Had Dad lived to see this day, he would have been 105 years old. He was a man of great faith, a man of great compassion, and a man of great integrity. The values that guided his life and by which he lived were God, family, and honor. He is the least self-centered of men that I have ever known. During the Depression, his family like many families suffered greatly. My grandmother would walk down the hill at night (Midwesterners think “mountain”) to the town of Turtle Creek, PA to scrub the floors of the taverns in the town. As a kid, Dad would often make that same walk down at night to help her scrub those floors so that she could get home before 2 a.m. His compassion and concern for others was a hallmark of his entire life. Color of skin, religion, language, and social status meant nothing to Dad. He treated all with the same amount of respect and kindness regardless of whether a person was an executive of a company or a homeless man on the corner.
I have two very distinctive memories from my infancy. The first, was coming home from the hospital. My folks lived in an apartment building on the South Side of Chicago. I remember being passed around to our neighbors who lived in the apartment below us. When I was handed to Mr. Burress, who smelled of cigarettes and beer, I was most displeased and created quite a fuss.
The second memory was that of my Dad walking me at night. As we would pace through the apartment, Dad would hum the same little tune over and over, lulling me to sleep. That tune is something I have never forgot. This past June, I took the little tune that Dad hummed and created a song out of it. The first two measures is the little melody Dad would hum. I just expanded it into this song. The song is in the form of a “Galop”. The Galop was a forerunner of the modern day polka. Along with his famous waltzes, Johann Strauss Jr, “The Waltz King”, composed as many Galops.
In honor of my Dad, one whose “sandals I am not worthy to fasten”, I present this little tune as a birthday present.
