My Dad, Grampy
"Success
has always been easy to measure. It is
the distance between one's origins
and one's final
achievements."
-
MICHAEL KORDA
A
Son's Reflections
Looking for a single word or
phrase that would sum up Dad's character, I started with hard-working and
soon found the following list of other words that amplify or supplement that
characteristic:
Honest
Proud
Dedicated
Easy-going
Good-natured
My Dad worked very hard all of
his life until he retired in July, 1978. He found that he had very little problem adjusting to retired life.He earned it and he enjoyed it. He had a lot of resting to get caught up on.
Dad was born to a farm family
where tradition dictated that the entire family share the burdens of making a
living and feeding the family. Even the
littlest of the children had their chores to do every day. This established a work ethic that became a
life long pattern. As his father moved
the family from place to place in central
Dad and Uncle Russell were the
two boys able to do farm chores for several years. Of course, Dad could never quite live up to
what Russell thought he should be able to accomplish and Dad often recalled
that Russell "made his life miserable". As the younger boys were able to begin
helping on the farm, Dad took advantage of the few opportunities to earn money
off the farm to help with family expenses. At 12 he earned some money assisting
thrashing teams. He also carried produce
at a local truck farm (10 hour shifts for twenty-five cents a day) -- the year was 1929. His first venture outside Iowa to find work
to help support the family took him (with his life long friend Delbert Dey) to the wheat fields of northern Minnesota where the
pay was good ($2 per day plus room and board) but being away from home just
didn't feel right and he soon returned to Indianola to farm work. Money was very dear and the necessity of
sending home as much as possible demanded that transportation be limited to
hitch-hiking and "riding the rails".
"Hired Hand" work at various
local farms and other manual labor occupations kept Dad employed until 1940 when
I was three years old. Then Mom and Dad decided to try their luck in the
city. Dad had his own family to provide
for now and the work ethic he learned as a child demanded no less from him now
that he was on his own. Mom and Dad packed up and moved the 17 miles to
These first years in
The packing plant provided a good
steady wage and a higher standard of living than could ever have been achieved
as a farm hand so the gamble paid off. Dad worked very hard during those years to provide for our family and
managed to be in a sound enough financial position to buy the apartment house
where they were living at the time. The
work at the meat packing plant was strenuous manual labor and I can recall how
exhausted he was when he arrived home from work. He walked to work because gasoline was
rationed.
These were happy times for me. We did a lot together as a family. To help with the war effort, we grew as much
of our own food as possible. In addition to the large garden we worked in the
lot adjacent to our home, we also maintained a "
Entertainment was most often a
walk to the local movie theater to enjoy a movie together - sometimes including
a fried chicken dinner at the "Sunset Diner" on the way to the "Ideal
Theater". Dad also played baseball for
the company team and belonged to a bowling league and the Eagle's Lodge. I went to many of his baseball games and was
very fortunate to be able to accompany him occasionally when he went to the
bowling alley.
As I grew older and began to
focus my activities more on school and friends, Dad was always there for me
supporting my school and music. He never hesitated to make any sacrifice to see
that I had what I needed to grow and have a life better than what he knew as a
child. He had many fond memories of his
childhood in the middle of the "two families" (totaling nine children) and he
maintained close contact with his own family throughout his life. He was also intensely proud that he had been
the first to break the farm poverty pattern by making to jump to the city and a
better life.
In 1951, the working environment
at the packing house was becoming unbearable for Dad so he made another big
decision, to leave and to go to work for Firestone at the
Life was good! We had a home, we had a car, we had enough of what we needed to be comfortable and happy. These were the years when Dad grew proud of
my accomplishments. He taught me to
drive and trusted me with the family car. He also made sure I knew the responsibilities that privilege carried.
Family was important to Dad. We visited
family in rural
As a youth struggling on the farm
he never would have thought that he would have a son graduate from
college. His formal education ended at
the eighth grade because he needed to work.
This narrative seems to be
focusing on work. That's because work
defined Dad. He worked long hours at
physically demanding jobs and had few outside activities. He took care of his home, lawn and garden and
relaxed to prepare for more work. That
was his life but he was proud of what he had accomplished and was happy with
his life. Honesty and integrity dominated his relationship with everyone he
dealt with. He would never, ever dream
of cheating anyone or stretching the truth and bending any of the rules. He expected the same from others. Bills and
debts were to be paid - not admired.
Retirement was a slowing down for
Dad. He took up wood working immediately
after he retired from Firestone and for many years could not be seen without a
piece of wood and a carving knife in his hand. He gardened and cared for his house as long as he could.
In 1988 Mom and Dad pulled up
stakes in
Dad was never really the same
after my Mom passed away in 1995. They
shared so much for so many years and he missed her intensely.
Arthritis robbed Dad of his
mobility in his later years and dementia associated with chronic congestive
heart failure deprived him of much of his zest for life, but he remained
cheerful, cordial, and content. He was
happy with his life and his life accomplishments. He was not anxious for his life to end but
knew his medical condition could not grant him many more years. He hoped and prayed that when the end came,
it would come quickly and painlessly and most of all without the indignity of
long periods of hospitalization. He got
what he wanted when he passed away quietly and peacefully while napping through
an old western movie on TV.
Dad was not deeply religious and
seldom attended church, but he did believe in God and he was a professed
Christian. He believed in salvation and
an afterlife. He knew in his heart that
because of his belief in Jesus, he would be reunited in Heaven with his beloved
Margot and all of his family and friends who passed before him. That faith gave him great comfort and inner
peace.
"Mr Lettington was a special man
who will be missed by everyone who took the time to know him;
the staff and
residents of Assisted Living {Casa de las Campanas} particularly."
-
Coleene Weir {Care Giver}