What did your father do for a living???

My father worked in a sawmill his whole life head filer for a few different outfits. Hats off to him hard work and he still had time for my brother and I.

My dad was a machinist in England and in 1953, he brought his family (me, my brother and Mom) to America on the Queen Mary.  Yep, the same one that sits in Long Beach Harbor today.  He was in the Royal Engineers in the British Army during WWII and experienced the bombing of London by the Germans before joining the Army.  He didn't even know how to drive a car when we arrived from England.  He spent most of his career in quality assurance for an electronics company that built monitors (CRT's) long before the flat screen's invention.  He passed away 5 years ago. 

My dad was in the Navy. He spent more than half of his life there. His parents died when he was young his sisters went to an orphanage and he went to his aunt and uncle's house when he turned 17 he was able to enlist and like most young men in the early 1940's went to boot camp the to war.
I have his medal's from European Theater, Pacific Theater ( Japan and Korea ) He also had done 3 tours to Vietnam. I remember the Vietnam era well. I also have the year books from 1967,1968 and 1969 he was on the USS Kitty Hawk CVA-63. After he retired he went to the Post Office and work as a mail sorter then behind the counter. I am proud of his Military career. He passed back in the late 90's at the age of 72. I miss him.

My Dad was born and raised in Iowa, loved sports and made them his job.
After graduating from the University of Iowa he was offered a pro baseball contract, but turned it down because back in his day they made less money than teachers and like occupations. (Boy times have changed)
He did a stint in the USMC as a Lt. then returned to college to get his Masters Degree in physical education and met mom and got married and had me in 56.
He was offered a job teaching PE and coaching in Riverside Cal. and we moved there when I was 1 yr old.
He taught PE and coached various high school sports and retired after 35 yrs.
He is 81 now and living in Oceanside Ca.
He has 3 sons that all followed his lead,
I teach and have coached,
one brother just retired a full bird Colonel after 30 yrs. in the Marines,
and my youngest brother is a teacher and has coached as well.
3 chips off his block
Tad
 

PS, Cool thread Sledge

Right On Tad...Coachs what a cool job...getting the beat out of us!!!  Thanks so much for sharing!!!

Baptist preacher. 
He came to the US for the American dream, and found a calling to be a minister instead. 

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That's a very blessed job...leading people down a good path!!!

My father worked in a sawmill his whole life head filer for a few different outfits. Hats off to him hard work and he still had time for my brother and I.

Funny how the "work ethic" has changed...back in the day... how hard you worked said something about your self...seems like it's not the same or maybe that's just me...  Thanks James...Work hard Play Harder!!!

My dad was a machinist in England and in 1953, he brought his family (me, my brother and Mom) to America on the Queen Mary.  Yep, the same one that sits in Long Beach Harbor today.  He was in the Royal Engineers in the British Army during WWII and experienced the bombing of London by the Germans before joining the Army.  He didn't even know how to drive a car when we arrived from England.  He spent most of his career in quality assurance for an electronics company that built monitors (CRT's) long before the flat screen's invention.  He passed away 5 years ago. 

My dad is still alive today and working everyday at 72 even when the doctors tell him not to!!!  I think he thinks if he stops he dies!!!  I feel for your loss...sounded like a great father!!!   funny how it's such a small world I've walked on that ship!!!  Kewl to know he broght you guys over on it!!!

My dad was in the Navy. He spent more than half of his life there. His parents died when he was young his sisters went to an orphanage and he went to his aunt and uncle's house when he turned 17 he was able to enlist and like most young men in the early 1940's went to boot camp the to war.
I have his medal's from European Theater, Pacific Theater ( Japan and Korea ) He also had done 3 tours to Vietnam. I remember the Vietnam era well. I also have the year books from 1967,1968 and 1969 he was on the USS Kitty Hawk CVA-63. After he retired he went to the Post Office and work as a mail sorter then behind the counter. I am proud of his Military career. He passed back in the late 90's at the age of 72. I miss him.

What a go getter!!! 3 tours!!!  I'm proud with you and feel your loss...I talk to my dad almost everyday and tell him "I love you" sounds corny but hey he might not be here the next time I call for him... wish he would quit working and enjoy the little bit of life he has left!!!  But Work, Work, Work...is what they did and do from that era!!!  Hats off brother!!!

My dad is an amazing man. He worked everywhere, and did everything you can imagine. He was in the service, then worked in a foundary, then as a mechanic, then we moved to Peru when I was in the second grade, where he worked for Southern Peru Copper Corporation. He was in charge of the maintenance at the concentrator mill. We moved back in middle school, he bought the local grocery store. We also added to the family ranch, on my mom's side. The store went under when the economy tanked, and dad went to work in the mine. My uncle got slabbed by a rock, dad found him and pulled him out of the decline. Mine closed, he went to work for Hess Oil Co in the Caribean. Worked there while I was in college, then came to work with me. We both worked for Newmont Gold Co, he in mill maint, me in operations/blasting. Dad was laid off from Newmont when gold hit $286/oz, called his buddy when he pulled out of the parking lot, and turned towards Barrick Gold Corp, and finished the day getting new hire training there! Lucky dog!

My dad is an amazing man. He worked everywhere, and turned towards Barrick Gold Corp, and finished the day getting new hire training there! Lucky dog!

Now I see where you got "Gold" fever...

We come from a long line of coal miners who a few generations back became professsional soldiers and policemen to get out of the mines.  My Dad was a lineman for Philadelphia Electric when drafted to Korea. 

When he came back he went into the insurance business and rose pretty far up the ranks to CEO of a small reinsurance company.  Back in those days you could do it without a college degree.  Other than my Mom who went to nursing school to be an RN my brother and I are the 1st generation on either side to go to college.

