Father’s Day just around the corner, causing me to reflect on my personal experiences with fatherhood both as a father and as a son. I am blessed to have had Garland F. Kelly as my dad and, especially after my sons came along, my role model. He taught me what it means to be a good father, even though he did not have the same fortune of learning by example; my grandfather died when dad was only three years old.

My father was born the youngest of ten children in a little crossroads called Pleasant Shade, Virginia. When his two older brothers left to fight in WWII, my dad stepped in to take care of my grandmother. Though he was only in the eighth grade at the time, dad had no choice but to drop out of school and go to work in order to support the family. He stocked groceries for five years before going to work for the Bloom family, who owned a small town Jewish department store. At that time, Jewish department stores were a staple in the south, and my hometown of Emporia, VA was no exception. My dad worked for the Blooms for thirty-eight years before moving to Columbia, where he worked in the clothing business for twenty more years.

 

Dad always told me I may have all of the book sense, but he had all of the common sense…and he was right! I learned a lot from my dad, who passed away in 2008, and I have tried to harness that wisdom to be the best dad I can be to Patrick and Mac. If I have been half the father to my sons as my father was to me, I will have succeeded. And now, with the arrival of my granddaughter Helena, here’s hoping that my son Patrick, the newest dad in the Kelly family, will emulate Garland’s tradition!