Dad. As kids that’s all we really called dad, just
dad. No fancy or clever nicknames. Dad, born April 1st, 1930, had an
interesting sense of humor. Perhaps being born on April Fool’s Day had
something to do with it? Or perhaps it was being born the seventh of ten
children. Then again it could have been growing up with six sisters. But for
me, I have to think it was more in line with having only one bathroom to share
with the entire family. And this, with only cold water. I think this helped
develop his unique sense of humor. And more often than not, it had just a
little sarcasm built into the punch line.
There’re
a couple of little ditties that dad would recite with some regularity. One was
based on food. The verse he would sing, reads like this:
“There’s Spam and wham and deviled ham,
And somethin' new called Zoom
Just take it home and heat it to the temperature of the room
And you can bake it, flake it, Shake it, make it, take it,
Any way you choose.
And that's the situation, when you got those, Duration Blues”
I had always thought this
was some cute ditty dad had learned as a youth and just never forgot. Then
about a year or so ago I did a search and found out it was a song from WWII. This
song was really about rationing. Rationing was of course, a reality in his day,
and so it makes sense that this would stick with him. But to me it’s more about
his sense of humor, and his notion of life.
The
second ditty is a little more obscure. This one is about attitude. And it goes
like this:
Your troubles will vanish like a bubble,
If you only take the trouble, just to smile.
Dad’s sense humor and his sense of life were
uniquely inter-tangled. A positive attitude can make all the difference in the
world.
Dad
was also a builder. Dad built a business, he built the building for the
business. Dad built a second building so he could sell the business and retire.
He tiled the walkway leading up to the house. Dad laid the tiles throughout the
downstairs of the house. He, along with mom and I, installed the wood flooring
upstairs and the stair case. Dad built the basin for the fountain. He laid the
block for the planters, and designed the landscaping. And of course dad
designed and built the St. Francis mission on the side of house. He then
proudly named it, Mission impossible.
Dad was dad, a unique
personality. He had a glow about him, a glow that made you feel like he knew
something you didn’t. Dad was a provider. Work hard, play hard, play for fun,
play to win, because there’s no fun in losing. Do it right the first time,
because it takes even longer to do it twice. No one is going to give you
anything, you have to earn it.
 |
| Goodbye dad |
Dad, family man.
Dedicated and loving husband to mom for 62 years, father of three, grandfather
to six.
I’ve tried to express not
the physical exploits of dad, but instead the essence of dad. Each of us has a
different idea or feel of what constitutes dad. Today we say goodbye to the
physical dad. And I believe that God has lovingly accepted dad’s soul in to his
kingdom. But the essence of dad will be with us as long as we tell our stories,
and remember that “feel” that we had around, dad.
Thank you so much for
being here this morning. You are all greatly appreciated, and loved.
David E. Gonzales, son
Truly living is to be
engaged. Engaged in life, in people and in creating things new and better. Immortality
takes away any incentive to engage anything. This make our mortality a gift.
The gift of desire. To be engaged. To give birth, to aid the aged, and the
inflicted. Even grief, as painful as it is, is a gift. For we can’t grieve
without first having loved. And love [charity] is our greatest calling. Charity
is what brings us the most gratification.
