Here’s my dad in one of the big moments of his life. He was president of the Delphi Community School Board, speaking at the dedication of the new Delphi High School.
The occasion was in late 1970 or early 1971 and he was 60 years old – almost 10 years younger than I am today.
Community service came easily to my father. He was a founding member of the Delphi Chamber of Commerce, belonged to Rotary and was a member of the First Presbyterian Church where he served as a deacon and an elder and sang in the choir before a cancerous node on his larynx robbed him of his voice.
He moved from the farm where he grew up in southern Carroll County to Delphi in the 1930s when his father was named county treasurer to serve as his dad’s first deputy. In doing that, he gave up his college plans and gave his college money to his brother John, who went on to be a high school teacher in Garrett, Ind. He lived in Delphi the rest of his life.
He tried to enlist in the Army in the days after Pearl Harbor, but was rejected because of his age and a heart murmur.
He enjoyed an occasional beer – he liked Hamm’s, probably because they sponsored Chicago White Sox broadcasts – but I never saw him drunk.
He was the best man I ever knew. I wish I had told him so.
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