is that friendly smile he always
has for his friends. And I like
the 80’s hair and pink dress. You
musta got that tan from Pap taking
you swimming so much.
My daddy lost his first kid at
childbirth, and a girl. But after
that he was a proud daddy of 6
boys. He taught all of us by
example how to hunt, and catch
fish. Seems he could catch ’em when they weren’t even bitin’.
And we learned of the dignity in work from him. Just like my mama,
daddy was the best Christian I’ve
ever known. I miss him so much!
…Ken
I read all the reviews and some tears fell.
I remembered a lot to my dear old.
Surely now is with his laúd español, with Earl with his banjo, teaching him to play “muñeiras” Galician Spanish, and he will join Earl playing cripple creek.
I do not write more because my vision blurred again, God rest his soul to the parents who are no longer with us. Jose Luis, Buenos Aires.
My Daddy was first of all a Christian and raised us to love the Lord. He taught me to drive at an early age as we had no brothers. He put me in the car, put it in first gear, and told me drive around the pasture, when I did that he showed me how to shift gears. My Daddy went to heaven 29 years ago at age 85. I still miss him.
Such beautiful memories! I am happy that those memories have stayed with you all these years. I remember my dad teaching me to drive, but before driving that ’56 Cheverolet station wagon I had to learn to check and change the oil, check the battery, change a tire, and exactly where to park it in the garage. He always provided for us both materially and spiritually. I have very good memories of my dad.
I love the picture of little Tipper in her big curlers. And your big hair picture too. Missy had a friend Lisa who lived with us when they were teens. Missy is a natural blond and Lisa a brunette. Both of them fixed their hair like yours. It took them hours to fix it. We had two bathrooms. One for each girl. So Mom and Dad waited. Lord help them if it rained.
Pap looks kinda like Richard Nixon in his pictures. You know Nixon. He is the only president since Wilson that didn’t get away with his misdeeds.
My Dad passed over this March 11th at 80 years young on a beautiful late Spring evening when the azaleas were in full bloom. He was a true Southern “Gentle-Man” in every sense of the word. He was kind, thoughtful of others and fearfully wise. He spent his life in service to his fellow man as a friend and as an advocate against the injustices caused by corporate negligence, selfishness and greed. He was also a man of courage. In 1941, at the age of ten, my grandfather took him to Ruby Falls in Chattanooga, TN so he could dive off the top of the falls into the pool below. And last but not least, he was a faithful man of YHWH. He always took the time to help care for the widows and help house and educate the orphans around him. Oh! how I miss him this day, but eternity is not so terribly far off.
My Daddy was smart — valedictorian of his senior class.
My Daddy was a hard worker; and he expected us to always do our best.
My Daddy faced dibilating illness young in his life; and he handled the challenges with his usual determination.
I know Pap and know him to be a fine man. Every thing you said, Tipper, is the absolute, literal truth.
That last picture of you and Pap is a treasure.
You and Pap are truly two peas in a pod…on all counts.
My cousin recently told me she misses my dad (and mom) as much or more than any of her 18 aunts and uncles. Daddy was always known as Big Tom, broad shoulders and about 6’3″. He was the most gentle man, never did much spanking us kids and always good to mom. But, everyone knew you didn’t mess with Dad’s family. My aunt had a mean boyfriend that was starting some trouble back in the 60s. When he started to walk the bridge over to her house, Dad picked him up and threw him back over the creek to the other side. Dad almost always drove a truck. After he retired from the coal mines, he never left the house without Mom. A neighbor needed him to take her to the doctor. He was faced with leaving the house without her for the first time in years. The Lord knew neither could make it without the other, so they left this world together in a tragic accident.
Loretta Lynn’s song, They Don’t Make Them Like My Daddy Anymore, describes my daddy.
I never had insecurities about my Daddy, as I knew he would take care of his family no matter what. When the coal mines in WV started shutting down, my Dad substituted about three jobs for his former coal miner’s pay. He loved these mountains, and he was going to stay in these mountains. This was when most were leaving the state in droves.
His advice was so full of wisdom, and he could figure out solutions to the most perplexing problems. If he couldn’t fix it he had a friend who could.
He always made us proud of our accomplishments. He told me he was proud of me when I got out in a snowstorm and safely drove to work. Most of all I miss his kind patience, and he was such a pleasant person. God took him home in 2001, and I sure do miss that little knock on the back door.
I loved the column..You do your Dad honor by todays column. I know you make him proud.
Tell your Daddy God bless You for my family
I love the photos of you & your pap together!
Bradley made me cry!
