A Giant of a Man, He Was

When I was a small child, I’d look up at my father and think “He’s a giant.” As a grownup, I still thought of him as a giant. In many ways he was a man ahead of his time.

He had a passion for learning, a passion he passed on to me. So often he’d tell me that my education didn’t have to end with my diploma from high school. He’d always say, “The day you quit learning you are dead.”

Dad told me that people who accumulate material possessions just for the sake of showing off were never happy. Oh, they might tell you they are, but you’ll always find them buying more and more things, buying the latest item to come on the market just so they could show their neighbors how well-off they were.

He said that your possessions should be used to help others. And if you had more than you needed, give away the excess. And to never, ever expect anything in return for the help you give to people.

Dad taught me that to stay healthy, I should raise my own vegetables. He felt that the food you purchased had preservatives in it that could harm you. He would tell me you could grow much of what you needed in pots and that you’d also be able to raise enough to can or freeze for winter’s use.

He said I needed to learn how to support myself. That I had to know not only how to provide for myself, but also for my children in case my husband was injured or got sick and couldn’t work or died.

Family was important to Dad. During the years of the Depression in the 1930s, he traveled to many places to find work so he could help support his parents. When the coal mine he worked in closed for the summer, he would take any job he could find in order to take care of my mom, my brother and me. Even a job cleaning outhouses wasn’t beneath Dad.

Dad loved to read. He said when you read, you learn, and when you learn you are able to make a better life for you and your family. And you also learn what you can do to help others and your community.

Perhaps one of the most important lessons I learned from Dad was how a strong faith can help you through difficult times in your life. That lesson has helped me more times than I can count.

Yes, to me, my Dad was a giant. All through my life I thought of him that way and always will.