father's day

[chrisamaphone]

for the first time in my life, i did something for father's day: i finally got round to scanning several of the items pertaining to my father that i received from my grandmother during my visit to arkansas two christmases ago.

i was born in may 1986, and my dad died in october of the same year.


this was my dad at (presumably) high school graduation; he never finished college:


the way i understand it, the context of his move to atlanta and subsequent death was financial. i was newly born and he had debts to pay. he had been working on a chemical engineering degree, and the good jobs were in atlanta. here's some primary source context, a letter he wrote to his grandmother whom he owed money:





this is his obituary, in the upper left:


the way my grandmother tells it, his superiors told him to jump down to fetch that hammer, a full story down from where they were working. they didn't tell him about the poor structural integrity of the flooring.

this was his resume:




some photos of him over the years...







with me:


with mom & me:

Comments

[tak0]

wow!

[tak0]

wait, no, that may have sounded wrong. more like "whoa". tragic story ( :( ), but engrossing having this glimpse into his life and into the almost pre-chrisamaphone history of a chrisamaphone.

[chrisamaphone]

it didn't sound wrong; i share the sentiment. i'm very detached from the whole thing... it's not like i can even look at the baby in those pictures and get my head around the fact that it's me. seeing "christopher robin" in his letters almost hits like "whoa, that's my name!", but then, so does reading winnie the pooh. ;)

[gf2e.livejournal.com]

Christopher Robin is an excellent name. I didn't (know? remember?) that Robin was your middle name. I will now think of you whenever I read Winnie the Pooh. :)

[wjl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the "Christopher Robin" part really drove it home!

Thanks for sharing this story..

[wjl.livejournal.com]

P.S. hugs.

[xuth.livejournal.com]

It's a really weird feeling, feeling completely detached from the subject but knowing that there is a significant connection.

[blk]

Yeah, ditto that.
Wow!

[simrob.livejournal.com]

It is... really weird to know all of the places mentioned here, or at least know how to drive to them. You lived a couple blocks from where my aunt lives now.

[chrisamaphone]

I never lived there, actually. My mom and I were staying in Austin and had planned to join him there later.

[simrob.livejournal.com]

Aah. I was a bit confused; I didn't remember you ever talking about briefly living in Atlanta.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_tove/]

Holy fuck the emotional impact of that letter followed by that newspaper clipping augh.

[zacharyzsparks.livejournal.com]

yeah :(

[toorsdenote.livejournal.com]

Yeah. That's pretty devastating. Oof.

[twinofmunin.livejournal.com]

this.

[redglasses.livejournal.com]

Your dad was a Weasley! (I like the top-right picture from the third album page, in the grey jacket)

Fathers' Day is weird.

[chrisamaphone]

haha, definitely a Weasley. i think i'm always surprised to see how redheaded/freckled he was when younger. i also adore that grey jacket picture (with the grumpy look).

[demarko (from livejournal.com)]

thank you for sharing these! <3

[sageofminerva]

That was a powerful story.

Also, I'm pretty sure baby Chris frowns on those shenanigans in several of those pictures.

[beanrows.livejournal.com]

It looks like your dad was a good guy.

I love the picture where he's holding up your arms like "YEAHHHH"

[gwillen.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you see this, but to me your dad's photos have a surprising resemblance to young Richard Feynman. Maybe somewhere between him and ghannema, actually, in a couple of them.

It's kind of amazing to get this sort of glimpse into the past. Sorry it has to be one with such a tragic ending.

[tak0]

It's kind of amazing to get this sort of glimpse into the past. Sorry it has to be one with such a tragic ending.

that is the sentence i wish i had written up above, instead of... whatever the hell it was i said. (ohgod so out of brain cells.)

[psifenix.livejournal.com]

I've always struggled with "what to do with myself on Father's Day." Next time I'm at my mom's house I'll definitely try something like this. :)

[twinofmunin.livejournal.com]

you definitely look like him.

[chronicfreetime.livejournal.com]

Didn't see that one coming. Quite a story, thanks for sharing.

It's interesting what people used to put on their resumes.