Parents

His name escapes me at the moment, but supposedly a well-known athlete was once asked what made him and other talented performers so proficient at their chosen sports.  His answer was brief and blunt:  "I chose good parents."

Obviously, he was being rather facetious, as it is rather difficult for most people to choose their birth parents.  Our class does, though, seem to have been abundantly blessed to have so many individuals "who have chosen such good parents."  Two of them were noted recently in the local media.

In the December 8, 2017 edition of the Brookings Register, the front-page headline read "Habitat house dedicated in memory of builders."  The Methodist Church "provided $100,000 worth of funding  significant amounts of labor..." for the Brookings Area Habitat for Humanity, and simultaneously honored two deceased members who were long-time volunteers.   Those two men were David McCaa and Lloyd Darnall.  The comments in the paper concerning the efforts of these two men truly display their unselfishness and love of neighbor. 

While Mr. McCaa may be unknown to many of us, Mr. Darnall, father of Sharon of our class, was certainly no stranger.  He became the city engineer for Brookings in 1961, and retired in 1985.  He obviously put his engineering skills to good use, as he is thought to have worked on about 60 of the 66 houses that have been built in the Brookings area, while Mr. McCaa lent his expertise on about 40 of them, 

Lynn Dahl, who began teaching Industrial Arts at the high school shortly after we graduated, said that Mr. Darnall "was a real perfectionist,"  and that, rather than using a level, he would use a plumb box to ensure greater accuracy.  Another volunteer noted that "Lloyd was always the one who laid out all the interior walls in the house.  That's what he liked to do.  And he always measured twice."  A common refrain from  industrial arts teachers is "Measure twice and cut once"  to make everything fit properly.  As the article stresses, Mr. Darnall was a mentor and teacher to numerous individuals.

Even upon retirement, he continued to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, as is evidenced by his work on most of the houses that were built in the area.  "Lloyd was also a specialist at laying that (laminate) flooring,"  Jeff Grant noted.  "At age 90, he was down on his hands and knees laying flooring,"  Dahl added,  "and he could get up, too."  He was able to do this all day long, they said, while most of them could only last an hour or two at the most.   At our age, most of us can probably sympathize with these statements, but Mr. Darnall seemed to defy the aging process.

He was able to accomplish these feats because he kept himself in fine shape.  He would even lead the volunteers in stretching exercises so  they could try to achieve greater agility, efficiency, and flexibility. 

Mr. Darnall, who passed away at the age of 93 on September 10, 2016 (http://eidsnessfuneralhome.com/memsol.cgi?user_id=1851197), is certainly deserving of this honor.  His entire family can be proud of his achievements and the influence he had on their lives and the lives of others in the community.

Another elderly parent who lived even longer was Mr. James A. Vincent, father of Gary of our class.  Mr. Vincent recently passed away on Dec. 4, 2017 at the age of 97 (http://rudesfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/RudesF1/obit.cgi?user=33746257_JVincent).  I knew virtually nothing about Mr. Vincent, but in the last few days, have come to respect him tremendously.
His obituary contains a brief recap of his life, but just scratches the surface of his importance to  his family and his country. 

At the visitation, Gary told me how lucky his father was to have had two wonderful marriages.  His father's first marriage of almost 33 joyful years ended when his wife Deloris passed away in December of 1982.  He remarried in October of 1991.  That second marriage had an intriguing twist.  My hearing is not as good as it should be, so I may have misconstrued the story somewhat.  It seems that Mr. Vincent's best friend died, and he ended up marrying his widow.   This marriage lasted 26 happy years.  All the children and step-children noted how enjoyable these years were. 

Gary and I also had an extended conversation about our high school track and field days.  Track and field was probably the weakest sport in the athletics department of BHS in our day.  We both had similar thoughts on the philosophy and training methods of those days.

At the funeral service, Mr. Vincent's stepson gave us a short history lesson about World War II.  As the obituary reads, Mr. Vincent spent about four years in Europe fighting in some of the most  historic battles on the European front. 

Susan, Gary's sister, told us of the enormous garden that Mr. Vincent planted, and the abundant crops that it produced.  One year, he had 76 tomato plants.  She empphasized that they canned not only tomatoes, but so many numerous other vegetables and fruits from their little acreage, that they had jars of canned good coming "up the wazoo."

Mr. Vincent loved to fish, and Gary told a story of the time his father asked him if he wanted to go along.  Even though Gary was recently married, he jumped at the chance.  His wife, though, felt left out, and asked "What about me?"  Mr. Vincent replied, "OK, but I'm not baiting your damn hook!."  As Gary told the tale, his wife outperformed them all, or at least caught the first fish. 

While funerals always carry with them a sense of grief and sadness, Gary recognized that it was time for his father to depart from this earth.  Since Mr. Vincent was still on the rolls of the Aurora VFW (American Legion?) , it was fitting that some of those members were present at the funeral to give a proper military send-off. 

How fortunate Sharon and Gary were to choose such wonderful fathers.  The poem on Mr. Vincnt's obituary sums up a philosophy of life rather succinctly (the images may be rather small; a left-click enlarges them so they may be read easier).