Dad talked about nutrition as the key to health, organic farming and gardening, and the dangers of chemical fertilizers and pesticides 50 years before it became fashionable. He gave up smoking at age 11 because he wanted to play basketball and the coach wouldn't let him if he smoked. He gave up hunting when he got married because he said his life had become more valuable. He played baseball in the old industrial leagues - covering centerfield and generally batting clean-up. (He said the only major league player he ever knew personally was Sal Magli - and that they had taught Sal his inside fast ball that, in the majors, earned him the nickname "Sal the Barber" because before he learned it, they were hitting everything he threw out of the park.) He showed up for dates with my mother with his little nephew, whose mother had died when he was born, so that his own mother could have a day off. He wanted to be an accountant, but made the mistake of graduating from high school in 1932 - when there was no money to beg, borrow, or steal to go to college. So he took a correspondence course in accounting and became the treasurer of the Credit Union at the factory where he worked - actually got paid $2,000 a year for doing it! He had an occupational deferment during WW II because the owner of the factory told his draft board that Dad was the only person who could run the factory (which had military contracts), if anything happened to him (the owner). So, as his part of the war effort, he started giving blood - he was working on his 43rd gallon in 2008, when he was 94 years old. When my brother and I came along, he was there - he read endlessly to us; he sat me on the floor at his feet after Mom washed my hair and brushed it; whenever we expressed interest in any subject, he had his nose in the encyclopedia, learning as much as he could about that subject so he could help us; he came home at night. He and my mother were married for exactly 71 years and 8 months - and they were still holding hands - not only completely in love, but best friends.