Today is Fathers day - My Father Ted Greene
Today is Saturday and my dad, Ted Greene is perhaps days or hours from leaving his family and this earth. Kaye and I have visited with him the last few weeks and Kaye spent week before last helping my mom and sisters with his care. He is now in the care of Hospice and they are doing a wonder job of caring for him and us. As my mom reminds all of us, we have said our goodbyes over and over the last few months. We have told him how much we love him and he has told us the same. I kn0w my dad is going to a place of peace without pain. I will miss him as will all my family!
My dad was special because he had so many experiences in his life. He was always one to dream of travel and every summer as a child he would load the family up and head to destinations we never dreamed of., New York City, Nova Scotia, Bangor Maine, Houston to see the wonders of the Astro Dome, New Orleans to see where Mardi Gras is held, Florida, and Tennessee and Washington DC to see the Washington Monument and all the monuments that are there. He loved to travel and experience the wonders of the USA.
My dad, was born on the south side of Gastonia. He quit school in the 7th grade. He always wanted his kinds to have better educations as did my mom. He worked in his early years at a grocery store in the Jenkins Heights section of Gastonia. Those were the days of hardwood floors with the musty smell of smoked meats and sawdust on the floor. I love those fragrances even today. He later worked for Holsum Bakery working a bread route. His day started at 3:00 am! whew! He entered sales in 1969 for a Foodservice and produce distributor called Goodnight Brothers, later it became a part of Sara Lee. It is here that he learned the art of selling, managing and stocks. He rose to head of sales and later became head of chain accounts. He joined the local chefs club and contributed every month to their meetings often attending them and sampling the fine cuisine that they would provide. He loved elegant food. He also learned about stock ownership and began to purchase company stock and watched Sara Lee grow and split during their haydays of the 70's. It was in his job that he networked me into the brokerage business with a man named Danny Poole and a company called J.A. Richardson. Like him I have never left the food business since that time.
My dad loved his family, he loved to sing, early in my days as an adolescent, we would attend the neighborhood church and he would sing with a trio at church, often talking before each song and telling whata it meant to him. I will never forget the courage he showed when he sang at his father's funeral many years ago.
My dad loved all genres of music. I guess my love of music would come from him. He exposed us to Country and Western, often taking us to shows at the old Charlotte Coliseum on Saturday nights to hear Tammy Wynette, Patty Smity, Loretta Lynn, and locals like Tommy Faile and Skeeter Hass. He loved opera, something we never understood. He would listen to the piano music of Floyd Cramer and also enjoyed Elvis. He loved the hispanic sounds of Herb Alpbert and the Tijuana Brass, someithing my sister Beth will always remember.
He loved talking to people. He loved all races of people. He befriended many Asians and Greeks along his journey. Many of who helped me as I attempted to become a food salesperson. As soon as they found out I was Ted Greene's son, they would smile and welcome me. He loved to come to my house in Raleigh and speak with Connie and Lam Chan our neighbors about China and Tiawan and far away places.
He was educated in electronics. As a young man, he took a TV repair course through the mail from DeVry Institute. Here he because very proficient in TV repair and did it as a hobby. That was the days when tv's had tubes in the back of them and often their circuitry was controlled by tubes of all sizes.
My dad was self taught in many forms of repain. Today he would be an invaluable asset. He would often fix the things that go wrong much as I would call on a specialist. He could repair cars, repair lawnmowers, repair washing machines, he often did the plumbing in the houses he rented out. He could fix almost anything he set his mind to do.
He loved stocks and companies with new innovations. He would spend countless hours on the internet where he was self taught on how to use the computer. He would research companies and tell me all about them every chance he got. He was talk with such zeal and excitement about what each company was doing.
Yes, my dad would amaze you with the experience he amassed in 72 years of living and 50 plus years of marriage; but now that voice will be silenced and those experiences will be left to us to rehash and tell our sons and daughters, much as everyone does. My dad was not famous in the sense of the public eye but he made his mark on everyone he met. Time spent with him would reveal a wealth of knowledge and a gentle spirit. He was kind and compassionate. He was supportive of all of us always telling us how proud he was of us and we knew it because we know of his childhood spent on the streets of South Gastonia fending for himself and making do as he could; but today we are proudest of him for he has run this race. made us proud, lived a life he enjoyed and met so many people and went to so many places. Now we will carry on and talk of him everytime we sit down to a meal that is elegant or watch a cruise sail off into beautiful blue waters, or see a distant city that is new to us. We will think and talk of him and that is what he would want.
