HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD

 Today, July 22, was my dad’s birthday (RIP 1914~2000). A career Army man, he fought in WWII: the Philippines, Guadalcanal, and New Caledonia. That was all before my  time, of course, but my life as an ”Army brat” was quite an interesting one. A privilege!

Dad is affectionally known as Papa Duke in The Dachshund Escapades, where he and Sarge become good buddies. In actuality, we adopted Duke in 2007, so they never knew each other—but I know it would have been  love at first sight. Dad loved dogs, and they loved him—that’s the beauty of writing  fiction based on reality: I can change things as I wish!

There was so much living in his 86 years. Our family called five states and two foreign countries home, and I attended 13 schools by the time I graduated at age 17. It was a wonderful life. My younger brother was born in France when I was seven.

Happy birthday in heaven, Dad. We all miss your zest for  life, your robust laugh, and funny stories. Your grandchildren never got to meet you down here, but they’re well acquainted with Papa Duke through my books. I like to think that makes you happy ♥️.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY IN HEAVEN, DAD

My late father, known as "Papa Duke" in THE DACHSHUND ESCAPADES, was one of the main reasons I wrote those books--to let his great grandchildren (whom he never met, sadly) know him and about him.  He passed away before they were born.

Here's a fitting tribute to my friendly, outgoing, teddy bear of a man, my dad:

I also posted this poem on my Facebook page, Mavis Duke Hinton's Books.  Someone once said that we never really "get over" the death of a loved one; we merely learn to keep going, and the warm memories will eventually replace the pain that is felt at the time we lose them.  I agree wholeheartedly!

I have many fond memories of my dad, and now the little great grandchildren can have them as well.  My eight-year-old granddaughter Alexa has been reading I AM SARGE.  She recently asked me, "Grandma, did that fishing story really happen?"  I was thrilled to tell her that it did, but the main difference between the one in the book and the actual event was that Sarge the doxie wasn't with Papa and Sellars in the boat.  Sarge had to be there in order to tell the story firsthand.  In fact, the real event actually occurred in Alaska, whereas in the book, it happened in North Carolina. Writing fiction allows one some leeway :).

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY IN HEAVEN, DAD!  We miss you.

Dad with his catch of salmon in Alaska

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Here's wishing all you dads out there a wonderful Father's Day.  Oh, I know dads don't get the attention that moms do on Mother's Day . . . but that doesn't mean we don't love and honor you just as much.

Two men have made my life so much better than it would have ever been without them:  Dad (now in heaven) and my husband Clark.  Dad was a fun-loving, gregarious sort of man who went all out with things that he loved:  cooking, gardening, music (he learned to play the guitar by ear as a young man), laughing, telling his funny stories, etc.  And he loved his family very much.  I sure do miss him!

Clark is a wonderful husband, father, and grandfather.  Always selfless and doing for others, he's a very special human being, even if he won't acknowledge it :).  We all know how talented and loving he is!  I know he's saved our family thousands of dollars over the years with his handyman skills:  repairing, installing, updating, creating, and improving things around our homes and working on vehicles.  He never brings attention to himself (unlike moi), so it's up to me to tell the world that he is so wonderful. 

Thank you, Lord, for bringing this man into my life.

My late dad, Robert Duke, who loved

being a chef

 

 

                                      Clark and me
                                      with the grandkids

                                              

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, CLARK AND DAD!

My husband Clark is a wonderful husband, father, and grandfather.  We all appreciate his kindness, selflessness, and handyman abilities, too.  I could go on and on, but you get the idea.  He's literally one in a million, and I love the fact that the Lord saw fit to bring us together over 41 years ago!

Clark and me with our
wonderful grandchildren

I also think of my beloved dad on Father's Day (and nearly every day) since he went home to be with the Lord in October 2000.  He's the Papa Duke in my books, and we all miss his sense of humor, his robust laugh, his zany-but-true stories, and his delicious cooking!

