My Dad would have been 99 today

Feb 13, 2024, 2:59 PM

He died from emphysema in 1989. I had just turned 26.

He was born in 1925 and raised in rural South Georgia. They were basically sharecroppers. He lived through the Depression but never talked about it because it probably had very little effect on the way they lived since they pretty much lived off the land. One story was that he must have been a pretty good bare knuckles boxer when he was a teenager and young adult. Supposedly when guys came across the state line from northern FL looking for the best fighter in the area, my Dad was the guy they sent them too. Kinda funny because he was very non- confrontational when I knew him.

He only went to school through the 11th grade and served in the Navy and the Coast Guard. He once told me Guantanamo Bay Cuba was the most beautiful place he had ever seen when he was there probably in the late 1940s. Then he worked at the Navy Yard in Charleston for 30 years.

He could grow ANYTHING. We had a garden that was somewhere between a half acre and 3/4 acre. We picked and ate fresh vegetables every summer and Mom canned a lot of them for later. We raised cows, chickens, and rabbits for meat, eggs and milk. Never concerned about where the next meal was coming from because we were responsible for providing it.

He also loved to grow azaleas and camellias. Before I was born they lived on the Boone Hall property in Mt. Pleasant and he was a caretaker there. This was before it was open to the public for tours. After I was born and we lived on Johns Island we would go visit the lady that owned it then (maybe Mrs McRay?) and I remember playing in the old run down slave quarters while the adults talked. He planted azaleas along the avenue of oaks leading up to the plantation house. When they opened the plantation up for tours they removed all those beautiful azaleas because the original plantation did not have any azaleas on that avenue of oaks.

He loved to fish and we spent a lot of time fishing in the creeks and rivers around Johns Island in his old 13 foot Renken with a 25 JP Johnson outboard motor.

He taught us respect and humility. Respect your elders. Hold the door open for others and say yes sir and yes ma’am. When we were kids he said we’d get a whipping if we threw the first punch or if we ran away from a fight if someone else threw the first punch.

Hard to believe he’s been gone more than half my life. Today’s world would drive him crazy with all the division and bickering. But the world would be a better place if he were here.

If you smoke, please stop. If not for your sake, for those who love you.

Happy birthday Dad! Miss you every day.

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My Dad would have been 99 today

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