My dad was special because he had so many experiences in his life. He was always one to dream of travel and every summer as a child he would load the family up and head to destinations we never dreamed of., New York City, Nova Scotia, Bangor Maine, Houston to see the wonders of the Astro Dome, New Orleans to see where Mardi Gras is held, Florida, and Tennessee and Washington DC to see the Washington Monument and all the monuments that are there. He loved to travel and experience the wonders of the USA.
My dad, was born on the south side of Gastonia. He quit school in the 7th grade. He always wanted his kinds to have better educations as did my mom. He worked in his early years at a grocery store in the Jenkins Heights section of Gastonia. Those were the days of hardwood floors with the musty smell of smoked meats and sawdust on the floor. I love those fragrances even today. He later worked for Holsum Bakery working a bread route. His day started at 3:00 am! whew! He entered sales in 1969 for a Foodservice and produce distributor called Goodnight Brothers, later it became a part of Sara Lee. It is here that he learned the art of selling, managing and stocks. He rose to head of sales and later became head of chain accounts. He joined the local chefs club and contributed every month to their meetings often attending them and sampling the fine cuisine that they would provide. He loved elegant food. He also learned about stock ownership and began to purchase company stock and watched Sara Lee grow and split during their haydays of the 70's. It was in his job that he networked me into the brokerage business with a man named Danny Poole and a company called J.A. Richardson. Like him I have never left the food business since that time.
My dad loved his family, he loved to sing, early in my days as an adolescent, we would attend the neighborhood church and he would sing with a trio at church, often talking before each song and telling whata it meant to him. I will never forget the courage he showed when he sang at his father's funeral many years ago.
My dad loved all genres of music. I guess my love of music would come from him. He exposed us to Country and Western, often taking us to shows at the old Charlotte Coliseum on Saturday nights to hear Tammy Wynette, Patty Smity, Loretta Lynn, and locals like Tommy Faile and Skeeter Hass. He loved opera, something we never understood. He would listen to the piano music of Floyd Cramer and also enjoyed Elvis. He loved the hispanic sounds of Herb Alpbert and the Tijuana Brass, someithing my sister Beth will always remember.
He loved talking to people. He loved all races of people. He befriended many Asians and Greeks along his journey. Many of who helped me as I attempted to become a food salesperson. As soon as they found out I was Ted Greene's son, they would smile and welcome me. He loved to come to my house in Raleigh and speak with Connie and Lam Chan our neighbors about China and Tiawan and far away places.
He was educated in electronics. As a young man, he took a TV repair course through the mail from DeVry Institute. Here he because very proficient in TV repair and did it as a hobby. That was the days when tv's had tubes in the back of them and often their circuitry was controlled by tubes of all sizes.
My dad was self taught in many forms of repain. Today he would be an invaluable asset. He would often fix the things that go wrong much as I would call on a specialist. He could repair cars, repair lawnmowers, repair washing machines, he often did the plumbing in the houses he rented out. He could fix almost anything he set his mind to do.
He loved stocks and companies with new innovations. He would spend countless hours on the internet where he was self taught on how to use the computer. He would research companies and tell me all about them every chance he got. He was talk with such zeal and excitement about what each company was doing.
Yes, my dad would amaze you with the experience he amassed in 72 years of living and 50 plus years of marriage; but now that voice will be silenced and those experiences will be left to us to rehash and tell our sons and daughters, much as everyone does. My dad was not famous in the sense of the public eye but he made his mark on everyone he met. Time spent with him would reveal a wealth of knowledge and a gentle spirit. He was kind and compassionate. He was supportive of all of us always telling us how proud he was of us and we knew it because we know of his childhood spent on the streets of South Gastonia fending for himself and making do as he could; but today we are proudest of him for he has run this race. made us proud, lived a life he enjoyed and met so many people and went to so many places. Now we will carry on and talk of him everytime we sit down to a meal that is elegant or watch a cruise sail off into beautiful blue waters, or see a distant city that is new to us. We will think and talk of him and that is what he would want.
posted by Tim | Saturday, February 09, 2008
1 Comments:
That is a great tribute to your father...very important that we remember the sacrifices and the influences our dads!
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