He never finished High School, but his brilliant mind captured the meanings in the Gospels, and he learned to express these truths down into his middle and later years. He was a man of many talents who became a self-taught master craftsman who did magic with his hand, brain, and sheet metal. On this offspring's birth certificate, when he was 33, his occupation was listed as "laborer." Married to a loving wife who came to know the need for patience, he fathered six sons, four of whom grew to maturity and made their marks in this world. He supported us well, even after, at age 23, he lost his lower left leg in a train accident. At 89, he was called home and returned to his maker after a misadventure with a broken hip, brought on by too-vigorous gardening. Part of his life was spent responding to the call of many inns that beckoned in the night. After struggling to battle that failing, he found his Lord, who had been there all along, waiting at the door, hoping he would respond to His knock.

That he loved us all was never in doubt. He served us well as a father, instilling into each of us the elements of vigorous manhood. His very life, after he responded to the call of the Almighty, was as role model to his sons. He taught us from one of the Bibles he had not yet worn out, and he insisted we seek meaning from what we were told to memorize. For the sake of discussion -- even argument -- he would often take a side and challenge us to tell him whether he was on the right track in seeking out the morsels of truth from the trash of error. This stood us well in our own later experiences in life when we encountered examples of the Big Lie.

To my own soul, every day is Father's Day. His memory never fades, and what he handed down to us has taught us respect, reverence for life, truth, and the sanctity of good work. These values we have long since passed down to our own offspring and down the generations of their own. My dad was a giant -- an eagle who soared far above mere terrestrial limits. (And eagles could not ever beget sparrows.)…Rest well, my father and may our heavenly Father let perpetual light shine upon your soul.