In loving memory of my dad who passed away on Friday July 26, 2013. June 11, 1937- July 26, 2013

My dad with his college buddies out West in 1959. He is at the far right. Most of his college buddies went on  to become doctors and university professors. One is a professor at Purdue University and another in a retired ENT doctor and they always called my dad "Grub" to which he still is.

Another pic of them out West in 1959. Again my dad is on the far right..

When I graduated High School in 1990, I was living on the Jersey Shore and had been for many years. I have many memories of the Jersey Shore from back in my teenage years but I know now the Jersey Shore has changed much from the destruction of Hurricane Sandy. My dad at the time was living in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania and I decided that I wanted to "spread my wings" and move over there with him. I lived with him for about a year and we did a lot of things together. We had a portrait taken to remember and I am so glad we did that.

 This picture I took of him. We always had the camera out and I think it is because of him that I love taking pictures. I even inherited his Nikon old 35mm camera with a telephoto lens. My pop loves the out doors......he is much older now to get out and about like he used to but he is still the same to me and hasn't changed one bit as far as I am concerned. He will always be my dad.

Here he is at Valley Forge Park. We frequently went to Valley Forge to take pics. As you can see he has his camera. He loved slide film and many years ago when I was a toddler, he had a dark room and would develop his own film.

These pictures I took but they are here for memories and I shall never forget them. Most of what my dad enjoys, I enjoy too. He loves History and especially WW II aircraft. In fact when I was a teenager, I used to go to the air shows with him and my brothers. He has built many WW II models and has many documentaries on WW II. He served as a medical doctor in the air force during the Vietnam War and was stationed in Thailand. I just recently received a tapestry that he bought from there and laid it out in my living room and it sure looks jazzy!

This was our trip out West. I have another post on my blog of our trip out West. When my dad moved out here in NW PA back in 1994, he was working at the Ridgway Hospital. I at the time was living on the Jersey Shore and when he told me he was living in Ridgway, I could not even find it on the map! I had no idea where on earth Ridgway was. Sorry Ridgway folks!



So he came and got me and for two weeks we toured the West through Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and more. This was during the annual balloon festive every year in October in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This was serendipity because we had no knowledge of any balloon festive.

This was our trip to upstate New York and Canada. I was a teenager at the time and we took this trip out of pure spontaneity. We only had planned on going to some rock quarry in Allentown PA but ended up going to Montreal. They all speak French up there. This picture was taken by me in the Adirondacks in upstate New York. 

This picture he took of a preying mantes. He loves these insects........always had a fascination with them and this was taken a super close up lens.

I know the folks around here may know my dad to some degree but this is the dad that I have always known for many years and even though my mom and dad divorced many years ago, neither has gotten remarried and I do know that they still love each other as I love both of them too. One day in Heaven, the Paradise that Jesus spoke of,  we will all be a family again, just like it used to be and that is my HOPE!