No, silly, not me!

My father would have been 75 today if he was still alive. He died just two days after his 71st birthday. Lately, I have been thinking about him a lot but for very odd reasons.

WEBO Radio had an open house in the fall. I was going to try to get down to Owego for it but couldn’t. Why would that make me think of my father? My father worked for WEBO when he first started in journalism. Recently, in cleaning out the house, a photo came into my possession that was my father interviewing Robert Kennedy on the radio when he visited the area.

Then came the December tragedy in Webster, New York. My father, on top of being a journalist, was very active in statewide fire service for as long as I can remember. West Webster’s tragic line of duty deaths hit home because of all the time I have spent with my father as he went through the ranks of state volunteer fire service.

Worse was just a month ago when there was a line of duty death in the fire department in my home town. The constant media attention reminded me a lot of when my father had died four years ago. The photos and broadcasts of the funeral reminded me, again, of my father’s. I stayed away and prayed that the family would be allowed to grieve privately as well as the very public grief that was being shared.

I will end as I started. My father would have been 75 today.