Would love to hear stories about your dads!
We lost our father 10 years ago today at the age of 75. He was a great man with a gentle soul.
When we were little fellers living in Adams County, weekends were often spent down at the Blue River or driving the county roads listening to the Huskers on the ol AM radio hunting rabbits or ditch chickens. One of our favorite things was convincing him tell us stories about his high school basketball and football games. As a 7 year old we thought he was bigger than Michael Jordan. He was our hero.
After moving to Wyoming I don't think he ever missed a game or track meet of mine or my brother's from jr high through high school. (and if you know anything about Wyoming almost all of our away games were over 100 miles away). Every summer weekend we were in the mountains fishing and Sundays in the fall and winter we were in the country hunting.
Once we went off to college we didn't see as much of him, of course. We moved to different places and started our careers and families. He and my mom divorced and both remarried. Things were just different then. I'd see him a few times a year and talk every couple weeks on the phone. He was always pretty healthy but then within a few years in his early 70s he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and then COPD. My stepmother had died a few years earlier. They did EVERYTHING together and I think his will to live just quit. I believe he wanted help but wouldn't accept any, if that makes sense. He refused to be a burden on me or my brother. I could go on and on with stories and about how he shaped and molded us, and how kind he was to everyone. Everybody I know loved "Rodeo Rod" or "Wilderness Rod", the nicknames we gave him as kids.
I miss him.
We lost our father 10 years ago today at the age of 75. He was a great man with a gentle soul.
When we were little fellers living in Adams County, weekends were often spent down at the Blue River or driving the county roads listening to the Huskers on the ol AM radio hunting rabbits or ditch chickens. One of our favorite things was convincing him tell us stories about his high school basketball and football games. As a 7 year old we thought he was bigger than Michael Jordan. He was our hero.
After moving to Wyoming I don't think he ever missed a game or track meet of mine or my brother's from jr high through high school. (and if you know anything about Wyoming almost all of our away games were over 100 miles away). Every summer weekend we were in the mountains fishing and Sundays in the fall and winter we were in the country hunting.
Once we went off to college we didn't see as much of him, of course. We moved to different places and started our careers and families. He and my mom divorced and both remarried. Things were just different then. I'd see him a few times a year and talk every couple weeks on the phone. He was always pretty healthy but then within a few years in his early 70s he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and then COPD. My stepmother had died a few years earlier. They did EVERYTHING together and I think his will to live just quit. I believe he wanted help but wouldn't accept any, if that makes sense. He refused to be a burden on me or my brother. I could go on and on with stories and about how he shaped and molded us, and how kind he was to everyone. Everybody I know loved "Rodeo Rod" or "Wilderness Rod", the nicknames we gave him as kids.
I miss him.
