I loved my father, though we wrestled a bit in my teenage years since he was “over-protective” in my estimation at the time. Looking back, I am glad he was! He loved me, and I knew it on a deep level. He never knew his own father, and so did not have a role model, but he instinctively became a good father. He was gentle but firm, kind but strong, creative and poetic. He had a funny sense of humor and liked to tell jokes. Sometimes he laughed louder than his audience. Once, he laughed so hard at his own joke at the dining room table, that he fell over backwards and knocked himself out for several minutes. The family gathered around in dismay, only to find that moments later he came to and was still laughing. I call that his “Leo drama,” though it was real!
My dad was a very successful business owner, designer, and seller of Architectural Hardware. He was very creative, and when the front door of the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City was destroyed by a bomb, my dad designed the new door plates and doorknobs. He was not Mormon, but living in Salt Lake, he did a lot of business with the church, and ended up designing the hardware on some other Mormon Temples in the country, as well as other office buildings, and the original MGM Hotel in Reno, Nevada. His company was Ralph Andersen Hardware Company in Salt Lake City.
I always loved visiting my dad at work. There was a period in my late 20’s when I worked for him for a while. It actually helped to bring us closer. When my older brother Keith completed his time in the Air Force, he went to work for my dad for many years. He was more of a salesman and took the business to another level, which landed the MGM job.
Later, after my father passed, Keith followed in my dad’s creative footsteps and innovated a new door package. He then bid on the Las Vegas MGM Hotel job as an independent up against numerous large companies. He said he felt our dad’s presence with him at the table, and Keith ended up winning the bid! It was the biggest building job ever at the time, and it opened the door to other hotel jobs for Keith in Vegas for years to come and allowed him to support and help his large family of 8 children and 32 grandchildren. My dad had relentlessly instilled in him the importance of responsibly providing for one’s family! Keith also learned from my dad’s incredible generosity.
There were rough times since both had the disease of alcoholism, and yet they both managed to keep their businesses going until the end of their lives, never failing to fulfill their commitments.
Fathers come in all shapes and sizes, with different kinds of abilities and skills and various challenges. Some are gentle and loving and others are more stern or even tyrannical. Whatever our father was like, we can be grateful that he helped to give us life. Some can remember mostly positive memories, and others may still, after years, be healing the wound.
On this Father’s Day, let us also remember our Divine Father, as Jesus thought of him—gentle and loving and compassionate. Earthly fathers are expressions of Him, but He is the one we can ultimately call upon. We will always receive His help and guidance.
Happy Father’s Day!
Love and blessings,
Rev. Kathy