Daddy never whipped me. I remember once when I had been extraordinarily bad, Mommy asked Daddy to handle it. He took me out by ourselves and made me get a limb. He stood there and talked to me while he broke off all the little twigs and buds off that limb. Then he took it and whipped his own legs. That hurt me more that all Mommy’s whippings together.
Daddy never was much of a talker but when he did it was eloquent and profound. He thought about what wanted to say before he said it. He didn’t repeat it. Daddy was a deacon, a Sunday school teacher, almost a preacher. He sang in the choir, he led the choir and sometimes was the choir. When the pastor wasn’t there, Daddy stepped up.
Daddy had an expensive Stetson hat that his rich sister gave him. I can’t remember a Sunday that he went to church without it. He doffed it at the door and it sat in the pew beside him. It was Daddy’s Stetson that got passed around to collect the offering. I’ll bet that hat cost more new than any offering it collected.
On May 4th,1974, heaven’s choir needed a voice. Daddy’s name got called and he had to go. He is still there singing his part. Or wherever they need him.
My Father was a chemist at Dow Chemical Co., very intelligent and inventive, name is on many patents. My Dad, was always there for me, even knew I was making a mistake when he walked me down the aisle, kept telling me we could turn around and go home. (Should have listened) My Daddy, begged the doctors to save my life when I was born, to find something to “fix” me. I was born allergic to everything under the sun.. (like a bubble baby but back then no bubbles for support) I lived in the hospital until I was 18 months old…my Daddy was at the hospital every day (an hour drive after his 8 hr work day) Until I was 17 months old.. I couldn’t be held but for a few seconds.. the slightest touch would cause a breakout of burning rash. But my Daddy was there everyday. My Pop was a gardener.. loved his tomatoes and squash, he was my fishing partner, he was my encyclopedia, knowledge of everything I needed when I had a question. My Father, Dad, Daddy and Pop has gone to live with the angels, I miss him so very very much. 2 yrs have past and I still forget and start to call him (we talked everyday on the phone) I am 63 yrs old.. I miss my Daddy……
BEAUTIFUL! You are so much like your Pap!
Facts about my daddy:
1. You could always count on him doing the right thing!
2. He always WISHED he had gotten a good education (7th grade) – and I think his desire to keep learning is what spurred me on to ‘get a good education’ to the nth degree!
3. Daddy was a good Christian man and everybody spoke highly of him!
My wife and I are actually visiting from Florida my Dad in East Tennessee today and waiting to go with him to Sunday School and Church. Dad turned 89 in March, is a good driver, lives indepently in an apartment and does very well. His memory is excellent and he has been a big help to me in my recent genealogy research. My mom passed away in 1997.
My favorite story is a recent one. He called earlier this year to tell me that he bought a new car, a 2012 GMC Terrain. He said that he took it for a test drive, but “it wouldn’t get out of its own way.”. He asked if it was available with a V6, so he bought that one. He said that he looked at the GMC Acadia, a bigger SUV, but he said, “I already spend a lot of my time taxiing around a bunch of old ladies and I don’t need room for MORE old ladies!” Keep in mind that he is older than most of the old ladies he taxis around.
Love the hair Tipper. A wonderful tribute to your dad, he is an amazing person, you are blessed to be his daughter.
One day you wake up and you are “Pap” or “Granny”. Wish I had paid more attention.
your 80’s YOU looks a lot like Chitter and Chatter. you are blessed with a wonderful father and i can tell you know it.
Happy Father’s Day to the Fathers out there today. Tipper you have sure told everyone how much your Daddy means to you but, let me tell everyone out there what it is like being Daddy
From the time I was a young boy I had always wanted my own daughter. The guy I used to work with ( I guess got tired of hearing about it). Whenever I was saying “Hey look, look, see that little girl: you just wait.” Some day I’m gonna have one of my own. He would say many times, “Well don’t you think it would be better if you waited til’ you were married.” It would always embarass me when he said that.
When I finally married, we didn’t have a child for a while. I remember there was this one little girl (one of our customers) she was so tiny and she always wore red tennis shoes and I loved them. I told Don If I ever had one I was going to get her some little red shoes; He would always say well, get married. Wasn’t the best looking thing you ever saw so it took a while.
Finally, one Saturday night I was at the hospital and the nurse came and told me “You have a seven pound four ounce little GIRL.” Don and his wife were that night. He had tears in his eyes (like the rest of us). He said well, Little Feller, are you gonna get her some little red shoes? Life has been beautiful ever since. I told my wife and all that would listen, “From now on my name is DADDY! I finally had my daughter.. Never could have more kids but, we were just thankful for her. My name will forever be Daddy.
You obviously were as blessed as I was.