MY FATHER

This is a tribute to my father, Henry Harrison Errett, better known as H.H. Errett.

I first posted this in February, 2007 but wanted to republish it here as a tribute to my wonderful father in celebration of Father's Day.  I re-posted it June 21, 2009 and am once against posting it today, 3 years later, on June 17, 2012.

Next to my Lord & Savior, Jesus the Christ, my father and the things he taught me, the examples he lived out in front of me, has had, and continues to have, the most influence in my life.

I loved my father dearly. I was what you commonly call a "daddy's girl". I was, and am, very proud of my father. What he accomplished, who he was as a person and what he meant to me and my mother.

My father was born September 23, 1885 in Pennsylvania. He was the youngest of 8 children, 5 girls and 3 boys. As a very early child he and his family traveled from Pennsylvania to Kansas by covered wagon. As near as I can calculate the family must have traveled about 1250 miles in that covered wagon. I have no idea how long it took them to make the journey. Upon settling in Kansas my grand-father began farming. The two older sons in the family remained farmers and stayed in the same area of Gridley, Kansas for their entire lives.

My father did not want to be a farmer and left Kansas and ended up in New Mexico. The story of how that transpired I do not know. In 1918, at the age of 33, he served in the 5th New Mexico State Legislature. He was married and had two daughters. He became a widower when his wife died of TB.

On September 19, 1935, 4 days before his 50th birthday, he married my mother, Pauline Dickey Banta. My mother was a young widow with a 10 year old daughter named Marion. My mother was only 29 years old at the time of their marriage. This made her 21 years younger than my father and only a few years older than his two daughters from the first marriage.

I came along 2 years later. At the time of my birth my father was 52 and my mother was 31. I was born in a small town just north of Santa Fe, New Mexico, called Espanola. We moved to Santa Fe when I was only a few months old and I was raised in Santa Fe.

My father was in the Real Estate & Insurance business. H.H. Errett Real Estate. His office was on the second floor of the Ganns building on the Plaza. The picture above was taken walking the sidewalk in front of his office. It so represents him: walking briskly, papers in hand, pens in pocket, hat on head, pipe in mouth and dressed in business attire. He was a very fast walker and consequently so was ,and am, I. Mother use to always be saying, "You two slow down and wait for me". During my entire life I never saw my father dressed in casual clothes. Only one time, when we visited my maternal grandparents in Missouri and we went swimming and he put on some overalls to swim. He was always dressed like this or with an added suit jacket.

My father, like so many of his age, had lost literally everything during the depression. He had started over at the age of 50 and was quite successful. He provided a very wonderful life for me, my sister Marion and my mother. My father was just as wonderful a father to Marion and loved her and treated her as his very own. He had twin grandchildren, a boy and a girl, who were 1 year and 2 months older than I. It was always interesting when they would come to town to visit, which wasn't very often because their father was in the oil business and they lived in Peru, South America. They, being a year older than I, naturally were a head taller than I. So here was my father with these three children saying, "These two taller ones are my grandchildren and this littler one is my daughter"!!!

My father was very outgoing and social. He was a Deacon of the First Christian Church which he attended until his death. He was active in the Optimist Club of America and served some as the President. He loved to play pool and could quite often be found doing so. He was somewhat active in politics and a staunch Democrat. He was a totally honest man, and had an outstanding reputation with any and all who knew him, regardless of their status. There is a Errett Street in Santa Fe named after him.

He had a very full and happy life and died on June 17, 1972 at the age of 87. I was only 35 years old and my mother was 66 . My biggest regret is, because of his advanced age when I was born, our two younger sons never really knew him.

