On days like this, I think about my father. He was a devout Roman Catholic, and a really great man.
I always thought it was sad that he never went to college because he should have. But he grew up in abject poverty. His father was a blacksmith in the Pennsylvania anthracite coal mines. My grandfather made the shovels and pickaxes for the men.
When my father graduated from high school, he didn’t have a lot of options. He had a great high school career including a state championship baseball pitcher. My father was a letterman in high school.
One day out of the blue he called his mother from Texas and said, “I’m in the Air Force.”
“Well, how did you manage that?,” she said, “You have an enlarged heart.”
He just laughed and he said, “Mom, I’m gonna be OK and I’ll be seeing you soon.” My father enlisted for four years.He became an ammunitions expert and before he knew it he was off to the Korean War. He rarely spoke of his years of serve, but, when I, a teenager at the time, could prod him to recall those days he talked as a Sargent about his crew. They would sleep on the tarmac whenever there were bombing runs to load the planes as they came in so they could take flight quickly again.
My Dad loved to take pictures. He had a 35 mm camera which he purchased in Korea. He kept a book of black-and-white pictures of his days in South Korea. I found that collection of pictures fascinating.
He found the reference to “the Korean Conflict” offensive. He said, “ The men went there to defend their country and died. It was a war just like any other war. It was not a conflict.”
He believed the USA military was a really fascinating and moral power. He stated the USA never waged war to kill for the sake of killing. He stated the USA waged war to end a threat. He would use as an example the issued ammunition of bullets that were full metal jackets. He said a full metal jacket was never about killing the opposition soldier. It is to stop the opposition from killing us. He said those bullets were intended to wound an attacking soldier and end his ability to be a threat without killing him. He said the state of our munitions told the world that we were a defense force to end a threat, not a conquering country. He said other countries who hated us didn’t have a strong reason to fear us so much as respect us.
After returning from four years in the Air Force my father went to work in a chemical factory in New Jersey in 1960. He worked there for 30 years. He went in as a pipe fitter and became a shop steward for the Union after three months of employment. It was only about a year later when the management decided it would be better if he was on their side and they gave him a job as a supervisor to one of the lines in the chemical factory.
The company was known initially as Bakelite. It would later become Union Carbide. As a supervisor my father had a lot of friends and every Christmas my mother would bake food for a party for the men on his line. My dad would help my mother put together some meals so that everybody on his shift receive a Christmas dinner. There was always this big sheet cake for everyone on the shift. My Dad was a really great guy who lived in the moment and his good fortune to have a good paying job.
At the end of his shift, my dad would go into the showers to be sure the chemically tainted clothes he wore were in a duffel bag so the family wasn’t exposed to it. He’d bring the duffel bag home and put them in a special bin for washing. He was always extremely careful about himself.
There was never one accident or one injury to anyone under his supervision the entire time he worked.
In 1984 the plant in Bohpal, India caused deaths with a chemical leak. As a result a new position called emergency coordinator opened up at the Union Carbide plant in Bound Brook, New Jersey. The emergency coordinator answered to only one person, and that was the plant manager. Everyone in that plant answered to the emergency coordinator.
My Dad didn’t have any formal college education but he was a really smart man who had learned how to handle chemicals in the Air Force. The plant manager first called on him as the first person to fill that position. He accepted the job because he loved it. He was already chief of the fire brigade and was always very, very conscientious about safety. He would go onto whatever training he could get his hands on to know what was best to do for his employer and the employees and the community.
The plant would end up having a chemical foam truck that was the only one of its kind in a 500 mile radius. It was one of the most valuable tools that Union Carbide could have that also was used in the community when necessary. That foam truck would smother fires.
When my father retired after 30 years with Union Carbide he loved being on the outside looking in and away from the stress of that heavy responsibility. He loved being home with family and grandchildren. My dad was a humble, Roman Catholic man who sought to understand life and make it work for him and for his family, but never once at the expense of others.
A day would come when he received a telephone call from the plant manager. The new emergency coordinator was floundering a bit. My father was asked to consult in his retirement to write procedures that would result in volumes of insight and caution. He literally went back to the plant and walk the property remembering every aspect of the care he took of all people working there. He was paid well for his consultation and authorship. His final act as an employee made him realize the sincere value of his work for 30 years. Passing on wisdom in written text was easy for him.
My father first had integrity, discipline, a humility for God, and the love of other people. My father was a product of this country. He was a great man. He was admired and people liked being his friend.
He had interest in cars, baseball, being a coach for my youngest sister and her softball team all the way into college. Along with the respect that I had for my father he also instilled a respect for this country.
This country had given my family opportunity at every return. It wasn’t an opportunity flagged by privilege. We worked for our opportunity.
My father disdained bigotry and hatred. We never saw skin color. We always saw the person. I remember visiting a university as a graduating high school senior to speak with a career counselor. She was African-American. And this was about 1973. As I sat there and discussed the way forward for me, she stopped and paused, and I looked at her, and she said, “You don’t see my skin color, do you?”
I said, “Oh, my goodness I apologize. Is there something I said that offended you?”
She said, “Absolutely not. It’s just the opposite. You said nothing that offended me.”
There is not a darn thing wrong with this democracy, the focus of the people, and the future it sees on the horizon. My memory is long and it reflects on a country that cared about its people through this dynamic democracy. That should never end. The United States of America has a future, but it is not along the path it is traveling now.
My father, on this Father’s Day, stands as an example to the greatness of this country and the decency of the people within it. There isn’t a darn thing wrong with the USA and we should all be proud of this country. We all have a proud heritage of opportunity and inclusion and must dispel the hatred that serves the power playing burgeoning oligarchy.
“Happy Father’s Day to every decent father in this country. We will never abandon you.”