Happy Father's Day to these two men who have made my life so much more than it would have been without them in it.  I am blessed.

MY FAVORITE MEMORIES OF DAD

Today marks eleven years since my father, Robert "Papa" Duke, passed away at the age of 86.  I've written about him several times on this blog--about his life, on his birthday, on Veteran's Day--but today I just want to share some of my fond and blessed memories of how he touched my life.

1.  His robust laugh - I just cannot describe that joyful and full-bodied laugh of his and do it justice.  It was contagious, and we all ended up laughing along with him whenever he was sharing one of his funny stories or demonstrating how something had happened.

2. His delicious food - To Dad, "food = love."  He was an excellent cook-cum-chef, using that gift as a career.  Our family often joked that since Dad had cooked in the U.S. Army, he often cooked enough at home to feed an Army--and we tried to eat as much as an army would!

I've been in the thinking stages of a book planned around family recipes; I haven't decided yet if it will be merely a cookbook, because some of those delicious recipes used in my books have stories behind them:
Hot Fudge Pudding Cake
Chocolate Mint Brownies
Pork Chop Suey
Cranberry Banana Jam
Hungarian Beef Stew
Mexican Enchilada Casserole
Crunch Cake
Chicken and Dumplings
Farmer's Breakfast
Frosted Cinnamon Rolls
Lobster Newberg
Blackberry Cobbler

3. His music - As a young man, he started out with the acoustic guitar, teaching himself to play.  Later in life, Dad played the electric guitar by ear, and I'm thankful to have a recording he made just a couple of years before he died.  On it, he played some of his old favorites, even singing along on some of those and making comments here and there as only he could do:  T FOR TEXAS, GOODY GOODY, and the like.  He enjoyed music of the old timers, like Hank Williams, Eddie Arnold, and later Patsy Cline, Les Paul, Chet Atkins (his idol).  It is cherished.

4. His zest for life - Oh, how Dad loved the outdoors.  Our family went camping when I was young, across campgrounds in Europe, meeting friendly people of all nationalities.  What an education!  We even camped in the summertime in Alaska, but in a camper instead of a tent--it got pretty cold there, even on summer nights.

He had a huge garden, and under his large and capable hands with TWO green thumbs, it thrived and produced record crops of fruits and vegetables every year.  He loved fresh vegetables, even making his homemade salsa that needed a fire extinguisher while eating it!  His home-canned green beans were wonderful, and he and my mom spent many weeks canning and freezing their bounty.  He even took fresh veggies to "elderly" shut-ins well into his eighties!  

5. His love for dogs - As I was growing up, we usually had some kind of "dawg" around, and we did own several dachshunds.  We actually got our first doxie when we lived in Germany--a red female whom we named Elia.  All dogs loved Dad, because he played with and fed them endlessly!  He even got one of our dachshunds named Samantha, whom we called Sam,  to talk.  She could say "I'm hongry" the way Dad pronounced it, "wanna go out," along with a couple of other words.  Dad was thrilled to get Sam to "speak" for visitors.

6.  His delightful sense of humor - I simply had to include this one as a separate point, because he could make anybody laugh!  His zany stories and escapades, some of which are highlighted in THE DACHSHUND ESCAPADES books, are all true:  the fence story, the fishing story, the alligator story, to name a few.  He not only told his stories, but he would get up and demonstrate them, showing his audience how a dog loped along (I still can't do it justice myself), how a mosquito flew erratically when he was released from a freezer he had inadvertently flown into, or how an alligator opened his mouth by Dad's using his arms as jaws.  You'd just have to see these to understand why we all laughed so much around him :).

7. His faith - Dad came to know the Lord rather late in life, in his fifties.  But he became a different person once he accepted Christ.  He opened his already-big heart to others, reached out to help people, and simply lived out his faith in such a way that the dramatic change that took place in his life was a joy to witness.

