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Between Friends with BobAnn Breland

Over the years, I have written many stories about my dad. I have him on my mind a good deal, but will remember him especially as we celebrate Father’s Day on June 15. So many of you will be doing the same. Some will have great memories of their dads, and sadly, others may hardly remember anything at all.

My dad was born January 27, 1912, would be 113 years old now. He passed away in May, 1999. He was looking forward to making the turn of the century but didn’t quite get there. It seems such a short time ago that he was still here.

Looking back, it seemed to me my dad was a little partial to the two boys in the family as we were kids. They went hunting and fishing together and seemed so close. I said recently I had never been fishing one time in my life. Perhaps it had not seemed like an early interest or maybe it was something girls didn’t want to do. I do not remember ever really wanting to go fishing.

He was a wonderful story-teller, as he had heard so many tales from the days when people sat around at night and talked and told stories, as there were no radios or other entertainment. He knew about lots of old family events and people and he knew much about early settlers in the local area, although his family had come here from Mississippi.

Even after I became a writer, dad still shared his wonderful stories with the boys as they were out on adventures, and I would have to ask and ask to hear them. Later on in life, he became really interested in his family history and he turned to me, as genealogy was also my interest. He knew so much from those old family stories he had heard.

He wanted to visit all his living first cousins. He was the baby of his family, so there were not that many still living. So we started taking him all over to visit these people he so fondly remembered. This was an adventure for us as well as for him. He would ask about photos of family members and they would bring them out. I took many photos to add to Dad’s special book we developed.

He was a very special dad for his time in history. It was a time when men were the undisputed bosses of their family. Most of what he expected was done his way, but our sweet mother was the right partner for him. That was the way it was in those days.

He was interested in and studied so many things, I can’t even start to name them. I am certain if he had been born in a family where he could have had a great education, he could had excelled in any profession he chose. He was a country boy who did the best he could with what he had and he accomplished an awful lot!

There have been other dad-figures in my life, including my two grandfathers and my wonderful father-in-law who always considered me to be one of his children – in addition to his own eight! They were all good fathers and contributed to me learning to choose the right man to marry.

I would be remiss to not remember my late husband Rob, for the fine father he was to our children. I know of nobody who loved their children more than he. On Father’s Day, he will be dearly remembered by them.

I look back at all of them and can be thankful I had them in my life.

These are the dads I remember, but there are countless living dads out there who need to be loved and thanked on Father’s Day and on most every other day. Happy Father’s Day and God’s blessings to all of you!