JWG (jwg) wrote,
JWG
jwg

My dad

Seeing many posts about people's dads made me think about mine. He died 49 years ago but there are a few things I really remember. He was very smart and self assured and encouraged me to develop those traits. Sometimes he'd say something iike - when I was your age I used to ... as a way to say I too could be more independent. He'd always encourage me to study or have fun or take some responsibility. He was a great role model for me; and a loving husband to my mother who outlived him by 35 years.

When I was contemplating where to go to college and started talking about it he bluntly said: "You are going to MIT". And right he was.

Last night when we went out for a drink I remembered how he was a bourbon drinker and (which I rarely drink) and unconsciously ordered a Sazerac which was bourbon, absynth, simple syrup, and citrous something. He wasn't a big drinker but did believe that the best thing to fight off a cold was a shot of bourbon.

He was a serious bridge player and an expert. In the depression when he lost his bank job he made his living on bridge winnings and also made many contacts. That resulted in his getting a job with a food wholesaler which eventually evolved to his creating a food export business that was quite successful until a few years after WW II.

In 1939 he was on a bridge team that won the Vanderbilt cup. He played lots of bridge and died at a bridge table playing duplicate.
Tags: dad, family, personal
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