Father's Day

This is my Dad.   Born in 1910 to William and Ethel Lindsay.

How I got my hands on this photo I will never know.  I think I stole it when no one was looking because otherwise it would not be in my home. 

I look at this and I can see my Dad sitting like this in an arm chair even when he was in his 80's.  

He left school after the 8th grade because my Grandpa died suddenly and he was the oldest in the family.  He had to get a job.  He did.  In Simpson's Department Store.  He got fired!!  I don't know why, he just did.

He picked himself up, dusted himself off and got a job in the Toronto Shipyards and learned how to weld.  That began his lifelong journey.  He was a master welder.  Where he joined the steel no one would ever be able to tell. It was perfection!  

He worked for over 25 years for Union Carbide, Linde Gases division and it took him all over Quebec when we lived there.  My mother insisted we move back to Ontario, a province that is not near and dear to my heart.  Sorry Ontario folks, but it just isn't.

My Dad passed away in 1997 shortly after my first granddaughter was born. I honestly think he knew his time was short because he told my Mom I want to go and see Taylor and I hope her eyes are open this time.  He had another surgery and this time because he didn't agree with what the surgeon had done, gave up.  It was as simple as that.  He no longer wanted to go on.  

                                         

My Dad was the best, the very best.  He gave all to everything he did.  He was, as I said, a master welder, but he was also a builder and a carpenter and he designed and built cutting machines for the welding industry, and for many years owned his own consulting company.  He had an eye for detail that was beyond what anyone could expect.  If something was off 1/16th of an inch he would know.  He could see it.  No, I'm not telling tall tales.

Believe it or not, he could also use a sewing machine.  My mother couldn't/wouldn't sew on a button but not my Dad.  We had my Grandma's old sewing machine so one day off he went to a fabric store in Montreal and bought enough fabric to make drapes and a bedspread for the master bedroom.  The bedspread even had piping around the top and exactly at the edge of the mattress.  His talents were immeasurable.

Our daughter, My Dad, our son, and My Grandma
many years ago!!

Dad I miss you every day.  Thank you for everything you did for me.  It has never been forgotten.  I guess you know that Peter inherited that electric train you bought for me in Montreal.  It sits proudly on a shelf above his "bar".   

Oh and by the way, 

thank you for the dogs you bought me.  My Tanny, the hero, and Shep (who died so suddenly) and Shady.  I bet your wife nearly bopped you on the head when you brought her home.  You chose the perfect name for her.  She was as we now say......awesome.....as were the other two.  We just didn't get to keep them as long.  

 Wm. L. Lindsay

1910-1997

the best Dad in the World

"Oh, I believe there are Angels Among Us,
Sent down to us from somewhere up above.
They come to you and me in our darkest hours
To show us how to live
To teach us how to give
To guide us with a light of love."

........
Don Goodman, Becky Hobbs
recorded by 
Alabama