My reason for writing this is two fold. I just find it so interesting if you think about how much life has changed in America and in society in general from his birth until now. During a span of two generations we have gone from covered wagon days to super-sonic jet travel. Telephone's with an operator putting through the calls on a switchboard, and party lines. His office number was 616 and our home number was 1520W. The "w" representing we shared that party line with another family. The older lady next door was always picking up the phone and listening to my calls!! One, usually large, radio in the living room where everyone would gather around to hear the news or a few shows. I remember when we got out first black and white TV. What a big day that was. Cars with running boards and no air conditioners or radio. Wringer washing machines and clothes lines. Old Underwood typewriters. He would have no concept of me typing at this computer and this little tribute going literally around the world. Pipe organs at church. He would be very surprised with the many instruments used today to praise his God. Praise and worship songs in addition to the old standard hymns he knew so well. His two favorites were "The Old Rugged Cross" and "In The Garden". The fast pace of life. Stores used to be opened only Monday through Saturday and then only from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nothing was opened on Sunday. Most roads were dirt and the highways were 2 lane. I could go on and on but you get the picture.

Thanks for listening. to this "daddy's girl" reminisce about her father.

When I posted this 2 years and 4 months ago I had NO IDEA the changes I would be seeing in the world we live in that have occurred just during these 24 short months. I know that my father would be more horrified than I am at the turn of events and direction that our country and our world are taking. I was re posting this in honor of my father, but re-reading it made me so much more aware of just how very fast we are seeing our country deteriorate. I'm glad he did not live to see what I am seeing.


As I re-post this again THREE years later, I am even more horrified at the terrible changes that we are observing in our great country.  Morally we are truly getting close to what the Bible speaks when it says, "As in the days of Noah........"  We are coming up on a VERY important election this November.  PLEASE - I beg you, study the candidates and vote for the people you think can turn our country back to being a GODLY nation.  I am thankful for this little blog that makes me so aware of how fast things are changing in my lifetime. 

I love you daddy. You were the best father I could have ever asked or hoped for.

FATHER'S DAY 2011

The card below was given to Mickey by our youngest, Marc, on Father's Day June 19, 2011. 

 

The long typewritten letter that was enclosed, and read to the family by Mickey himself, was so touching and awesome.  I am so very thankful for the openness and love that our family has one for the other.  I'm thankful for children who are open and able to express their love for us and each other.  I'd love to share the letter here but I know that doing so would embarrass Mickey so I'll refrain.

Yesterday was our first Family Holiday and Celebration since losing our Suzette one month ago on May 19th.  We had a rough week dealing with our tears and emotions during the proceeding week but as we celebrated together it was wonderful, as it should be, and as we knew Suzette would want it to be.  We know that she was looking over the banisters of Heaven enjoying it with us!!! 

 Those present were:  Mickey & I (who hosted with a wonderful Ham dinner), Jacque, Benny, Marc, Oksana, Aric, & son-in-love Dave.   I intended to take a group photo and completely forgot. 

Missed phone call from #1 son, David, in San Francisco before we got home from church but he called back and had a nice Happy Father's Day talk with his dad before the others arrived for dinner at 2. 

I pray your Father's Day was as blessed as ours.

I am so thankful for the earthly father, Henry Harrison Errett, that blessed my life and who I loved and adored.  He is the one, from the earliest of age, who taught me integrity and honesty as he not only talked the talk, but walked the walk every day before me. 

I am so thankful for the father of our children, Mickey Wayne Joyce, who loves them with his whole heart and who walks out, on a daily basis, the values he holds dear and lives by.

I am most thankful for my Heavenly Father who has held my hand, and my heart, these many years since I made Him mine at the age of 18.  There is no Father like our Heavenly Father but I have been triple blessed to have and share in the lives of the all these fathers.

My Mother

On this Mothers' Day 2010 I am reposting a blog I did about my mother on April 14, 2007 just a few months after beginning this Penless Writer blog. I am so thankful for my mother and the upbringing she gave me and the many things she taught me. If you still have your mother with you today Honor her that you may have long life, as The Word tells us.

************

This 1925 picture is of 5 generations. My mother, her daughter, Marion, her father, A.T. Dickey, her grandfather, and her great-grandmother.

