Tuesday, November 16, 2010
I am Tricia, Russ and Barbara's youngest daughter from Chandler, Arizona. I want to remember Dad laughing, singing, making the duck sound, and being loud. He was the best Daddy anybody could ever want. He gave me everything I needed, and then some. And gave me lots of discipline, too. I knew when I was five he loved me very much because one of his first Saturday morning projects in our new home on 32 E. Austin St., Skaneateles, N.Y. was a giant wooden swing hung from strong roofers rope from the biggest maple tree in the back yard. He had a tree-trimmer tie it on to the branches because it was so high up he needed a taller ladder. He said, "This is all for you, Tricia-babe."
He faithfully wrote to me every week when I went off to The King's College in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. He continued writing weekly when I went off to California to Biola University. And even after I married and remained in California, his letters were as regular as the sunshine in Arizona, where I now live, and where he just wrote me last Monday a letter of positive encouragement and praise. I knew I could always count on Dad. He was always there to cheer me on, spur me on to higher goals, greater success. He believed the best in me, as he did everyone else he met. He and Mom always supported me in my goals and prayed for God's richest blessings on me and all our family daily.
God allowed me to sit at Mom and Dad's kitchen table for hours at a time just two weeks ago and listen to Dad tell me his stories of family, of his time in Korea, of how he met Mom at the roller-skating rink in Alexandria, VA (11/10/1950), and how proud he is of his "beautiful silver-ado," as he lovingly called her. I love his example of cherishing my wonderful, sweet mother, praising her for her godly character.
He is a man of integrity, a man of his word. He taught me that I am only as good as my word: that my word is all people have to go by when they think of me. So, if I keep my promises, they will know I am a woman of integrity. He taught me to live by Prov. 3:5,6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths." His life verse, Matthew 6:33 "sums it all up," as he would say: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Dad said that if we honor God with our lives, God will bless us beyond our wildest imaginations. He taught me that my sole purpose in living on this earth is to glorify God, or to make God look good. I still hold strong to these sound biblical principles, and will keep them and Dad in my heart forever.
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