Some Things I Wanted To Tell You About Dad

Mom was pretty specific about keeping is short yesterday at the funeral. So here is some other odds and ends I wanted to tell you yesterday.

In the days when there was only 4 channels of TV (2, 6, 8 and 11) we sometimes just listened to the radio. One evening while listening to KVOO AM 1170, I dedicated "Too Old to Cut the Mustard" by Buck Owens to Ellis Clanton. He dedicated "You're Walking on the Fighting Side of Me" by Merle Haggard to Robb Clanton. When the DJ announced the Merle Haggard song he said, "I'm not sure what's going on at the Clanton house tonight..."

He loved to say he had wavy hair as a young man. And that it was so wavy it waved goodbye.

He always told me, "You're the best son I ever had. Of course, you're the only son I ever had." (Even I was smart enough to know he could have also told me I was the worst son he ever had. He CHOSE to say I was the best.)

A favorite story he told of Trisha was of when she and John lived in a living quarters in the church building in Brunswick, Maine (1700 miles away). John was away at a speaking engagement when she called Dad one night saying she had heard something in the building. He told her, "If you think there is someone in there you might need to call the local police. They might could get there a little more quickly."

Sandra told me Thursday that when she used to go clean their house for them he would take her up to the gas station and fill her car up. That is was just between them. Well...it isn't now. But, isn't that just like him?

In the last 4 years Mom and Dad lived in their house they had my dog, Dallas (a Labrador mix). Dad would tie Dallas' leash to his bike a Dallas would pretty much PULL Dad on their daily outings. The two were the talk of the neighborhood.

Sandra and I both had the memory of getting up early and seeing Dad reading from his Bible in his recliner. And I spent many evenings with him laying on my bed listening to sermon tapes, not only as a kid but as a young adult when Mom and Dad let me live with them for a while.

Worst word I ever heard him say: dadgumit (still not sure what that meant but it was always used after I had done something stupid)

He used to say to me when I did something that tickled him or perplexed him, "You outfit." (not sure what that meant either but seemed like it was a good thing)

In the last few years after I gave him a haircut he would say, "Thank you, until you're better paid." I told him it was an honor. That may be the only time I could ever be accused of an understatement.