This is a tribute to my lovely Mother, Pauline Dickey Banta Errett. I'm not exactly sure what age she was in this picture but you can see she was quite young and very beautiful.

I am one of those fortunate people who was blessed with wonderful parents. I have written about being a daddy's girl, and that I was, but I also loved my mother dearly.


My mother was born July 2, 1906 in Belgrade, MO., the eldest of seven children of Arthur Theodore & Mable Dickey. She had 4 younger sisters, and 2 younger brother.
At the age of 17 1/2, on December 22, 1923, she married Cyrus N. Banta. Her first child, my sister Marion, was born on July 13, 1925, just 9 days after her 19th birthday.

I don't know the exact date, but my mother became a very young widow raising a young daughter during the years of the Great Depression. I do know that she worked, and traveled, as a Nannie for a very wealthy family from St. Louis, MO. My mother never talked much about it, but one of my aunts told me how much my mother helped them by being in a position to supply them with food and some money during that time.

My mother married my father, Henry Harrison (H.H.) Errett, on September 19, 1935. He would be 50 years old 4 days later on September 23rd, she was 29 years old, and my sister, Marion, was 10 years old. I came into the story 2 years later on December 25, 1937.

My mother had "spunk"!! One of the tales they tell about her was during those 2 years before my birth they were living in Brownsville, TX. My father had purchased a small rental unit. One of the units was occupied by a man who "hit the bottle" (nice way for saying was a drunkard) and had not paid his rent for several months. My father was unsuccessful, no matter what he said, to extract the rental payments from this man. The day my parents were packing up to leave to move to New Mexico they were loading things onto a trailer. My father had an old rusty gun (my mother says there was no way it would have fired) laying there. My mother picked up the gun, to place it in the trailer. She said this "bottle hitter" was standing there watching them and it made her so angry she whirled around to "give him a piece of her mind since they were leaving anyway". Apparently when she whirled around the gun pointed at him and he immediately said, "Okay, okay here's your money!" and promptly paid the entire amount he owed them. I guess he was afraid this 31 year old woman was going to shoot him!!!!

In 1950, my parents had an order in with GM for a new Chevrolet. After the war it was difficult getting a new car. They had waited several months with no results but were seeing other people in Santa Fe, who had placed their orders after my parents, getting their new Chevy. My mother was getting very upset about this and proceeded to write the President of GM complaining and pointing out the apparent "favoritism" being played to those with more money. Sort of hinting that maybe some money was changing hands under the table? We had our brand new 1950 Bel Air Chevy that very week. Boy was it nice, pretty and fancy! Like I say, she was a woman of "spunk".

She was a woman of great GRACE and STYLE. She loved shoes and matching purses and had LOTS of them. She always had shoes & purse in the color to match what ever outfit she was wearing. Because she had only one pair of shoes as a kid she always wanted to have a bunch of them. She did!! She ALWAYS looked nice. Clear up until her death she would daily dress neatly, style her hair and put on a little make-up and lipstick. You could have dropped in on her at any minute of the day and she would have looked nice enough to go out anywhere with you, or welcome any guest to her home.

She was a very INDUSTRIOUS and GENEROUS woman. She kept an immaculate HOME (not a house) and would whip up a wonderful meal for you on the spot, if you dropped in unexpectedly, from just what was on her shelves. She always had dinner waiting for my father and I when we'd come in each evening from school and work. She made a lot of my sister and my clothes, although there was always the BIG, once a year, shopping trip to Albuquerque to buy new school clothes. She made several dresses for my forever friend, Joan. For Christmas one year she made Marion and I each 3 authentic matching squaw dresses.

She was a woman of INTEGRITY. I remember occasions, when a sales clerk had given her too much change. As soon as she realized it she would load me up and we would go back to return the money. She was a woman of her WORD and you could always count on her keeping her promises and doing what she had committed to.

