Memories of my Dad

This is a picture of my dad when he was in the Army. Handsome, huh?


This is me with my dad....sometime in late 1963.

This was October 3, 1987. You have no idea how difficult to get my father to put a tux on that day!


This is the last photo I have of my dad. He is holding TJ.

My father would have turned 76 today! He passed away a little more than 16 years ago. Here are some memories and thoughts that I have of my dad today. They aren’t in any specific order…..just as I think of them at this moment. Please keep in mind that if any of these sound mean, they aren’t. They are wonderful memories to me that bring huge smiles to my face!

• Dad played catch with me in the yard so much growing up that it was sometimes ridiculous! His goal was to get me to never throw like a girl! I must say that to this day, I have a decent throw!
• On Saturday mornings, my Dad would obnoxiously sing, “You Are My Sunshine” just to get all of us out of bed.
• Dad taught all eight of us kids that Santa didn’t come by sleigh, but by the local train that ran next to our house on Belmont Ave.
• Dad reminded us that if we ever got spanked at school, we’d get spanked twice as hard when we got home!
• Dad taught me how to execute a perfect double play as both a shortstop and as a second basemen. This was usually done in the living room of our house with a couch throw pillow as the base!
• Dad never got a high school diploma, but was probably one of the smartest people I have ever met! He couldn’t spell well, though!
• He could read the sports page, watch golf on television and listen to the Cleveland Indians on the radio at the same time and know what was happening at any moment with all involved!
• We would be in the basement on the other side of the house and still hear him yell for us to come upstairs and change the television station because he didn’t want to get out of his chair to change the station himself!
• All eight of his children are experts at making a perfect cup of coffee with just the right amount of sugar and cream. Although, I like mine black.
• Every summer Dad would take one (or two) of us to see the Indians play at Municipal Stadium. Mom would butter hamburger buns, slap some ham, cheese and may (Miracle Whip is May on our house) and we’d have a ready meal at the game. If we were really lucky, Dad would take us to what we thought was a fancy place to eat…called Big Boys!
• Dad would always tell me, “Do you want to be a good 7-minute miler? Run with 7-minute milers. If you want to run faster, run with runners faster than you.”
• Dad did take us out to eat to McDonald’s. We would all stay in the car….Ford Country Squire Wagon…wood panels! The selection was the same every time…eight hamburgers, eight fries, eight cokes. Don’t like onions on your burger? Tough, take them off yourself.
• We had many rides to Webb’s Ice-cream and always got the Bubble Gum flavor. Yes, we sat in the car! On a special occasion, after Webb’s, we’d cross the state line and get a soft serve ice cream in New Castle!
• Dad’s real name was “William Tolbert Johnson” but in the second grade he decided to change his name to “Barney.” He was known to most as Barney Johnson. That was a great name until a purple dinosaur showed up in the late eighties.
• Dad would cash in a few weeks of his vacation to purchase our Christmas gifts each year. We usually always got what we wanted, except the year I wanted a Cleveland Browns jacket and he waited too long and ended up getting me a Steelers coat. What was he thinking?!
• He never missed a track meet! I have great memories of him sitting in the stands at the end of the race. He was so proud of us that he would sit there, coffee in hand, holding back the tears as his belly shook!
• Whenever someone in the family wanted to ask Dad something and he was in one of his moods, they sent Kathy! She was the one that had the nerve to ask him anything at anytime!
• Going shopping for clothes with Dad was horrible. We ended up with clothes and shoes we really didn’t want! But when it came to athletic shoes…we had the absolute best!
• McDonald’s was the best place to have a really good talk with my dad. Of course, this was long after the station wagon drives for food. As we got older, we sometimes got cheese on our burger!
• My dad was truly a gifted guy…he could paint, make just about anything, and fix just about anything. The bummer is that he sometimes didn’t finish things he started!
• You would have to see our dining room to believe it! My dad was very proud of the athletic accomplishments of his children. There was not a free space on the wall as they were full of trophies, medals and ribbons. It was somewhat embarrassing.
• Dad really encouraged us to do well in school and athletics.
• Dad trained us up all in the right way…to be fans of the Cleveland Indians and the Cleveland Browns.
• Dad would get mad if you took your shoes off and didn’t untie them.
• When I got engaged to Tom prior to my dad meeting him, he wanted to talk to Tom. What he said to Tom touched my heart more than anyone will ever know. Sorry, I’m not sharing what he said. It’s just mine.
• A man who drives a car with a Pabst Blue Ribbon painted on it is not a threat to my dad! And the guy in our neighborhood that called my little brother a bad name over a two dollar kite, got popped by my dad…oh, he got the $2.00 and one of the Johnson daughters on his back yelling, “Leave my daddy alone.”
• Somewhere on the bottom of the Mahoning River is a really nice bowling ball.
• When I was born the nurse didn’t want to name me, “Kathy Jo”..the name he chose for me. Dad was persistent and got his way. Whew! You do not want to know what he threatened to name me if she didn’t do what he said!

I’m sure there are many more I could share. My father didn’t have an easy life as a kid. He even made some poor choices as an adult. One of the best choices he ever made was to ask Florence Geraldine Mattison to be his wife! She said, “yes.” They were married for nearly 40 years and had eight children…Bill, Bob, Kim, Karen, Kathy, Kara, Buzz and Karla. When I struggled with infertility, he said, “If you adopt a child, I don’t care what color his skin is…I will love him like the rest.” That was before we even considered adopting TJ. That may not seem like much of a statement, but my dad was on the surface a bit of an “Archie Bunker” guy. Inside he was one of the most loving people you would ever meet. He was certainly the funniest! He was very smart, too! I NEVER questioned whether or not my father loved me…not once! TJ was the only one of my kids that my father ever met or held. My dad died soon after TJ turned one year old. The last photo I have of my dad is him holding TJ. The last conversation I had with my father before he died was me informing him that I was pregnant with Tyler. His response, “I have prayed for a long time for this.” I don’t care how old you are, it is never easy to lose a parent….never. I wish he could have known all of my girls…somehow I think he would have really enjoyed my kids. I know that I am now 44 years old, but I still wonder if my dad would be proud of me. I know I sometimes fail as a wife and a mom, but I truly think my dad would be proud of me.

April 5th……………my dad’s birthday. It was good to spend time on this day thinking of my dad. I think I’ll make a pot of coffee and see if the Indians are on the television. I’ll watch, drink my coffee and think to myself, “Maybe this will be the year the Indians can win it all.”