Happy Birthday to My Dad

My dad will turn 88 on Sunday.  I thought that I would pay tribute to him in photos.  I'm sure that my mom and sisters have other good pictues of him, but I seached through all my albums and found these photos.  Some bring back good memories for me.  My dad has had a good life, and I hope he is proud of what he has accomplished, including three daughters, five grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.  If you want to see a larger version of a photo, just click on it.

My dad grew up in the country with his parents and seven brothers and sisters.  In the left photo below, my dad is the one on the left.  He is with his two older brothers, Charlie and Osborn.  I don't know the date of the photo in the middle, but I think it was taken in the late 1920s or early '30s.  The photo on the right was taken in 1936.  It is part on a larger photo that includes all eight kids.
                                   

I don't know when the photo on the left was taken.  I would guess in the late 1930s or early '40s.  I think my dad was very handsome!  Someone wrote the following on the back of the middle photo:  Home from the War.  It was taken in 1945.  Like a lot of people did when they returned from World War II, my dad got married!  The photo on the right is my parents' wedding picture.  I have one of the bows that was on my mom's dress.  They were married April 25, 1945.
                                  

I think the photo on the left was taken in the 1950s.  He looks serious because it is an Air Force photo, and I think they weren't supposed to smile!  That's my parents in the middle photo taken in 1964.  We were stationed in Japan at the time.  After my dad retired from the Air Force, my parents settled down in the country in Arkansas.  The photo on the right is of my dad riding his tractor on their land.  He sure liked his tractor!  That's my mom on the trailer to the right.  

                           

The photo on the left shows what a character my dad is.  At a family reunion in 1971, he donned one of my cousin's wigs and posed for this photo!  The photo in the middle was taken in 1975.  I think my dad looks very distinguished with his mustache and goatee, and look at his beautiful wife by his side.  In the photo on the right, my dad is the second from the left.  The other men are Charlie (one of his brothers), Bert (a brother-in-law), and Albert (another brother-in-law).  They are talking and peeling soft-shell pecans with the pocket knives they always carried around with them.  The photo was taken in Texas in 1982.

                     

I'm playing Scrabble with my dad in the photo on the left.  It was taken December 1985.  Scrabble is the one game that I had a chance to beat him in.  In the middle photo, my dad is showing off the deer that he shot in the fall of 1988.  The right photo was taken when my parents came to visit us in 1989 while we were stationed in Hawaii.  I'm the crazy-acting one on the left!

             

I really like the photo on the left.  I have a framed copy on my computer desk.  It is me with my dad in 1995.  The photo on the right is the most recent one that I have.  It was taken last month (December 2005).  That is his great grandson with him.  J is my sister Cheria's favorite (only) grandchild!

                                 

Happy birthday, Pa!  I love you!