Jerry,

That account brought tears to my eyes, as I felt very close to him, reading about him as seen through your eyes. I am very proud of my father and his integrity. My memories of him center on his ability to teach and encourage. As a matter of fact, I have tried very hard to be like him in the manner in which he treated others. I love reading your stories. I have some things that my father had from the mines; ore drippings that looked like saguaros, copper balls that he brought us to use as marbles (although I think I remember him saying that he wasn't supposed to take some of those things, but they let him so he could show them to my sister and I). I am interested in hearing more about him, if you don't mind sharing.

I am not surprised that Daddy encouraged you to follow your heart's desire. He was always a believer in having something that you were passionate about. He called it having a reason to whistle. Daddy encouraged me to pursue the arts as well as a career. While Daddy never considered himself and artist, he had a tremendous understanding of the craft. He was actually an accomplished carpenter, and built beautiful hand carved furniture. Did you know that about him? I am a fine arts integration specialist (long name for arts teacher!) and I teach music, dance, and visual arts. I hope to finish my PhD (in his honor, I was born and he didn't get to finish his) in clinical psychology and have a practice that uses art as a therapy medium. Thanks for sharing. I look forward to hearing more.

Sincerely Amber