Father's Day spurs happy, sad memories

It's after 7 p.m. on Father's Day and I am going to attempt to write a post. I find it difficult to look through photos from the 70s, but I did go through them, and here is what I found to share:
This is my dad, Donald McDonald. He may look dour here, but he really wasn't. He suffered from a multitude of ailments, from arthritis to renal failure. He was ill a lot when I was young, but he was a wonderful father to his only child.
He was a smart man, intellectually-oriented, but kept his feelings mostly to himself. I attributed that in part to a tough childhood.
He was the oldest of six and when he was 14 their father died. So he became the responsible one, going to work at 15 while he was in high school. He ended up continuing at the company and became an executive there. He worked for the same company for 50 years, something unheard of today. He died when he was just 65.

This is my grandpa, Charles Albert.
He was born in Germany in 1895, and came to the United States when he was 4, along with his mother and three brothers. Their father had immigrated here first, found a job and then sent for his wife and sons.
I can't imagine what my great-grandmother must have gone through, crossing the Atlantic in steerage for days, caring for three little boys. What a soft life I lead in comparison!
Grandpa made friends easily, wherever he went he found someone to chat with. He would talk about anything! He loved animals, and apparently he loved to grow sunflowers!
Grandpa had a great sense of humor and was always full of silly stories when I was little. He used to send me cards and put "Elvis Presley" as the return address. One of his favorite expressions was "Holy smokes! the church is on fire."
Grandpa died when he was 84, nine months after my grandmother died. They had been married for almost 63 years. That's a long time, I'd say.

This year for Father's Day we made dinner for Ralph. I think he enjoyed it. I hope he did. We went to an antique car show, only to get there and find it had been postponed until July 19. And it wasn't even raining! That was a disappointment. Ralph loves to look at old cars.I hope he had a nice Father's Day anyway.

Memories in B & W

My cousin Dennis, the boy on the left, recently sent me some very old family photos and this is one of the cutest.
That's moi on the right in the sexy suit standing in my fancy backyard pool with three of my cousins.
What I found fascinating is where this photo faded - right in the corner where my late father is seen smiling as he is walking up the back steps.
To me it's like he is looking down at us from Heaven. I wish I had more photos of him. We didn't take that many pictures when I was young, I guess.
I still think of things to ask him, things that only he would know about, even though he died in 1976.
I always felt like he had all the answers to all my questions. That's what daddies are for, right?