My dad was a hard man built strong like this corn stock he’s standing next to. As you can see he was proud of his corn.

Life made him into the man he was. He didn’t have the easiest life. He’s only had an eighth grade education. He was a veteran. He always says, “join the military, it will make a man out of you.” For the first few years of his life he was in an orphanage that was rough for a young boy. All because back then when his birth mother had him, she was a single mother. At that time it was unheard of to be a single mother. His adopted mother took him in for her husband and also since he was related to them from a distance. He grew up during the Great Depression and the Dirty 30’s.

He was a Conservative but never politically active. He was against big government. For some reasons, he hardly took a bath and he smelled like it too. He wasn’t big on getting an education; but rather common sense. He always says, “A person can be book smart but not street smart.”

As you can see, the corn stock that he’s standing next to is a little taller than him. The reason for that was because we had good soil on the farm to grow a garden and crops. He was against using chemicals in the ground as fertilizer. He believed in natural fertilizer.

We raised Black Angus because like him, they were sturdy and easy keepers.

He built the house we lived in himself with his own sawmill and woods. The house wasn’t anything fancy but it was a home. There was no need for the person who bought the farm to destroy the house. It needed minor repairs because of the years it stood, the test of time.

Too bad they don’t build houses or anything like that anymore! Everything is so cheaply made but expensive to buy. Things are not built to last-they are built to buy!

He didn’t care for Ford automobiles because they weren’t made like they were when Henry Ford was alive. He worked for Steiger tractors but didn’t much care for them and wouldn’t allow them on the farm. The reason was because he saw how they were made. He hated Steigers as much as some hated John Deere.

With only an eighth grade education, he was a self-taught man. He was an engineer without the education. He built our wood stove that heated the house and even built one for someone else. He used older vehicles to create something out of it, such as his welding truck or wagon to haul hay and stuff. With the all that he created, our family could had been better off if he had patented it. Since he wasn’t a people person and hated big government, he chose not to patent what he created.

He loved the great outdoors, like hunting and fishing.

He may not fathered me but I was still his son. He raised me as his own. Like my mother would say, “any man can father a child, but it takes a real man to be a dad.” He was more of dad to me than my real father. I may not have his last name; but then again I don’t have my real father’s last name as well.

Don’t let anyone tell you that a step-parent doesn’t have rights to step-children. There are people who believed that too.

What man would take on the responsibility in raising another man’s child? It’s a huge responsibility.

I am the man I am today because of how I was raised. If you don’t like it; that’s just way too bad. My dad taught me a lot about life and things. He taught me how to tie my shoes, zipped my jacket how to fish, of just a few things.

My folks are gone now. They made 40 years together. It wasn’t no bed of roses for any of us, especially mom. Dad wasn’t perfect; but he was more of a dad than my real father. When I die, I want to be cremated and buried my ashes with my folks in Rollag; rather than be buried in Jamestown by my real father or in Casselton by my grandmother.

They don’t make men like my dad anymore. God threw away the mold when he created my dad. He was one-of-kind. We had our problems as all kids have with their dads; but I’m proud to have him as a dad. He wasn’t perfect. He had his flaws, as well as his good points.

I’m thankful he was my dad because there are children who doesn’t have a dad around to help raise them. There are many children who are born to a single mother and fathers who wants nothing to do with their own child. Now that’s a crying shame, especially the way our nation has become.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there who took on the responsibility of raising another man’s child. Thank you for stepping up to the plate! I’m glad that my dad had stood up to the plate to be a real man, a real dad to me.