A step back in time

Last month, while watching an old movie that starred Clark Gable and rambling in a post, I mentioned the fact that when he was young, my dad was more handsome than Mr. Gable. My sisters immediately wrote to agree with me, and we all remembered how much he looked like a young Frank Sinatra. Others have written to suggest that I post a pic of my father and when I went to look for an old photograph, I realized that I only had a few and they were all extremely small.

Enter my sister, Ginny, to the rescue. She and her husband have a scanner that they've never used before and between the both of them, they managed to send me these two pictures this afternoon. I did try to fix them up a little bit in Photoshop, but these photos are really old and this was the best I could do with my very minimal Photoshop skills.

I also tried to find an old picture of both Clark Gable and Frank Sinatra on the internet to add to this post, but I have no idea how to do that. I know how to add my own digital photographs to my post, but to pick up a photo somewhere else is just beyond my capabilities. I just don't know where to look.

My dad was born in Philadelphia in 1918, the eldest of four sons, three of which are still living. He'll be 90 this August and he lives with my sister Ginny and her husband, Jay, in California. He's led a fulfilling life, raising 7 children with my mother, was an executive for the Coca-Cola company for years but in the end, worked for and retired from RCA in Moorestown, NJ.

God's light shone on my father's face, for he was the pride and joy of his mother. At the age of 17, after just having graduated from West Catholic High School in Philadelphia, and with his parent's permission (which he did admit took quite some doing), he hitch-hiked by himself out to Kentucky to visit relatives. The year was 1935.

My dad visited back East just last summer, staying for several months with my sister Char and her family, in York PA. I stayed with him for several days while my sister was gone, and while there, I wrote down everything he could remember from that trip which subsequently led to him remembering all sorts of other stories from his life. He had to take naps in between all the reminiscing, but when he woke, he was ready to dictate again.

Growing up, I adolized my father. He worked a lot, but when he came home you didn't have to ask him twice to play. He enjoyed his children and his love for us, our mother, and God was great. I remember, too, when he used to smoke cigarettes. Most people did, back then, and I ran to him to give him a kiss before bedtime one night and he accidentally burnt me with his cigarette. I will never forget that because the very next day he quit. Cold turkey. Never smoked again in his life. My father has done a lot of things during his life that impress me and all of us love him very much.

I still say he's more handsome than Mr. Gable. Certainly better looking than ole' Blue Eyes, too.