Treasured memories create lifetime of standards

Who I am today is a result of ill! parents.

Gary White, Features/Arts &Entertainment Editor

When I woke up on January 26, 1985, I thought it would be an average Saturday. I was wrong. I did not realize it at the time, but my whole life could have changed for good.

At 9:30, I came downstairs and found my brothers and sisters, of which there are many, standing around in the kitchen. I did not understand why they were there, but I was soon to learn. My mother and father were nowhere to be found, and when I asked where they were, all I got was questioning looks back and forth.

One of my sisters, I do not recall which one, sat me down and told me that my father was in the hospital. He was taken in during the night complaining of chest pains.

My father had suffered a heart attack.

At the time I was only 11 and did not understand what this meant. I just went about doing my normal Saturday activities. I went into the living room and watched my cartoons and then "Voyagers."

Tt was ate.afternoon when my mother came home. She was noticeably upset, but this did not affect me. I still went over to her and said hello as usual and went about my day as if nothing were wrong.

I guess, looking back, it was good I was young and did not completely understand. I did not know what death was and really had no experience with it before.

A few years earlier my uncle died of a heart attack around Christmas. I just thought he was gone for awhile. One of my sisters, Nancy, told my other sister Donna an~ me about my uncle during a commercial for "Frosty the Snowman."

I am very happy to say my father turned out all right. I do not know what I would have done if he did not. I cannot image life without my father.

Many of the things I have done in my life are because of my father. He is the reason I am a certified locksmith and chain saw sharpener today.

How can you not respect a man anc! woman who raised 14 children on on. paycheck and never deprived their ch11dren of anything?

How can you not respect a man and woman who were marned on August 21 1948. and are still married today?

How can you not respect a man and woman who have been through ever} illness known to man, including heart attacks and cancer?

How can you not respect a man and woman who have given all their live. and have never thought of taking?

I may be a little biased, but hey, the) are my parents, and I am very proud to be able to say it.

No matter what happens in my life, I will know that my parents are there for me. They help me whenever I need it and give me support in all I do. One of the best things about them is they share all they have with others. Whenever someone needs help, they are always there. Right now, my father is helping my sister put an addition on their house and he just finished helping a famil) friend with work at their house. This is not something new. He has always been like this.

I just hope someday I will be as good a person as both my parents are. I also hope to be as good a parent as both have been. My parents are the best!

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il/E"MO~ THl~GS

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I would never have imagined it, but my father and I took correspondence courses in these subjects. Every weekend my father and I would sit al the kitchen table and do the new lesson we just received in the mail. Then we would work on the demonstration lock sent to us. Although these lessons were boring, I treasured them. I treasured them because ii was a time for my father and me to spend together.

One bad thing about these lessons is I now have a box of 500 business cards saying ·'Gary·s Locksmithing'' on them sitting in a drawer.

My father is also the reason I have a real estate license today.

Some fathers want their children to be doctors, others want them to be lawyen,. My father wanted a real estate agent, and that is what he got. Now I just have to make some money at it.

My father and mother have given me so much, and I am very grateful they are mine. I do not think I would exchange them for anything.