When my father died  we found the following letter on his desk.

I’m writing this as the closing comments after I finish as much of my autobiography as I’ll be able to.

You’ve all grown up (when I say you, I mean Iris, Phyllis, Marcia and Mattie) to be the greatest things that could happen to anyone.  I am so proud of all of you that I burst with happiness.

And your children, my grandchildren, Barry, Randy, Stephanie, Laura, Eric, Craig, Jon, Jimmy, Brian, Matthew and Julie – I think that’s all of you, have all become people that anyone would be happy to claim as theirs.

And then there’s Bernie Snyder, Jim Grigor, Paul Klam and Dave Matthews.  My hat’s off to you for being the people you are. I’m also amazed that you have accepted not only the virtues they inherited from their mother, together with the minimal faults that they might have acquired along the way, but  also the idea that they are princesses as they’re all descended from royalty on their mother’s side.

Now the new crop is growing. The great grandchildren, at this point I count 24 with one on the way, who knows what the future will bring. However from what I have seen so far I don’t think they’ll be any problem.

As far as I’m concerned, all I want is to be able to continue these relationships from here on in.

I love you all.

This was the kind of thing my dad did. He not only took care of us when he was alive, he made sure he gave us some peace when he left us.

There have been some changes in the make up of the family since he died  but I’m glad that he saw us the way we were in 1997.

Happy Father’s Day Daddy. We love you too.