She was a woman who stayed INTERESTED in life and what was going on. She was an avid cross-word puzzle worker. She could talk baseball and football with the best of them and watched many of the games. She was a good and faithful friend. I could go on and on about her many qualities.

One of the things I admire the most about her is, after living in Santa Fe for over 35 years, after my father died she was willing to pull up stakes, sell her home, leave her beloved Church, leave all her friends and move to Tulsa, OK to be near us. She then proceeded to become just as involved and interested here. Became a very central figure in our lives and family, made new friends, joined her Church and lived happy fulfilling years.

In 1982, as her health was starting to fail, my wonderful husband converted our 2 car garage into a separate apartment for her. She had a living room with bay window and it's own private entrance, a small kitchenette, a large bedroom with walk-in closet and a full bath. It also had an entrance directly into our house. It was a perfect living arrangement where we each had our privacy but yet she was a very integral part of our lives and family. In March of 1985, as her health was really failing, she wanted to return to New Mexico. We rented our Tulsa home and moved her, us and our 14 year old son, Marc (the other 3 older kids were grown) to Albuquerque. My sister proceeded her in death by 5 months and 6 days. My mother grieved terribly over that. She died on May 27, 1986 just 45 days before her 80th birthday.

My mother was a very strict disciplinarian. At times growing up I felt she was too strict and harsh on me. It was not until I became an adult that I realized a great deal of this was to offset my father's tendency to spoil and over indulge me. She loved me enough to not allow me to grow up a spoiled brat!!

I am who I am today because of my wonderful parents.

I am SOOO thankful for all they taught me and I miss them.

This I know, We will all be united some day!

FATHER'S DAY 2007

Father's Day was hosted by daughter, Suzette, and Son-in-love, Dave, at their home where Dave just completed this lovely pergola. Dave was also chef of the steak and chicken shish-kabobs. YUM!!

Here's Benny, Mickey & Marc eating dessert and watching the golf game.


Here's all the guys enjoying their meal. Mickey, Dave, Marc, Aric & Benny.



The gals, Jacque, Oksana, Suzette & I, ate inside on the linen table cloth and enjoying the cool air.
We had a grand time of honoring Mickey. We love family and time spent together just enjoying each other and having a good time.
Saturday Suzette and I spent the entire day together. We meet at 10 a.m. and I didn't get home until 5:30 p.m. We had such a good time. We went shopping, then ate at a new "girly" eatery and then Suzette treated us BOTH to a manicure and a pedicure. It was absolutely the best pedicure I've ever had. Thanks honey :o)
Aric came home with us and is spending a few days. Grandpa made a run to the doughnut shop this morning. Aric equates Grandma & Grandpa's with doughnuts!! Friday night Dave, Suzette, Jacque, Benny, Aric & Oksana are all going to the lake for a weekend camp out. Mickey, Marc & I are passing on that one :o)

Our 7th and final sermon yesterday on Unaltered Christianity was on

UNALTERED STABILITY

Although it was directed and applicable to each and every one of us Pastor Gary really focused on the Father's role of stability in all walks of a mans life. Starting of course with his role as head of the home and family. I am so proud to have a husband who is, and has been, that stability in our family for both me and our children and now even to our grandchildren. Long after we are both gone they will remember the undying love and stability of their father..

FATHER'S DAILY SURVIVAL KIT

Items Needed:

Mint

Candy Kiss

Tea Bag

Eraser

Rubber Band

Toothpick

Chewing Gum

Band Aid

Pencil

WHY?????

TOOTHPICK - to remind you to pick out the good qualities in others. * Matthew 7:1

RUBBER BAND - to remind you to be flexible. Things might not always go the way you want but it will work out. * Romans 8:28

BAND AIR - to remind you to heal hurt feelings, your or someone else's. * Collisions 3:12014

PENCIL - to remind you to list your blessings everyday. * Ephesians 1:3

ERASER - to remind you that everyone makes mistakes, and it's okay. * Genesis 50:15-21

CHEWING GUM - to remind you to stick with it, and you can accomplish anything.

