WYRK Staff Honors Their Fathers

Clay Moden with his Father Chuck

This is going to be the first Father's Day since my Dad passed on March 5th. It's hard to put all the things I could say about my Dad in one paragraph. It has been some of the toughest three months of my life. Someone told me at the wake that "once you have lost your father, you now have become a man." I can't stop thinking about how true that is. My father was my guide to life. A great teacher both professionally and personally, I have learned and continue to learn so much from him. A TRUE gentleman, father, brother and husband, my father was everything I could ever hope to be. I find myself missing him more and more and I thought that it would be easy to move on from. I doubt that I will ever truly be ok with losing such a great man so soon, but, everyday I find ways to use a part of him and his values and advice in my life. All of these things is what becoming a man is all about.

Thanks Dad for that lesson!-Clay

Wendy Lynn with her Father Ron

My dad worked hard all his life as a dairy farmer back home in Michigan. He would get up every morning at 4am to milk the cows. The entire family would help out bailing hay and cleaning stalls on the farm I wouldn’t change my childhood growing up on the farm for anything. I do wish I were closer with my dad but I understand that he was raised in a different time and his family didn’t say the words I love you or hug each other much. I know dad loves me and I love him and we now say that to each other when we talk on the phone. Dad still lives in Michigan and has remarried after my mother passed away.

I’m happy my dad is happy and I wish him the best. Happy Father’s Day dad!

Dale Mussen with his Father

I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of my dad.  My father lost his hearing as an infant.  The story I'm told is that he fell off a highchair, hit his head and somehow caused him to lose his hearing.  Some people call it a disability, but it never was for my dad.  He was just a regular guy who just happened not to be able to hear.
He's never had a problem communicating with people and you don't have to know sign language to talk to my dad.  He'll find a way to understand what you're saying and there's no doubt you'll understand what he's trying to say.

One thing I've never been able to share with my dad is my love for music.  And strange that the son of deaf parents would choose radio for a career.  My first opportunity to be on the air was when I was selected to represent my high school on a local radio station for a short segment on a Sunday night.  Both my mom and dad were able to appreciate the excitement through the expressions on the faces of the rest of the family who were listening and by holding their hands to the radio and feeling the vibrations.

My dad is an incredibly talented guy and when I was growing up I don't think there was anything that he didn't know how to do.  Fixing, building, renovating.  He could do it all.  He's a retired tool and die maker - worked nearly 30 years at Trico Products in Buffalo then moved to California to take a job with IBM.  After he retired he finally had time for all those hobbies he wanted to do.  One of them is woodworking and whittling.  He's come up with some unbelievable creations that I'm proud to display in my home.  They are things I will always have to remember my dad.

He loves to keep busy and even in his 80's he still has a part-time job working behind the scenes in food concessions at the arena where the San Jose Sharks hockey team plays.  It's just a couple of times a week for a little extra spending money and he looks forward to it.

I just hope I have a fraction of my dad's energy and good health when I get to be his age.

John La Mond's Father Robert

It's very difficult to write about my father, Robert P. La Mond, and try to have you know who he really was in a paragraph or two. My dad was a very religious man who loved the Lord and took great pride in being a Catholic. As a boy, he would often embarrass me because he took great delight at being the loudest person in the church when saying the prayers and singing the hymns. Aside from his love of God, my father's other passion was his love for his family. After I became an adult, I realized that my dad was ALWAYS at home with us. He was always puttering around in his basement workshop tackling another home repair or building something for the house.

My dad's life was not always easy. He lost his leg at the age of 37 in a tree cutting accident at our home. He spent 88 days in the hospital that Summer and almost died twice from complications. Because of my dad losing his leg, we could never do some the typical father and son stuff like hiking, biking or playing football. But, my dad gave me the most important gift of all: his time. He would always help me with my go-karts, and later on my cars. He loved working on anything that involved using his tools. He was always the first guy to help a neighbor out of a jam if they had car trouble or needed a home repair. He would always tell me to remember all the people in the world that have nothing. This Father's Day will be my second one without my dad. He passed away on my wife's birthday in 2010. Perhaps it was only fitting because he loved her as much as my sisters and I.

Brett Alan and his Dad

You’ve heard the phrases “a chip off the old block,” and “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Those phrases describe me and my dad to a tee. We acted alike, we used the same phrases, we even looked alike. My dad was me with a big red beard. It’s funny how afraid of him we were when we were kids because he was so strict but by the time I was in high school, he was one of my best friends. I told him that at my bachelor party. His response was, “Brett, you’re drunk.”

Even though he kind of blew it off at the time, I know it meant a lot to him. And I’m glad I took the opportunity to tell him what he meant to me. I had no idea he was going to leave my life so early.
He passed away in his sleep 3 years ago from a heart attack at 65 years old but it’s amazing how much of him is still here with me to this day.

A couple things I learned from my dad:
• I make a better door than a window.
• I wasn’t raised in a barn and I should close the door.
• If I wanted to fight one of my brothers, the winner had to take him on next.
• If you put your name on something, you better make it good.
• Work hard
• Life isn’t going to give you anything. If you want something, you have to earn it.
• If you promise someone something, you come through on that promise.
• Don’t shake a man’s hand if you don’t mean it, and look him in the eye when you do.
• Be cautious but never be afraid.
• A belt passing through belt loops is an effective means of communication.
• You never start a fight. But if you find yourself in one, make sure you finish it. And if you’re the only person fighting against a couple of other people, take on the biggest one first.
• When someone from Oklahoma (He was born and raised in Oklahoma) asks for a PIN, they want a writing utensil, and we needed to go to the bathroom to WARSH our hands and to use the TORLET.
• There’s nothing more important than God, your family, and your country.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be nothing like my dad. Now when someone says I’m just like him, it’s the biggest compliment that they can pay me. If my kids love me when I die half as much as I love my dad, I will have been the luckiest man to walk the earth since he did it.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads this weekend.