I know it’s not Father’s Day yet, but I’ve been thinking about My Dad lately. I’ve come to realize I really didn’t know him that well. My brothers and sisters knew him better than I did, or at least, I think they did. My brothers and sisters remark I look like him the most out of everyone in our family.
I my defense, I went to a boarding school for my four years of high school, spent that first summer in Madison working at a day care center. The summer between my sophomore and junior year of high school, I spent the summer in Canada working with a group called Project Christopher, which is like the Peace Corps for those who were under the age of eighteen.
Dad passed away at the age of 64 in December1978 while living in a nursing home. He had developed a Parkinson-like condition and, according to my sister, Mary, passed away peacefully. She was at his bedside. I was living and working in Wyoming and I had driven to my sister Betty’s house. She, her husband, Jim, and I were planning on visiting Dad the following morning, but while we ate dinner, we received a phone call that Dad had passed away.
One day late. Didn’t have an opportunity to say goodbye. Still makes me sad.
I can tell you Dad was active in the church, and served as a member of the Knights of Columbus and was a high rank in a group for high school and college young men called the Squires. I don’t even know if that organization exists any longer. Dad was a handy guy, tinkering with cars, building a carport addition to our big house on the river, and dad and mom both helped with my cub scout pack.
Even though I didn’t know Dad as well as my older brothers or sisters, there are several memories that stick out so clearly I can picture each one today.
In cub scouts, we had an annual pinewood derby. Each scout received a car kit, and our job was to create a car that would race against the other cars. I can tell you I won several races, but I don’t think I ever finished in the top ten or fifteen. However, they had a design competition as well as the race and I remember winning at least two Best Design awards. My dad helped. He’d show me how to sand the car, cut grooves into it to make it look like the Bat Mobile. Dad showed me how to paint- several coats, but not too many as to weigh it down too much.
When I won those two trophies, I think my dad was as happy as I was. Each car had his fingerprints all over it, and all I did was to listen to him and follow his directions.
Another memory came after a family trip to Yellowstone. I was fascinated by the glaciers, and in particular, Old Faithful. It was in seventh or eight grade when my school, Holy Angels, had a science fair. My idea was to replicate as much as possible, Old Faithful. Dad helped. We used a coffee pot, but had to extend the metal piece that “percolated” the boiling water, making it into the geyser made of paper mâché and puddy. I painted it to make it look like the pictures in the book we purchased while on our trip.
On the backboard, I posted a brief history of Yellowstone and Old Faithful, along with diagrams and charts. I ended up with a silver medal and an offer to enter it into the Marquette University science fair in the junior division. Even though I didn’t place in that fair, being invited was quite an honor. And again, Dad was as excited as I was. He had his fingerprints all over that exhibit.
The most vivid memory I have of dad was singularly personal, and I carry the impact of that memory with me to this day.
I was in third or fourth grade, and it was bedtime. I remember getting out of bed to get a drink of water. As I walked down the hall to the stairs, and I glanced into my parents’ bedroom. My dad was in his pajamas, kneeling by the side of the bed, head bowed, and hands folded. I don’t remember how long I stood there and watched him, but it was long enough that I forgot all about getting a drink of water.
Our Catholic faith was infused in our family- by our parents, by the nuns who taught us at Holy Angels, and by the priests who guided us. There was no escaping it. Being that young, I understood little of it. First Communion, Penance, Confirmation, I knew “about” those, but didn’t understand them fully until much later in life.
I never asked by dad about that night, but it was him kneeling by the side of the bed that taught me the most and gave my faith the human touch, and “face” if you will, that still guides me today.
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For My
Readers:
If you like what you’re reading and
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My book, Black Yéʼii, received
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won a Literary Titan Gold Book Award. It is available in Paperback
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Amazon Link: https://tinyurl.com/25w95xcn
Barnes & Noble
Link: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/black-y-700-ii-joseph-lewis/1146257565?ean=9781685135379
If you want more of the backstory
to Black Yéʼii (The Evil One) check out my
previous book, Caught in a Web, which is available in
paperback, Kindle, and Audible. BestThrillers called it “One of the best Crime
Fiction Books of 2018!” It was also a PenCraft Literary Award Winner! You can
find it here:
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Barnes & Noble Link: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/caught-in-a-web-joseph-lewis/1128250923?ean=9781684330249
I also found out that Fan
Mail won a 2023 Maxy Finalist for Action and Adventure.
It previously won a 2023 Reader’s Favorite Silver Book
Award. It is available in Audible format, as well as Paperback
and Kindle. You can find it here:
Audible Link: https://audiobooksunleashed.com/product/fan-mail/
Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/3eNgSdS
Barnes & Noble Link: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fan-mail-joseph-lewis/1142543281?ean=9781685131685
Of course, you can find
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Photos of John Raymond Lewis, Sr. courtesy of Unknown
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