* Philippians 4:13

MINT - to remind you that you are worth a mint. * John 3:16-17

CANDY KISS - to remind you that everyone needs a kiss or a hug everyday. * John 4:7

TEA BAG - to remind you to relax daily and go over your list of blessings. * II Thessalonians 5:18

* Relevant Scriptures

A SINGLE DAD -

We pay tribute to people on our blogs all the time. I have done them to my FATHER, SISTER, and MOTHER. All these people are from my past and now reside with Our Heavenly Father in perfect peace and tranquility.





The person I want to pay tribute to today is our SON, Marc Stephen Joyce, who is currently in the crucible of a very difficult and unfortunate situation. Being a SINGLE DAD.


This role was thrust on him suddenly. He was given a one week notice. It was not a role he EVER thought he would find himself in or EVER wanted to be in. It is a role he has grasp with all of his being and is doing a fine and wonderful job.





How do you go from being a father, who has a stay-at-home wife, an 8 year old son, an 11 year old daughter, and works an 8 to 5 job, to being the one who does it all? You JUST DO IT!! One step-at-a-time and one-day-at-a-time and even while your own heart is breaking and you are reeling from the circumstances and the reality of what has suddenly hit you between the eyes.





In the midst of this grief and agony have been many blessings and many challenges. The first blessing was that he was given a huge pay raise and promoted to Firm Administrator at the company where he has worked for 12 years. In addition, he was given the opportunity of working his own schedule around the needs of his two young children. Technology is such a wonderful thing in allowing him to stay "in tune" and "plugged in to" his work with out having to have an 8 to 5 presence. His current schedule consists of rising very early each morning at 5 a.m. and getting in 2 hours of work time, via computer, before waking the children at 7 a.m. After preparing breakfast and seeing they are all dressed and ready he drops Aric off at his 2nd grade class and Oksana at her bus stop and then gets to work around 8:30. He works straight through, seldom taking time out for lunch, and leaves the office at 2:15 in order to pick Aric up at 2:35 and then Oksana up from the bus stop at 4.





It has been a challenging year. Oksana was promoted from her elementary 5th grade class into middle school. Based on her academic standing she was able to transfer into one of Tulsa's most elite middle and high schools. She tried out for and was selected for the 6th grade Pom Squad. Marc became the Pom Dad among all the Pom Mom's and has taken an active roll in the activities and requirements of this role. Getting her to and from all the practices, attending the various games and even a trip to Oklahoma City where her squad won the first place State Trophy for 6th grade Pom. He has held slumber parties, helped with homework and all the sundry requirements of a young pre-teenager growing up fast. Hair appointments, shopping, gift buying, birthday and other various parties, etc.





Aric was promoted from 1st to 2nd grade and luckily remained in the same school. He was Student of the Month for February. He has not required the extra-curricula activities of his sister yet and has been totally involved with not only making wonderful grades but excelling at various computer games, building very complex Lego and Connectx structures. Both of the children have their own computers!!! Unbelievable to Grandpa and I that they are a 3 person, 3 computer family. The direct result of Marc's IT prowess with computers at his place of employment, in addition to Firm Administrator. Next year Aric will be getting involved in Cub Scouting which will add another dimension to his life and Marc's duties.





I would like to tell you it has been 13 months of per bliss and no problems. I would be lying. There have been many emotional and behavior problems. There has been much adjusting and coming to terms. But there has been much growth and much progress and the horizons are looking clear and things are coming more into focus for all three of them.





It has been Grandpa and my joy and privilege to play a small helping role but by and large Marc has not only taken it on himself but has preformed honorably and with great distinction.

We are soooooo very proud of you three.

MARC - OKSANA - ARIC