Love For WildAutumnRose

My Dad is always in my memory.   He died in June of 2004.    He put himself through college after telling his (adoptive, though no legally) mentor, a woman who was a school principle in the farming community in north/central Illinois, that he did not want to go to college.    He was an orphan having lost his parents due to illness' by the age of 9.    He finally was given a home where he was treated well by the farmer and his wife and their children.    He joined the Navy during WW2 after being told by the Air Force to come back when he finished his degree in Engineering at U of Illinois.   They said they needed engineer's more than pilots.   He was then stationed in San Diego where he meet my Mom, she being from Illinois also.   They were married.    He was in charge of overseeing repair of landing craft boats.     My sister and I were born in Peoria, Illinois, where he went to work for Caterpillar Tractor following the war.   He was a very intelligent, hard working individual.   My greatest fun was during little league baseball and his participation.     mark