They all definitely instilled the work ethic just by letting us watch them do it not preaching about it.

My Dad and his Dad are the ones that taught me how to be a good steward of the resources we consume.  I never could outshoot my grandfather.  I still have most of his guns.

We come from a long line of coal miners
My Dad and his Dad are the ones that taught me how to be a good steward of the resources we consume.  I never could outshoot my grandfather.  I still have most of his guns.

Mining what a dangerous biz...up untill our gerneration no collage in my fathers or his fathers family...most of my brothers and sister went on to collage...my dad put a chainsaw in mine at 16 and said, "GET TO WORK" 

reading about your father and his father being stewards brought back a memory of me riding along with my grandfather deer hunting in Wyo...he had this converted dunebuggy with skid plates welded underneath where we could travel over water barred roads and get way and the FRICK out in Gods Country!!!  were cruzing along a logging road and I see a sage hen running down the middle of the road...I yell, "STOP" I jump out with my 30.06 and take aim bout 50yrds and blow the head off it...I will never forgert my grandfather laughing...the Sage Hen was spinning over and over and over...didn't know it was dead!!!   My grandfather/father would take me fishing/hunting/camping and instilled my, "Need" to be in the Outdoors...

Thanks for the input...JWR

I don't know what my dad did for a living. From what I have heard he was a butcher, bee keeper, crop duster and probably had a bunch of other jobs. It seems like he could not keep a job. My mom and him got divorced when I was two days old and he was locked up when I was eight.

Now he stamps the numbers in temporary handicapped cards for California.

Supposedly he was really good at fishing and knew all the best spots and I made him cry when I told him I had to pay guides to show me how to fish. Then I told him the only person he has to blame is himself.

My grandpas on the other hand are awesome. My dads dad fought in Korea and Vietnam for the Air Force he was a bombardier and has the most combat flight hours in Korea. He was also a instructor at Mather for bombers. When he retired from the military he became a Sacramento Sheriffs officer.

My moms dad was a Navy veteran he was all over east Asia Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Philippines, China, etc. He retired from that and became an accountant for California. Then retired from that and bought a old folks home, then sold it years later.

One thing that is really interesting is both of my grandpas were shot down in war (one Korea one Vietnam) and were the only survivors. If they did pass I would not be here.

my grandfathers were both tradesmen, plumbers and general carpenters. My dad drove the plumbing delivery truck for his dad in Santa Barbara when he was 15 (got a special license to do it).

Dad ended up teaching graduate physics at UCSB & is now a professor emeritus. He worked for NASA for a time, and was a private tutor to make ends meet in the early 50's. He was basically recruited from UCLA to the at-that-time brand new university in Santa Barbara and helped to create the physics department. He was recently honored at a dinner celebrating a new advanced physics scholarship set up by one of his old grad students. Dad was walking on air for weeks after that .
When I was in college we used to ride our bikes to campus together, but I was never good enough in math to take one of his classes!

my grandfathers were both tradesmen, plumbers and general carpenters. My dad drove the plumbing delivery truck for his dad in Santa Barbara when he was 15 (got a special license to do it).

Dad ended up teaching graduate physics at UCSB & is now a professor emeritus. He worked for NASA for a time, and was a private tutor to make ends meet in the early 50's. He was basically recruited from UCLA to the at-that-time brand new university in Santa Barbara and helped to create the physics department. He was recently honored at a dinner celebrating a new advanced physics scholarship set up by one of his old grad students. Dad was walking on air for weeks after that .
When I was in college we used to ride our bikes to campus together, but I was never good enough in math to take one of his classes!

WoW BraineackS in your family  anything about space has my attention!!!  and math...well that's what calc's are for...   Your Dad is walking on SunShine!!!  so stoked to hear about it!!!  Congrats for your gramps/pops for getting you into learning!!!

My dad was a drywaller and commuted from Modesto out to the Bay Area 2+hrs each way for 10 years just to put a roof over our heads.  Talk about work ethic... no f'in way do I have that kind of drive!  I didn't appreciate it til later, of course.... 
Then he taught the drywall and lathing trade for 20 years, just retired a couple months ago.

My Dad was born and raised in Casper Wyoming. He got a scholarship to RPI in upstate New York, and then joined up with the Army and ended up at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey. Learned German instead of Vietnamese and ended up stationed over in Berlin in an underground bunker listening to/spying on communications.

After the Army, he grew his hair out and traveled around Europe and Africa for a year before coming back to the States...tells the story of going in for a job interview with an oil company in New Orleans and had like 10 cents in his pocket and had to decide between a cup of coffee and getting a new pair of pants cuz his knees were all worn out on the ones he had...he bought the pants and got the job. 

Worked in the swamps of SE Lousiana laying cable and worked his way up the ranks of the Oil business, and eventually got a job with Occidental Petroleum and got transferred overseas as a Petroleum Geologist in Libya. Started brewing moonshine (he calls it "flash"), and making rot gut wine over there.

I was born while he was in Libya and my Mom came back to New Orleans to have me back here and then we flew straight back to Libya.

Then 7 years in London, 2 years in Pakistan and then 5 or so years in Oman until he retired and moved back to New Orleans. Every summer we were back in New Orleans, out fishing every chance we could get.

Now he makes beer, drinks beer, fishes and worries about hurricanes and the Saints.

 

We don't see eye to eye on much, but I know he did the best he could as a father and if he wasn't around a lot when I was growing up it was cuz he was out working hard in the office or an oil well to make sure we had more than he had when he was growing up.

Love ya Dad!!   

Great thread Mike.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

My dad will beat up your dad!

My dad will beat up your dad!

Thats because my dad is dead.


Just kidding, but its still funny.