Dad

Dad, I thank you for being the man you were, an example to me of how a father should be, and an example of how loyal a man should be to his companion.

Dad, at a young age I remember you giving me books to read to educate me on the basics of electronics, atoms, neutrons, and protons, etc. You had a radio and television repair shop. This was before the era of transistors. You would send me to the electronic store to purchase replacement tubes for televisions, all of this before I reached the age of 7. I also remember at this young age, you taught me how to rebuild the starters needed to start an automobile and how to assist you in repairing the hydraulic brakes on a car. You were sharing your knowledge with me in order for me to have a better start at being successful in life.

When I reached the age of 7, due to our growing family size, we had a restart in life. We moved out of the city of San Francisco to the country; Sonoma County. You had purchased what had been a chicken farm. Things were different here in Petaluma. Instead of a big two-story school with long hallways, I was now attending a little two room school. We started living the farm life with chickens, ducks, turkeys, rabbits, goats, cows, pigs and even a couple of vegetable gardens. When I reached the age of 10, you taught me how to drive a tractor, pulling a plow, preparing the ground for vegetable seeds. On this farm I learned some things that others probably would have to go to a Veterinarian School to learn. Jersey calves which produced more milk and cream when fully grown than Hereford cows primarily used for beef cost more at the auctions when fully healthy. A healthy calf would cost $150. A sick calf would cost $20 which would be a bargain if successful in nursing it back to health. You would purchase medicine in the form of pills and vials and showed me how to administer pills and inject medicine using a hypodermic needle into the calves. I also learned from you that placing a raw egg in the bottle of calf milk would immediately make the calf visibly stronger. Feeding and administering medicine to the orphaned calves was something I would do before going to school in the mornings. Do to the fact that male animals that still had their male organs intact when slaughtered would have a rank taste to the meat; their testicles would have to be removed. The method of doing this to goats and calves was to place a rubber band around their testicles to stop the circulation of blood and the testicles would eventually just dropped off. Castration was the process used on baby male pigs. While I worked equally with you in preparing the goats and calves, when it came to the pigs, I held them while you did the castration. You even taught me what to do to bring an animal from the barnyard to the dinner table. From what I learned from you, I’m confident I could live successfully just having a piece of land to live on.

At the age of 13, I obtained my first 9 to 5 job during the summer. To teach me and my siblings that life is not free, you encouraged us to give 10 percent of our earnings to charity and 50 percent of our earnings to you. You stated this was teaching us to be responsible. I learned to manage my money well. During that first summer I bought my first watch and a ten-speed bike. From the age of 13 I chose to start buying my own clothes to wear. This was not a requirement, but I liked purchasing my own clothes for school. I also enjoyed holding jobs over the summer and after school. This allowed me to buy jewelry for my girl friends and to take them out for lunch even though I was still in high school.

Mother died at 50 years of age, leaving you alone with 6 children to raise as a single father. The six older children had already moved out on their own. Your father for a period of time before he remarried had raised you and your two sisters alone after he and your mom divorced. I guess you had learned how to be a dad from him. My daughter came to live with me as a young teenager when her and her mom could no longer get along. She lived with me until she was 25 years of age. You being an example helped me to be a better father.

I never thought my running errands for you ‘m in your radio/television repair shop would lead to me starting a business in computer repair, but I see the similarity.

Last but not least, you showed by the life you lived and the things you taught us in Sunday school, the importance of having a relationship with our creator and how having this relationship could get us through the challenges of life.

I never realized just how great a dad you were until I begin to hear the stories of other individuals’ experiences with their dad. I’m proud to say that I was blessed to have you, John M Edwards Sr as my dad.

Your son

John M Edwards Jr