Editorial thoughts
and musings by Anthony Gagliardo
Entry:032805
MY HERO
Hello Fan-Nites,
I hope all is well with you. I hope all had a good Easter. I would like to share with all of you my
admiration for my dad. He was one of the strongest people I knew. He never complained even when he was in pain. He was a well-loved man. He may have not
been rich as far as money is concerned but with love and admiration from a host of friends my dad was a millionaire. On March 18th, 2005 my dad past away.
My dad has been hospitalized for 10 months. He knew he wasn’t coming home despite our encouragement thathe would be home. We even believed he would be home for this Christmas. He was a fighter. Even in weakness he was strong. He wanted to be strong for all of us. He hung on for all of us, mostly for my
mom. Despite some idiosyncrasies they loved each other. I am proud of my mom; she too is a strong person.
I remember that my dad at times cooked at the local Fleet Reserve Association. One day I was told to go
through a certain door to bring in the packages that were to be used for that evening’s meal. What I did was sounded an alarm and sand blasted by one of the
members, “What’s the matter with you…” blah, blah blah. Anyway my dad just came out of the kitchen and bellowed that I was with him and that the alarm
was suppose to be off when delivery or some such. The man backed down and apologized in a way, “Why didn’t you tell my you were John’s boy.”
There were other times I remember. We used to go to A&W Root Bear that used to be on Saviers Road in
Oxnard California. We usually got ice cream cones, a gallon of root beer and of course root beer floats. In my adulthood we use to take each other out on our
birthdays. Usually to an Italian Restaurant. Our usual hangout was Little Tony’s. It use to be called Little Caesar’s until the name became a big chain so
they had to change their names to Little Tony’s. I found out later that his favorite place was Armando’s. Armando’s was a sister restaurant to Little Tony’s.
We were talking of strength. My dad had a Chevrolet truck four door. He was working at the front end when it slipped of something, I forget, and almost crushed his chest. My dad was able to lift up the front end so he could squeeze himself out. This story is second hand form my younger brother. Being a navy man he was good at different types of tying knots. He was good at lassoing. I never could get the hang of either of them. In Guam my dad drove a cab. In the early 70’s
my dad did upholstery. He tried Amway.
Before he went to the hospital we still did the restaurant thing on our birthdays and we played
cribbage. So I look at a deck of cards, drive by an A&W and Italian restaurants I think of my dad. I will miss you pops. Still the strongest man I know.
Thanks for listening.
Anthony T. Gagliardo
The People’s Editor
Please
E-mail me with comments at: submissions@inter-fan.org