A little history of my father

My father and mother met in Denver Colorado after my father returned from his service on a Naval Destroyer in World War II. My mother said she fell in love with “the skinny handsome man in a sailor suit…” Tony was a handsome man but not any more handsome than my beautiful mother Shirley. My father Tony was born in 1925 which makes him 95 years old and clearly impacted by the GREAT DEPRESSION which went from the late 20’s to the early 30’s.

My father served as a sailor in the military on a destroyer in the the Pacific Ocean. During non battle times, he was a cook and helper in the kitchen. During the heat of battle when the kamikaze planes were zeroed in he loaded the guns with ammo as the shooters aimed at the planes. His destroyer was hit 2 times by kamikaze planes and one planes shrapnel hit my father, wounded him and he earned a purple heart. His license plate on his car says PURPLE HEART. During the WAR he observed fellow ships go down and saw the sailors in the ocean all being gobbled up by a frenzy of sharks. Blood and guts every where. He cannot speak of the war or his memories of it. I can truly understand why.

My father worked in the grocery business nearly his whole career as a manager of a mid sized grocery store - Millers Super Market. He was forced into early retirement when Millers Supermarket went bankrupt. His retirement years were filled with golf, skiing and taking care of his yard. I think he has now been retired now for well over 40 years. Imagine that!

My father taught me the beautiful game of golf, the best game on earth. I started at age 14. We played together many times. We could never afford a golf cart and therefore always walked the courses. I loved it and never knew any difference.