I’m feeling pretty reflective this weekend with Father’s Day. There are a few reasons for it. One of the big ones I shared briefly on Instagram and will talk about more soon on the blog is our shared allergy to bee stings. The constant barrage of emails and ads trying to get me to buy gifts has reached a tipping point too. So when I saw a friend fill out a Q&A sort of thing on Facebook, I decided to give it a go. But I couldn’t keep to short answers. And then I wanted to pull a few photos to put with it. I haven’t written about my dad Frank Person in quite a while so next thing I knew, I had to post it here.
I’ll give the FB Q&A a bit of a lead-in. Dad died young, while I was in college so some of this was pretty challenging cause we just didn’t have time to know each other as adults. Good to really put thought into answers and it may be interesting to see what others in my family remember cause this prompted me to sit down and think back. So the post on the book of faces started with “ADULT Daughters: How well do you know your Daddy? Copy, paste, and fill-in the blanks:” And the questions.
He is sitting in front of the TV, what is he watching? Chances are he’s fallen asleep in the chair while watching football if that’s an option. And on Sunday afternoons it was the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat…. god, he would have loved ESPN. He also loved shows like Matlock and The Equalizer. We like getting the remote while he slept, turning the volume down slowly so he wouldn’t notice and then changing the channel and slowly raising the volume again to watch something else. We never had cable when dad was alive and most of the time there was just 1 TV in the house. I can’t imagine how surprised he would be by today’s home and media habits.
What dressing does he eat on his salad? Mom used to make thousand island dressing pretty often. I’m guessing that but he loved bleu cheese.
Name something he hates? The smell of apple or watermelon Jolly Ranchers! Oh my the man hated the smell of that candy. I was reminded of this so vividly as I enjoyed a watermelon JR sucker recently.
You go out to eat, what does he order to drink? First off, we almost never ate out. We were REALLY working class, scraping by with four kids. Rare special occasion, eating out, unsweetened tea or a beer.
Favorite music to listen to? Old country like Tammy Winnette, Loretta Lynn. He would probably smile knowing how much I love Johnny Cash. When he’s being sentimental it’s about? The accomplishments of his kids or grandkids. He really was proud of us getting good education… every graduation, you could see his chest swell. He was also proud of how many of us were leaders on campus and would smile knowing he could help (we had printed stickers long before quick print shops opened up).
What is something he liked to collect? Bottles. He didn’t keep the hobby up very much, but he did enjoy it.
What is his favorite color? Hmmmm… That’s a question I’ll just shoot in the dark on. Maybe blue?
What would he NEVER wear? My dad was really practical. So tailored, formal suits, etc weren’t his gig though he cut a mean silhouette in his wedding tux. The late 70s-early 80 and leisures suits come to mind… I mean look how rockin’ our family photo is…. Whoa. What are his favorite sports team? He loved the hometown teams. He was a diehard Memphis State fan. One of the rare things he did with a brother who lived locally was go to a Memphis basketball game. He liked Chicks baseball and playing softball with guys from church. There were great years on the bowling team… even a near perfect game if I remember right. And he loved college football — went to the Liberty Bowl every year with friends. I still remember him talking about Bear Bryant.
You bake him a cake for his birthday, what flavor? Hmmmm… I’m not sure. HMaybe a simple yellow with chocolate frosting? But he’d like it after a rare, really rare steak.
What is his favorite animal? Favorite animal is a strange one…. he always tolerated our pets but with four kids and working hard, I’m not sure he would have a favorite out of that. Definitely didn’t like cats so I’ll say whatever fish one of us caught, or a deer shot while hunting. 🙂
What could he spend all day doing? Fishing, camping, gardening, chillin in his chair watching sports…. just depends on the day. He also really enjoyed golfing, worked 10 hours, 4 days a week for years so he could have Mondays off and get in a round now and then.Really enjoyed thinking about things specifically based on a prompt though at first it seems like it may not be as fun…. and now that I have it out here, it can be shared with all his children and grandchildren… even the great grands… That’s a great reason to have moved it to the blog!
Your Thoughts
If you knew my dad, I’d love to hear some of the thoughts this prompts…. If you are in a similar place thinking about your dad this weekend, please share. I’d love to hear about him too!
Janice, I remember your dad and mom also had record albums of Pete Fountain (clarinet) and also Broadway play musical soundtracks on LPs. Once when I was there at your home, prior to the one on now, (not sure if I was babysitting or just visiting) and he mentioned how much he liked Pete Fountain”s music and also the musical South Pacific.
I also remember that he liked to eat your mom”s banana pudding made from scratch.
Your dad had great eyes. Happy lines around them from smiling and laughing so much. Also they usually had a twinkle of mischief in them.
You are very correct … he was so proud of all of you children! He would have been so happy to see how successful you all have become. 🙂
Thanks Cyndy. The mischief was definitely in his eyes!
Just love the Q&A idea. Sounds like your dad was a hard working man and loved his sports. My dad also was a hardworking man , sports wasent his thing, he enjoyed car’s, music Chuck Berry, Little Richard and The Stones. He also loved the woods , his little speedboat, and fun. Miss him so!!
Thanks Arlene! My dad was a printing pressman… loved the way things worked and was great with his hands… I still remember hi cussing about how car companies were beginning to put computers in them so folks couldn’t work on them themselves. LOL! Would really be interesting to see how he viewed the world today.