Dad LOVED to SING! He sang as he washed the dishes....Gloooooooooooooria in Excelces Deo. The morning he died, Theresa leaned close as we attended Church and whispered..."This is Dad's dish washing song."
He sang while he walked the floor late into the night with his babies. (PAUL...JIM...listen up! The older kids heard these songs..thousands of times as Dad walked back and forth...back and forth ....and rocked from one foot to another.....patting your backs as you howled far into the night! Dad LOVED to sing and hold his babies.
When I left for my Freshman year at Concordia. Dad drove me...and he sang all the way to Fargo..."I'm walking the floor over you" .... "The Red River Valley"...."On a cold winter's night...." After unloading the car, he stood in the lobby of Hoyum Hall hugged me tight. Dad knew just how scared I was, and had tried to comfort and reassure me on the drive as he had so many night as a small child with a warm hand-grasp and a song. I was scared to death...and I'll never forget Dad looking down into my eyes with tears in his own and saying, "Your going to be OK." I believed him, and I was. Dad was the strongest man I ever knew whose heart was as big as all of South Dakota.
