Daddy's Strength, Hard Work, and Playful Spirit

In the early years, Daddy wore heavy, black leather high-top work shoes and white socks except when he dressed up. He usually wore blue chambray shirts and black covert work pants and occasionally suspenders but usually a black belt with a silver military-style buckle without an initial on it. He sometimes wore only a white undershirt vest for a shirt, even on outings in hot weather—I think, maybe, because it showed off his muscles. Daddy had a perfect mesomorphic (athletic) body. Perfectly proportioned body-to-limbs, and well-defined muscles. Anyone looking at him would call him a strong man, which is very comforting in a father. Some of his muscle came from lifting the heavy steel plowshares into the tempering furnace eight hours a day. But some of it came because he was not afraid of any physical work. He’d come home from work and work some more, sometimes very late into the night building something in his work shop, or welding, or turning some metal replacement part on his lathe. His industry gave us our life. Hard work was his life. And, when he stopped working, he started to die, which is all too often the case. When he dressed up in a suit to go out, he was a knockout. He would comb his great mop of long, wavy, jet-black hair straight back as usual, but he’d use hairdressing, a kind of thin oil, which he kept on the dresser. It smelled like roses. When he prematurely grayed (at a very early age) he looked even more dashing. Sometimes he’d go a day or two without shaving saying , “I’m giving my beard a rest.” Mom would finally say after only one day, “Floyd, aren’t you ever going to shave, again?” “Maybe I’ll just grow a beard,” he’d taunt, then go directly and shave off the stubble. More than anything else, Daddy liked to “get a rise” out of people. He took a great chance of being scorned in this, but his happy nature and good intentions always won everyone over to him. This, even more than his candor, made him such a compelling character, and the fact that he was also our dad, was even better. I think he was a hero to all of us kids. We sure liked him, I know that.