Hello everyone.

I just realized it's my father's birthday today. However, he passed away in 1993 at the age of 69 of cancer. He was in the Air Force during World War II and used to work on the bombers, repairing them and changing the engines I always thought that was neat. Using the skills he learned in the service he started a custom auto repair business and eventually succeeded as one of the largest auto salvage yards in New Hampshire. He also sold used cars (of which I am very thankful as he gave both my sister and I a car for High School Graduation).

Here's a photo of him when he graduated High School. My father and I were close and he was always supportive when I wanted to do little projects like raise Guinea Pigs or Hamsters and he helped me to build the cages. Also, when I wanted to make a project requiring hammer and nails he was always there to help (probably because he knew I was a klutz). However, he did allow me to have freedom to ride a motorcycle and go-carts when I was small and although supportive, didn't like it much when I used to gallop the horse through the business parking lot.

I was never sure how he felt about me until he died and people he knew said how proud he was of me, that I tried lots of different jobs and I was a success in his eyes. It was good to hear those things from his friends. Even today, almost 20 years later, he would be proud to see the woman I have become and I think he'd be pretty amazed!