Sunday, June 20, 2010

Happy Father's Day

Here's a blurb out of an essay i'm working on about the influences i had growing up that led me to public service:

While Mom was township clerk, Dad served as a volunteer fire fighter. From him, we learned never to let the gas gauge get below ¼ tank; you never knew where you might need to rush off to and running out of gas was unnecessary. We parked the car backed in, so he could take off in a hurry in the middle of the night. We made sure our piles of coats and boots and mittens and hats and scarves didn’t cover up his fire boots in the porch. We all learned as soon as we were old enough to dial the phone how the phone tree worked; we’d get a call from a fire fighter’s wife and send Dad off while we called down the line the numbers marked for Mom. It was important when we took the message to know whether the guys who lived closer to the fire hall got the trucks and if Dad needed to get a truck or just meet them at the fire. He’d grab the helmet and coat and boots from the porch and screech his way out of the driveway. Dad would come home exhausted hours later and tell us about the suspected arson or about the Christmas tree that had gotten too dry or about the chimney fire or about how unsafe trailer houses are once a fire gets started.



Dad also served as a minister, Sunday School teacher, sewer inspector, and grave digger, on top of being a father of ten and a full-time millwright in the mines. He ran for school board one year and was beaten badly but continued to serve on school committees to push his view that spending money on classroom instruction was more important than school athletics.

Thanks, Isa, for being a great role model!
 
e.

6 comments:

Kuoppala and Inlaws said...

Happy Father's Day!

Eliz I like it! Isa you have always been there for us. Whether it is running to St. Cloud to start a car, change an alternator or put plastic on the windows, when your help was needed you came running. Or answering the many questions that your kids still have that only you can answer. As ELizabeth said you have been an awesome role model. Thank you for that and thanks for loving all of us even with all of our faults!
Love you!
jen

Kuoppala and Inlaws said...

Happy Fathers day to the best father in law! Hope your day was wonderful yesterday :) And thanks for loving me even with all my faults and quirks!
And happy belated fathers day to all you other Kuoppala dads!
Jenny

Kuoppala and Inlaws said...

I am having a problem figuring out who wrote the comment marked, Jenny.
At first I thought it was my wife, but it can't be. She doesn't have any faults or quirks that I can think of. It will remain a mystery to me. (Happy belated fathers day to the fathers out there.)
Frans

Kuoppala and Inlaws said...

Another Happy Belated Fathers Day to all the fathers out there. I certainly missed having my own father out here taking a nap on the porch this Father's Day. As for our day .. we spent the day at the Sunday School picnic enjoying a nice bbq and visiting with a lot of out of towners. -a

Kuoppala and Inlaws said...

Beautiful entries! I join in celebrating the fathers in our family. We were fortunate to have Isa and Mother here on Father's Day :). Pretty awesome.
-b

Kuoppala and Inlaws said...

Happy belated Father's Day to all the fathers.

Isa: Just to let you know that you are not only appreciated and thought of on Father's Day, but rather every day of the year!

Liz, love the write up. Are you going to post the whole thing on here one of these day?
H.