My friends called him Lurch!

To most of my friends, my Dad was a large man. Most of them, and all three of us children, had to look way up when he was talking to us. Not just, tall, but he was a large, thick man. He came from very hearty stock. One side was from the hard-labored people of South Dakota (we think that they were Nordic people-maybe- both grandparents were orphans). On the other, the hard working farm families of Mississippi. I never met his Dad. My grandfather died at the age of 52, before my parents were even married. My mom only has sparse memories of him. Though she says that he was an intimidating man. But, back to Lurch. On June 16, 2007, my Dd would have been 60 years young. He died in 1998, at the age of 51 from cancer. His father also had cancer. He was the oldest of four children. He has two sisters and a brother. They all live here in the Memphis area along with my grandmother, who this year, turned 85 (as a side note- her mother lived past 100!)!

I am the oldest of my parents' three children. My sister is two years younger, my brother, 5 years younger. My parents were married for over 20 years when Daddy died. I never knew any two people who loved one another more. If I can't have that type of relationship with a man, I'd rather not be married. They were cute together, but caring and sweet. Fun, yet parental. They expected a lot from us, but didn't push too hard.

My Dad was firm, but a big teddy bear. It was important that we always tried our best. Because of him, all three of us children were very involved in sports. In fact, it was while I was playing softball that he came up with the lovely and affectionate name of Nerdine! How horrifying! We have all three grown up- yes some more than others (I'm talking about myself Erlay!) and are now adults. But on this, the year of his 60th year, I Promise to try harder, to do better, and to be a better person. For Lurchy!