My Dad was an interesting and complex guy. We were business partners for nearly four decades but not best buds. He was my boss for the first 20 years and as his health declined he became a valued advisor. He was there when I needed him but we didn’t do a lot of father - son stuff together. As part of the Greatest Generation, he worked to take care of his family and to take care of his business. He worked because that was who he was.He deeply cared for people - his family and his friends. He was independent and he really loved my mother, some might say to a fault, but maybe that’s a definition of love. While his kids didn’t see it often, he had a fun side; he loved a good time, had a sense of humor and loved kidding people.
He cared about young people – he was a Key Club Sponsor in his earlier days and later in life he served on the board of City Youth. He also loved Jonesboro and cared deeply about the opportunities the community made for others. His service on various boards and commissions was one of the things that kept him going, long after his health began to fail.
One of the last major initiatives that he unfortunately missed come to fruition before he passed away was the Jonesboro Economical Transportation System (JETS) public transit system. He clearly understood that public transportation would open new doors of opportunity to our citizens, especially those with the greatest needs.
He believed in fairness, he wanted to give people a chance. If someone let him down, he’d give them another chance and then another. He was not greedy; he was generous with his time and his money. He understood the idea of service to others, not because of what he received in return but simply because it was important to give back, a sort of social payment for the opportunities he’d been given.
As I think about my Dad and the current political debates, especially the core debates about who we are as a people and the role of government in our society, I know he would be disturbed. Dad was a lifelong Democrat and truly believed in the principles of Roosevelt’s New Deal, Kennedy’s and Johnson’s vision of the American dream for all and Clinton’s understanding that we are our brother’s keeper and protecting the most vulnerable in our society is part of government’s role. Dad was a patriot who fought for our country in World War II and believed in all that America stands for.
He would be concerned about policies that favor the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor and middle class. He would support those who fight for fairness and accountability. These are the same values he practiced in his life and in our business. He treated employees and customers like family. He’d lay awake at night worrying about them and taking action to make things better and right when he could.
I feel certain that if he can, Dad is sending messages to his friends who’ve not joined him yet and he’s encouraging them to do what's right and best for our nation and her values in which he believed, lived and went to war to protect.
Happy Father’s Day Dad and thanks!
