MY DAD OCTOBER 4, 2009

The Czech Dancers: (Photo courtesy of Deanna and her
Dad's slides) Vada and Sheldon Grant, Viola Kelsey and
Vivian Prince, Camilla and Darce Prince, and Vilo and Tom
Pearce. Good looking bunch, huh?

Another of Uncle Vivian's slides: Dad and Vernile, Ken
Bladen, Tom Pearce and Lowell D. Prince.

Dad, going back to his easy chair from the park across the
street.

Dad in front of the fireplace at home.

Dad opening a book we gave him for his birthday.

Reading.................a favorite past time.

On August 2, 2009, my Dad fell, getting out of his 4 wheeler, and broke his hip. He had surgery to repair it, and got along fine and was transferred to St. George for rehabilitation. His kidneys failed him there and he was put into intensive care for a week or so and then in a regular hospital room to recover. After a week or so more, he went to the rehab in the old St. George Hospital Building. Now he is in Kolob Care Center, trying to get better there. My sister, Annette has been staying at her home in St. George and giving Dad such loving, tender care, that I actually think he is enjoying his stay there. We are hoping that he can get in the Beehive Home near her house soon. Brent is also in St. George and is able to go often to see Dad. Vernile and Elma Lynne are making sure Donna is taken care of, and I am in Cedar not doing too much for either one of them.

I go see Dad at least once a week and I am amazed at how good he looks. He is almost 85 years old and still has his sense of humor. When I went on Saturday to see him, Annette had strolled him out to the court yard and he was sitting there in his wheel chair, fully dressed, (shoes, socks and the whole bit) and had dark glasses on. I told him he looked like Jack Nicholson, and he got a chuckle out of that. He does look good though. Annette always has his hair combed nice and neat and has him shaved. His hands have never been so clean......he is a mechanic by trade, so his nails and hands have always showed it. Now is another time in his life. He is quiet, mostly listening to us talk, but he puts in a quip now and then. I have never heard him complain or act dissatisfied with being there.

He is a good man...........he's had is share of trials in his life. My wonderful mother died in 1954 and this left him with three little kids to raise by himself. He married Camilla Petty that same year and she took over the role of mother to us and also her daughter, Carol. Together they had my brother, Brent. She was a wonderful mother also, and she passed away in January of 1989 (20+ years ago ). He was married for a short time to Marian Robinson and they were divorced. Now he is married to Donna Faye Sampson and they have been together for almost seventeen years.

Since his stroke, several years ago, Dad has mellowed out immensely. One used to get the impression that he didn't like you or anyone else very much, but I always knew he loved me and I'm sure my siblings feel the same way. Also, he helped alot of people in Harmony that not too many people knew about. He never had much use for kids, cats, church, chocolate cake or leaving New Harmony, to name a few things. He loved hunting cougars or anything else, meat and bread a gravy (still does), the field, his cows, riding horses, Little Mountain, showing his cougar slides, his recliner, and levis that are too big for him. I never went to Harmony to take their groceries and do dinner for them that he didn't say "Thank you Dear, and thanks for coming." When I visit Kolob, and get ready to go home, he rests his arm on his elbow in bed, and waves his arm to say good-bye and says "Thanks for coming, Dear". He is now wearing nylon sweat pants that snap up the sides like the Jazz players wear, a nice knit t shirt that buttons at the top, short sport socks and black tennis shoes that velcro shut instead of tie. He wouldn't have been caught dead in such an outfit in the old days, but now he doesn't care about such things. Up until he fell, he was wearing cowboy boots, even though they were so hard to get on and off, old levis that were about to fall off of him and shirts that were too hard to button or snap up, but he did it anyway. He's not much for change in anything and that includes clothes.

The things that really matter to Dad now, are that he is comfortable, got his red book about killer cats on his nightstand, not in any pain (never has been), has Annette, or someone there for company, and that's about it! He told me Saturday that he forgets where he is to in the cat book, so he starts over again every time he picks it up and I'm sure he has read it about 500 times at least. Takes very little to make him happy.
He has worked very hard all his life to make sure that he wouldn't have to depend on anyone financially to keep him when he was older, so he is prepared for this stage of his life in that department.
I love my Dad very much. He has always been a constant in my life and I knew I could call on him to fix anything that broke down, including zippers, cars, or anything mechanical or electrical. In his later life, he has even been easy to talk to and I could talk to him about anything too. He even has a little sewing machine and knows how to use it. Many a time I have seen him patching his levis with the machine set up at the kitchen table. He used to help my mother Camilla tie quilts too, which was really out of his realm, but I think he enjoyed it. When we lived in Grandpa's old house, Mom and him tied us a quilt that I still have and think of both of them when I use it.

He told me Saturday that when they did the Czechoslovakian dance for a roadshow or something, when us kids were little, he got so sick of it, that when they had to dance in St. George for something, he took off the costume and threw it out the car window on the way home so that he would never have to do it again. I guess the costumes were authentic (Mrs. Dostelik) and they were asked to perform all over the place and he hated to do it the first time and so towards the end, he'd had it!

This is getting too long for a blog..I just wanted to write a few things about Dad and put in in my blog. I hate to see my Dad getting older and so frail, but it is going to happen to all of us at some point, and I just hope that I can be as good as he is about it. I'm sure he isn't oblivious to the fact that his time on earth is about over, but he takes it in stride and never acts like he is sad or anything, even though, we catch him looking, even staring at the ceiling alot and wondering if he can see something that we can't and we say "What are you looking at Dad?' and he says "The ceiling". So much for spiritual beings or the like.............Love You Dad!

P.S. I have updated so many posts at this sitting that you have to go to older posts at the bottom of this page and the next, and click it, when you are through to see the other ones that I have posted. If...........you are interested. If not, then don't!!