So hard to believe that I am so young (well, at 46 I consider myself still young) and that were my dad alive, he would turn 100 today. He died in 1983 at age 74. He worshiped the ground I walked on and thought I could do no wrong. He took me to the grocery store and showed off my early reading skills there. When asked if I was his granddaughter, he replied, "No, that's my baby sister." He remembered approximately 7,000 birthdays and was known as "The Birthday Man of El Dorado" (Kansas). He was also a walking baseball statistic encylopedia. He loved taking me to football games and having me talk about old-time players like Bronko Nagurski.
I think he'd be proud of me today. I certainly hope so. Miss you, Dad!
Here he is at my late sister Sara's wedding in 1971: