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onses during those months. They had such a fine love thang that when us kids were grown, we were not allowed a key to the parents’ front door in case we might interrupt something they’d rather not be interrupted from. They had deep fun.</figcaption></figure>Dad and mom were planners. They planned their whole life and because they were good planners, things went well.They planned to have kids and joined the Air Force because in 1952 that was a good job for a hardworking, smart man from any social class. Many kinds of man enlisted in the Air Force: White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native. Growing up among those fun people was great.<figure id="e772"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*SLA9FK8EKDzV01Ks-Nx8Vg.jpeg"><figcaption>That is me as the girl above the Kid Pop Art! balloon. Yes. Blonde. White. That is my best girlfriend, Debra Hall to the left. Stars & Stripes did this photoshoot of the kids that lived in the Airman’s Quarters next door to their European theater production facilities.</figcaption></figure>Mom and Dad planned to stay in the Force until their kids were ready to go to high school, then they would retire, and Dad would find work in civilian life.This they did faithfully.<figure id="70c7"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*0ibCwHSw70c3a7uCvXcYGA.jpeg"><figcaption>That is Dad holding me when I was about 3 months old. He was stationed at Brize Norton Air Base in old England. Their war damage was still being overcome in 1956. We lived at Stow-on-the-Wold in Woollcomber Cottage.</figcaption></figure>Life had rocks to throw their way, but they had three kids! Me, Edward, and Paul.<figure id="bf8c"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*5HAzGGpb6BsRfEY1PCSUBw.jpeg"><figcaption>This is us! I am the girl, Ed is the middle-sized kid, and Paul is the short one.</figcaption></figure>Dad helped us build the snowman and we did have a snowball fight.<figure id="71c9"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*cumxtVXCQzD-0DG3b7MzgA.jpeg"><figcaption>This is in Midwest City, OK circa 1963, gosh before we rotated to West Germany in 1964. This is after he survived a burst aorta and damage to his stomach brought

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on by a lifetime of emotional stress. Men endured a lot of stress in those days. We were stationed in Puerto Rico in 1960–1, and he was on TDY in San Antonio, TX when this happened, and that stroke of luck saved his life. Lackland Air Force base was where he was working and they had one of the best hospitals in the world at that time. The surgeons and staff saved his life. My mom held his hand and stayed by his side throughout the ordeal, as she was allowed. It took them all three months, but they saved him.</figcaption></figure>Here he is carving Thanksgiving Turkey. We were stationed in old West Germany at Darmstadt. It was an Army base. This was <a href="https://teresadlonghawkes.medium.com/air-raid-8ac790738f97">my favorite place </a>we were stationed while Dad was in the Air Force. It was a place of high adventure for the kids of the Dads and Moms stationed with my Dad. We did form armies and enacted many battles.<figure id="d41f"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*O4mt1DdkyiJX0Xa16oRx7A.jpeg"><figcaption>Dad had learned to destress and was happier than we had ever seen him.</figcaption></figure>Here we are in Old West Germany, in one of our many autos, Mom took a picture that I now have today to remind me of those days of constant adventure and the brilliant German culture in Darmstadt we learned about and enjoyed. Those yellow buildings behind us were the production facilities for <a href="https://www.stripes.com/">Stars & Stripes</a>. The building we lived in has been decommissioned and will probably disappear from existence as new and better buildings are installed.<figure id="81c1"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*bHBwFEqY06z4srPtvp3S4w.jpeg"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Dad survived a nearly fatal illness to continue building a good life with his wife, my mother, me, and my brothers Edward and Paul. Men like him exist everywhere. We love them. Our race survives because of them. They work with mothers to make this so. Take heart if you have not experienced such a man. They are there.Now, I will leave further glimpses of his life for next year when I celebrate his life as my Father, my Friend, and my Hero again. I am grateful and lucky to be his daughter.</article></body>

A Lifetime with Dad

I had an epic Father. He set the bar high for what it means to be a man.

Every year I do a tribute to my parents on their respective birthdays.

Dad, me, and Mom, circa November, 1956. Old England.

January 5, 2021 was my dear Father’s birthday. He was born in the terrible year of 1929. He died on May 31, 2003. I miss him every day. Because he and my mother were people of deep and sincere virtue, I have had a good life. Men like him are born into every generation. I am super grateful and share with you stories and images from this particular good man’s life. If you didn’t have a loving father, know many men are loving fathers. If you are a person without a loving father, you can be a loving parent anyway, though it will be harder. If you are a person looking for a loving man to partner with, you can find him, it will just be harder. We unconsciously look for the people types we grew up with.

These stories about my dad show what a loving father is and does, and I share them because his life was a gift to me and our family, and I hope they will be gifts for readers as well, because like the rest of us, you too struggle through this large and confusing world and need the love and guidance of a good father.

Here is Dad having fun when he and my mom first met. He was 17, she was 13.

Here they are at about that same time. They met on Halloween at a Ponca City, Oklahoma diner popular among their friends.

They eloped to Seattle when she was 14 and he was 19 to get married. She had told him she was 16. They got married, and my Dad did not penetrate her sexually for almost a year to thwart those who would claim she was pregnant and that is why they eloped. They had their ways to have fun. They learned each other’s sexual responses during those months. They had such a fine love thang that when us kids were grown, we were not allowed a key to the parents’ front door in case we might interrupt something they’d rather not be interrupted from. They had deep fun.

Dad and mom were planners. They planned their whole life and because they were good planners, things went well.

They planned to have kids and joined the Air Force because in 1952 that was a good job for a hardworking, smart man from any social class. Many kinds of man enlisted in the Air Force: White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native. Growing up among those fun people was great.

That is me as the girl above the Kid Pop Art! balloon. Yes. Blonde. White. That is my best girlfriend, Debra Hall to the left. Stars & Stripes did this photoshoot of the kids that lived in the Airman’s Quarters next door to their European theater production facilities.

Mom and Dad planned to stay in the Force until their kids were ready to go to high school, then they would retire, and Dad would find work in civilian life.

This they did faithfully.

That is Dad holding me when I was about 3 months old. He was stationed at Brize Norton Air Base in old England. Their war damage was still being overcome in 1956. We lived at Stow-on-the-Wold in Woollcomber Cottage.

Life had rocks to throw their way, but they had three kids! Me, Edward, and Paul.

This is us! I am the girl, Ed is the middle-sized kid, and Paul is the short one.

Dad helped us build the snowman and we did have a snowball fight.

This is in Midwest City, OK circa 1963, gosh before we rotated to West Germany in 1964. This is after he survived a burst aorta and damage to his stomach brought on by a lifetime of emotional stress. Men endured a lot of stress in those days. We were stationed in Puerto Rico in 1960–1, and he was on TDY in San Antonio, TX when this happened, and that stroke of luck saved his life. Lackland Air Force base was where he was working and they had one of the best hospitals in the world at that time. The surgeons and staff saved his life. My mom held his hand and stayed by his side throughout the ordeal, as she was allowed. It took them all three months, but they saved him.

Here he is carving Thanksgiving Turkey. We were stationed in old West Germany at Darmstadt. It was an Army base. This was my favorite place we were stationed while Dad was in the Air Force. It was a place of high adventure for the kids of the Dads and Moms stationed with my Dad. We did form armies and enacted many battles.

Dad had learned to destress and was happier than we had ever seen him.

Here we are in Old West Germany, in one of our many autos, Mom took a picture that I now have today to remind me of those days of constant adventure and the brilliant German culture in Darmstadt we learned about and enjoyed. Those yellow buildings behind us were the production facilities for Stars & Stripes. The building we lived in has been decommissioned and will probably disappear from existence as new and better buildings are installed.

Dad survived a nearly fatal illness to continue building a good life with his wife, my mother, me, and my brothers Edward and Paul. Men like him exist everywhere. We love them. Our race survives because of them. They work with mothers to make this so. Take heart if you have not experienced such a man. They are there.

Now, I will leave further glimpses of his life for next year when I celebrate his life as my Father, my Friend, and my Hero again. I am grateful and lucky to be his daughter.