Dad, we all love and miss you, but we know by your own words before leaving us that you are with our heavenly Father now.  This world is poorer without you, but you've left behind a treasure trove of wonderful memories for us.  You would have adored those great grandchildren you never met as well as the doxies we now have, Duke and Shadow.

When our family all gets together, you are there with us as we speak fondly of you and your legacy of love you left behind as your gift to us.

TRIBUTE TO SGT. ROBERT "PAPA" DUKE

"Dad loved to garden, and well into his seventies, he shared his bounty with 'the elderly' and shut-ins.  He definitely had a green thumb, with fruits and vegetables thriving under his hand, trying to outgrow each other."


In honor of this Father's Day, I wish to share about my late father, Sgt. Robert Duke, an amazing man and such an extraordinary part of my life. 

Dad went home to be with the Lord in October 2000 at age 86.  A main character in both of Shadow's books, it was such a blessing when writing about him, pulling most details from reality.  His storytelling kept us all laughing, and I enjoyed sharing them.  Dad also loved to cook, and he was good at it, having taught himself.  His chop suey, made from scratch and with tender pork strips, was to die for.  He also made a mouth-watering chocolate pound cake, firm and moist.  It needed no frosting to jazz it up, either!

Dad loved to garden, and well into his seventies, he shared his bounty with "the elderly" and shut-ins.  He definitely had a green thumb, with fruits and vegetables thriving under his hand, trying to outgrow each other:  cabbage, squash, green beans, green peppers, onions, potatoes, watermelons, okra, blackberries, grapes, tomatoes, hot peppers, pears, peaches, apples.

I will share some of his recipes in my upcoming book, DACHSHUNDS FOREVER:  DUKE AND ME.  The problem will be choosing which ones to include!  There's his country-style steak with gravy, lobster newburg, chicken and dumplings, fried chicken, cinnamon rolls, hot biscuits, yeast rolls, homemade salsa requiring a fire extinguisher after eating . . . maybe I should simply write a cookbook and entitle it PAPA DUKE'S RECIPES.

6 or 7 years

He grew up in hard times during the Great Depression, on his own from age twelve.  At age ten or eleven, he rescued his baby sister, Sarah, from a house fire.  She was four years old at the time, and he suffered burns on his hands and arms.  Sarah died several days later, a fact he seldom spoke about in later years.  His family lived in poverty with his mother raising her children haphazardly; he never knew his father.

In spite of it all, as an adult he brought joy and laughter to those around him.  Our daughters inherited their musical abilities from him, as he played the guitar by ear.  Our youngest, Bethany, has one of his electric guitars and also taught herself to play it.  I suppose some of his humor came from the pain he felt as a child; after all, tragedy + time = comedy, which is often the case.  He loved his two granddaughters, but passed away two months before Holly, the oldest, was married.  He would dearly love his three great grandchildren as well. 

Children and animals were drawn to him, and I've heard that dogs are great judges of character!  If that is the case, then he truly was a wonderful human being.  "Papa Duke" never met the doxie in my books, since he came along well after Dad passed away, but we had dachshunds when I was growing up, and it was always a mutual admiration society with Dad and our "dawgs."  Dad is lovingly describedin his books, because I KNOW this doxie would have loved him that much.

Dad had little formal education, completing his high school courses after joining the U.S. Army as a young man.  He always said that Army life was good to him, and he had many friends of all ranks.  He met his old friend, "Pappy" Sellars, who was from Georgia, on a tour of duty in Alaska.  I was 13 at the time, and my brother Steve and I loved Pappy and his wife Renate (spelled Renata in Shadow's books) like they were family.  Dad loved to cook, Sellars loved to eat, so there was an automatic attachment!  Sellars passed away a couple of years ago, also in his 80s. 

All in all, Dad managed to overcome the earlier pain of his childhood, making a home for our family, and until poor health in his last few years prevented it, he stayed very active in church and community.  I miss his robust laugh, his flair for storytelling, and his huge hands at work, either chopping vegetables at lightning speed or rolling out pastry dough with finesse. 

Happy Father's Day, Dad.