19 Years Ago Today...

...my father passed away.

Never thought I'd say it, but time flies!

This picture is one of the rare professional photo's we have of Dad.

In the years since 7 more of his grand-children got married and 27 additional great-grandchildren have been added giving him a total (so far) of 29 great-grandchildren.

Here are some of my favorite pic's of Dad -- through the years.

As a young boy with his older sister and older brother.

(don'tcha love the knickers?!)

Several years later with his older sister & brother and younger brother.

(not hard to match who's who between the two photos)

On his honeymoon, dinner and show at a Las Vegas nightclub.

(what a handsome dude!)

Raised a family of four children.

(and cat Tinkerbell here)

Dad held a full-time civil service job AND for over 30 years served as Clerk/Recorder and later Administrator for the small town he was born and raised in. For most of those years our home was the city office and Dad is seen here keeping up with the ledgers and accounting work.

AND

As an orchardist grew cherries, apricots and peaches on 7 acres of land.

(in his "spare" time!)

Enjoyed his grandchildren, from the first...

...to all those that followed:

He would read them stories (even though as he told me once: "it makes me sleepy--just like when I read the newspaper").

And gladly transported them, and/or their bikes, when needed.

He loved Jello and preferred it to cake for his birthday.

He liked to fish.

At a stream in the mountains...

...or with friends at a lake in the Tetons (Dad standing on boat).

And speaking of boats...

He very much loved boating (shown here with his younger brother and sister-in-law) either behind the wheel of his ski boat at local reservoirs or Bear Lake or captaining a houseboat plying the waters of Lake Powell.

He liked to travel, whether accommodations were...

rented trailers, or...

crowded motel rooms, or...

family owned trailer, or...

an old rented Army tent on our first boating trip to Lake Powell, or...

his beloved camper, or...

the little class-C motor home.

He was a good sport about driving the 'little blue roads' my mother liked to travel on, and even on US highways or interstate freeways...

...when weather conditions made driving miserable (such as here when pulling a boat was near impossible) he was the best 'white knuckle' driver I've ever known.

Dad had an artist's eye and brought photos to life or just told a story.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison (Colorado)

Dad loved cars and my guess is while on a trip with friends to Las Vegas this parking lot of "fins" was a photo-op too good to pass up. 

Our 'fins' are the yellow station wagon, fourth from the left.

Other 'photo-ops' were ready-made.

Mr. Fix-It

Here he recruited a grandson to help with truck repairs.

(anytime I called and asked for "Mr. Goodwrench" -- he knew.)

An easy task was assembling this garden bench for his mother-in-law.

(my grandmother, of course)

But he was always willing to help whenever he could.

He loved cats...

...and Spooki loved back (as only a cat can). 

These two were nearly inseparable.

See what I mean?

As for this photo? I just love it.

note:  all comments are moderated and will not show up immediately.