My Dad. Congrats on Retirement!

With Dad at my wedding reception.

When I was five, my dad's job had my kindergarten teacher in the principal's office going through my file, trying to figure out where he worked. When given the opportunity to share with our kindergarten classmates where our parents worked, I responded, "My dad works at the monkey farm!"

Then I proceeded to jump around the room with my best Curious George imitation. 

At the time Dad worked at Sinclair Research Farm, part of the UM system. The farm conducted medical research and used monkeys as subjects. During the week Dad served as Sinclair's maintenance man. On weekends, he was it's tour guide. He would load me up in his Ford pickup with rusted out floor boards and take me to see the monkeys. In my kindergarten mind, my dad worked at the monkey farm....and your dad's job sounds boring.

Thirty seven years later, Dad is retiring.

Sinclair closed long ago and Dad was reassigned to dorm maintenance. Not long afterward he applied and took a position with energy management as a TAB (testing and balancing air) technician. In the last decade the landscape of MU has changed a great deal and Dad has been a part of all of it, working to ensure the heating and cooling systems work efficiently. 

I love my dad, and I owe my dad a lot. 

Over the past three years, I've spent a lot of Saturdays taking graduate classes in the third floor of Hill Hall. The windows on the West side of Hill, overlook the power plant where Dad clocked out for the final time. My dad spent almost forty years on campus without ever taking a class. But as I looked out the windows on Saturdays I thought about all he taught me about work.

-Show up early: If I got up early, and I mean EARLY, enough I might catch Dad finishing a cup of coffee and his morning Bible study. Dad was going to be one of the first in.

-Treat people right: One of the things I respect about my dad most is the way he respects others: supervisors, coworkers, folks he supervised. Everyone. Dad, never cared about football until this past summer when one of his student assistants was the starting kicker for the team. This fall he took interest in how the team is did, but mostly on field goals and PAT's.

-Leave it at work: Over the course of his career, I'm sure Dad had a few rough days at work, but what I remember is him getting out of the truck, taking his lunch box and thermos to the kitchen, doing farm chores and then being Dad. Work didn't follow him home. I wish my kids could say that. 

-Show up to work: Dad worked. He clocked out before Thanksgiving with enough time on the books to take a vacation until February, despite the fact that he's had two hip replacements. Dad's supervisors and coworkers knew they could count on him to honor his commitments. 

For the first time in thirty seven years Dad doesn't have to show up to work anymore. He's earned a well deserved break, which he's been spending serving his family.

On behalf of the family, I say, Dad, feel free take some time for you. 

You've earned it. 

The view from Hill Hall