Father's Day 2008

Today all three of our sons called their dad to wish him a happy day. The baby, who still lives with us, called from his beach vacation. I am so glad he remembered. These phone calls made me wonder what I would say to my dad if I could call him, or go visit him. He died in 1994 and would be 85 now. Since I am out of the habit of talking to him, but do recall that he was a man of few words, having a chat with him might be tough. I spent the morning looking at photos for a slide show for him. I know that if I could, I'd take some of these photos to him so he could tell me who the people are and what they were doing. His last months were not happy as his health declined very rapidly. To make him stay engaged, I'd ask him all kinds of questions about the past, which was much more pleasant for him to talk about than the current status of his life. So remember, to get an older person to talk, ask him or her something about the past.

I added captions to this slide show, which you can see if you click on a slide to open a larger window. The photos range from 1927 to 1993. In the first photo, my dad is 5 and in the middle, with his big sister next to him. I hope you will know which one he is in the others. He is wearing the R sweater in the 3rd photo.

Happy Father's Day to my dad, Jack Cooke

December 14, 1922 - January 24, 1994