My father is my hero. I have always looked up to him, and Dave says "Oh, you are still a Daddy's girl." And I am. My dad is really tall, my mother is really short. My mother is really feisty. She's always been feisty and my dad has always been very, oh he just follows along, but he is just so stable. His favorite saying that he says, even when we were there a couple of weeks ago, he says "I have lived the American dream. I want you to say that at my funeral." I truly believe he did live that dream.

He grew up on a farm. His parents were kind of share croppers. They didn't have running water, they didn't have electricity, and of course, no heat. They were out in the middle of no place. You had to ride a horse to school or catch a ride, if somebody had a car.

But he always instilled in us that education is the thing to do. So when I was still in elementary, my mom and dad neither one had gone to college and married very young, he sent my mom to college. My mom didn't really want to go, but he thought "You know, we're going to need that, to send these kids to college. We're going to need a second income."

And I grew up knowing, seeing my father washing dishes every night so my mom could sit at the table and do her homework. My dad did housework, and of course I probably wasn't made to do as much as I should have. My dad would say "Oh, that's okay."

Back in the late 50's and early 60's, men didn't do that. I grew up with my dad going to church with us, when SO many other dads never went to church. I can really visualize, seeing parents, especially fathers, dropping their kids off at church, as we are going in to Sunday School and my family, we were walking in on the church pew it would always be: my brother, my dad, me, my mother. They always had to sit between us so we wouldn't fight. But the whole family right there

My dad worked for the highway department, and he was able to retire when he was 50. Dave was always so jealous of him, for he would say "Every day is Saturday." He has been retired longer that he has worked now. But he says "I have lived the American dream, and I hope everyone will realize what is important in your life is: your family, and how you live your life.

As I said, my dad is my hero. As a matter of fact, one of our sons is spending the weekend with him and my mom.