The greatest man I have ever known.

So taking a few days off from my home automation blog, has giving me time to take pause and reflect on things. Time to look back and really find out why I’m doing this project in the first place. I have discussed some of the reasons why I thought I wanted to do this, but I have come to the conclusion that those were only surface level reasons. My desire goes much deeper. So to be completely honest I have figured out that my father is the reason why. Not that he purposefully “made me” do it. No. Growing up under his roof, as I have come to find out, was a completely unique way of life. You see, before home automation was even a thing, my father was tinkering, solving problems with his house. Here are a few examples of things, I thought were normal forty-five years ago.

We were a family of eight, and you may be able to imagine how much laundry there was at any given time. My mom hated piles of dirty clothes. So it seamed there was always a load in the washer. My dad hated taking a shower and having the water temperature fluctuate, do to the washing machine. So much so that he hacked into the washer, wired in a kill switch, then located that switch next to the second floor tub/shower. At the same time he added a neon pilot light to remind himself to turn the washer back on after his shower.

Another more elaborate project was his wood burning stove set up. Apparently he was tired of paying high natural gas bills during the winter months. This was before annual gas budgeting programs. His solution was to garbage pick an old furnace, gut it and retrofit it with a wood burning fire box. Then he took the cold air-return from the gas furnace ducted that onto the wood burning furnace and ducted that to the gas furnace. Essentially he put the wood burner “in-line”, with furnace to pre-heat the air before reaching the gas burners. The wood burner had only a small intake damper to control the fire. So dad being a man who was not going to go down to the basement to check on the fire every half hour or so, came up with a system to “check” the fire for him. He developed a system of three indicators. They consisted of Red, Yellow and Green lights mounted in a RadioShack project box and placed on top of the TV. Those lights connected to switches, actually “ clicks-on” switches that were from kitchen ovens. They would “click” on or off, when the switches factory set temperature was reached. He mounted those to the wood burners flue pipe at different spacing to monitor the flue gas temperature and thus the condition of the fire. Green meaning that the furnace blower was on but the gas burner was not. In other words the house was being heated solely with wood. Yellow meant that the fire was nearly out and needed to have more wood added. And Red meant the fire was out and the house was being heated with gas. After working all the kinks out the system, it worked so well that the gas furnace rarely fired from then on. That is, as long as I carried the fire wood to the basement, as if that were an option. There are many more examples I could give, but I want to let you know why I say he is the greatest.

You see, he is not only an innovator, years ahead of his time. But he is an influencer as well. Perhaps his ring of influential power was limited to family and friends. That was do to the fact the internet and social media were years away. The best story of his influence on my life is a bit lengthy, so I’ll try to stay on track.

I’m not sure how old I was at the time, maybe 2 or 3, but I can say that I have absolutely no personal memory of this event, so the story is recounted from me hearing the story from him.

On a sunny summer Saturday morning I was outside with my dad. For the most part, I was an “easy” child. That is to say, I didn’t require much parental oversight, I played well on my own. So this particular day my dad was working on the houses rear balcony. He had an extension ladder set up as a way to gain access to the balcony, rather than traipsing through the house with tools and materials. He would occasionally glance
my way, to find me playing in the dirt, then continue on with job at hand. As he recalls, “I had been on the balcony for a while and felt the need to go over to the rail and look down to check on you. As I got closer, I could see the spot where you had been. I moved over to the ladder so I could go down and find you. And much to my surprise you had climbed about half way up.” Looking back, I can say what happened next has profoundly changed my life. My dad didn’t yell at my to get down, but in-fact encouraged me to continue climbing up. I attribute that single selfless act of encouraging me, for the fact that I have no fear of heights. You see in that moment he un-whittling molded into me a few major life lessons. One, I could always trust him. Two, that no matter what I got myself into, I should always go forward. Three, that there was nothing to fear but fear itself. And only now, have I realized the power of encouragement.

Now you might think those are pretty good reasons I think he's the greatest man, but there is more. He was strict, but fair. Proud, yet humble. In charge, yet negotiable. Stern but approachable. Cunning yet truthful. And old school tough. Let me just say, when going to the dentist, he never had novocain. He had a heart-attack in his mid 70’s and drove himself to the hospital. And above all those things, he is loyal. He taught me that your honor and word was all you had. And if you broke a promise or trust, that it was nearly impossible to regain.

This last story is truly why I believe he is the greatest man. His wife of 65 years had been diagnosed with early on set Alzheimers. As things got progressively worse, my siblings and I tried to encourage him to put her in a home. Mostly because we felt that she might receive more hygienic care. Also the demands that were being placed on him kept increasing. From the new struggles of managing the house, to cleaning up things a 90 year old man shouldn't have to clean up. Through it all he kept her at home, taking on whatever new insidious thing that decease would bring. “We promised each other long ago that we would never do that to one another”. So one day I received a call from him stating, ”Your mother fell, theres blood everywhere and I cant get her up off the bedroom floor”. Well by the time I got there, he had cleaned up most of the blood because he was trying to see where it was coming from. I went in the room talked to her for a moment while assessing her condition, she wasn't hurt at all, I then gently picked her up to her feet, and walked her to the living room. It turns out that he had gone into help her out of bed. She lost her balance and he tried to guide her to the floor. But she fell towards him, knocking him off balance. He said “I broke our fall with my head against the corner of the dresser”. Recall the photo. I took that immediately after helping her to the living room. He didn't think it was necessary to go to the hospital. I finally convinced him that it was bad enough to go and that I would stay until he got back. So he put on a pair of shoes and drove himself there. “Only nine stitches” he proclaimed as he walked through the door. Thank God that was the worst thing that happened. So, true to his word, his vow to her, he kept her at home with him. They stayed side by side until her last breath. Who does that? My dad! The greatest man I will ever know.

So to all you parents of young children, teach them the value of honor and commitment, encourage them always, no matter there age. And maybe, just maybe, they will think you’re the greatest person they have ever known.