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My Dad
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.My lovely dad was a sapper in WW1 in the middle east and Italy. He had married my mum in 1939 and after the war he was a commercial traveller. He started his own business as a stockist of non-ferrous metals in 1953 and eventually sold out to Alcan in 1967/68 and retired to the island of Malta in 1970. Unfortunately he was killed in a car crash on Malta in December 30 1980. He was a wonderful father, he used to make our toys as children (my parents did not have much money then)and he worked at the dog track at nights for extra cash. He did work hard and taught us to do the same if we wanted to achieve anything. He was always loving and funny and a wonderful person. I still miss him 26 years on. I appreciate how fortunate we were to have been brought up in such a happy household.
My Dad was a bit of a jack-of-all-trades during his life and did all sorts of jobs. But he knew all there was to know about car mechanics so he was never short of a way of earning a few bob.
However, in the last few years of his life he did voluntary work on behalf of tenants for an organisation overseeing a major building redevelopment. He became chair of that organisation and established a good working relationship between tenants, the developers and the trust who were overseeing and managing the project. In fact he became a major point of contact for everybody no matter what their part in the project was.
He dedicated his time and effort to it way over and above the call of duty. He involved himself in every part of the project but paid particular attention where there were issues that concerned children and catering for their needs and safety. He worked an average of ten hours a day, six days a week and for no remuneration. So dedicated was he that the developers named the fantastic new nursery school after him to honour the amazing amount of time and effort he had dedicated.
My family gathered for the official opening of the school and it was a very proud, hugely emotional and extremely poignant day....because my dad had died of Melanoma, aged just 49, before he could see the results of his dedication to the project and the respect he had gained in the community that he had fought for.
So my Dad may not have been big and important or held a prestigious job and earned loads of money, but he sure left his mark on the community by caring about people and ensuring their voices were heard. He was well liked and had loads of friends. I am very proud of him and miss him every day of my life.