Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Three Stories for Father's Day

Randy Seaver’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun is timely. We’re writing about our father’s for Father’s Day.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is:

1) Sunday, 19 June, is Father's Day. Let's celebrate by writing a blog post about your father, or another significant male ancestor (e.g., a grandfather).

2) What are three things about your father (or significant male ancestor) that you vividly remember about him?

3) Tell us all about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook status or Google+ stream post.

My father, William Joseph Hork was born 23 April 1930,  just days after the 1930 census was taken and thus was not on it. His parents were William Cyril Hork and Anna Marie Sullivan. He married Lela Nell Johnston (1934-1992) on 19 April 1953 and they had 6 children. I’m the oldest. He died 13 Oct 2007.

SPORTS.

He kept track of all the football teams

My father loved sports. He played football in high school, especially the position of quarterback. He was left-handed but could throw the ball with either hand, which probably confused the other teams. He loved watching all kinds of sports on television: football, baseball, golf, and boxing. When I was in high school, I remember attending the Oakland Raider games at the Coliseum. This was before the team moved to Los Angeles. We had end zone seats and it always seemed the team scored at the end where we were not sitting! He had one annoying habit, though. He hated traffic and we would always leave before the end of the game “to beat the traffic.” The Raiders were notorious for scoring big in the last two minutes of play and we would hear loud cheering from the parking lot. After the Raiders left, he moved his allegiance to the San Francisco 49ers and I think he became an even bigger fan. It might have been due to having more time spend since he was retired. He also followed the San Francisco Giants and I regret he couldn’t have gone to see the new AT&T Park. He just wasn’t mobile enough for the trek.

GARDENING.

Once my dad  retired, he was able to putt around in his garden. By this time, they were living in the old Potters house across the street which had a very nice yard. There was a swimming pool with lawn, flower beds, and a place to plant a vegetable garden. Summer parties were always enjoyable with the pretty colorful petunias, pansies, and other annual flowers in the background. Later, when he was not as mobile, he hired gardeners to come help him. The yard continued to look nice up to the point when he sold the house to move to a condo.

WORK.

Working at Bon Appetit--he's on the right

My dad worked in the produce business most of his life. He worked for Safeway, LoRay, Ralph, and other small stores. He was in the union  majority of his career except for the short stint with LoRay as a produce buyer in their main office. He worked very early hours, as the deliveries of produce came early and he had to have the store racks looking good. This might have been before there being refrigerated stands and he had to return the cool items to the stands before the store opened. He worked on Sundays most of the time because he got paid double-time on that day and with six kids, more money was needed. His one off day was Tuesday, so we didn’t see much of him on weekends. Because of getting up early, he was in bed and asleep by eight p.m. most days. Another thing he did at the store was make the large signs that used to hang in the front windows announcing that week’s specials. Our living room would have the smell of Magic Markers for hours after the signs were made. His hand printing was very distinct and almost perfect.

Copyright © 2016 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.