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