Postby EricTheFred » Thu Feb 18, 2010 9:19 am
Meant to post this yesterday. Unfortunately, I was sick in bed:
As of yesterday, February 17, my father Harlan Elroy Fretheim has lived on this Earth for a full eighty years. We have so many things we disagree about politically, religiously and otherwise that I could fill an encyclopedia volume, but even so, I am amazed, proud and humbled to be the son of this man.
He was born in a farmhouse in rural Iowa while our economy was collapsing into the Great Depression and attended a one-room schoolhouse without electricity and heated by a Franklin stove, yet he worked his own way up to a Master's degree from Harvard and a career in the computer industry which began at a time when you could have typed the name of every person 'in the computer industry' on two or three sheets of paper.
He retired many years ago, having served in his last job as the worldwide expert on operating systems programming for one of the main banking industry computer manufacturers of that day (a company now part of HP) but he is still amazingly active, especially in music.
He sings semi-professionally as the baritone in The Rocky Mountain Boys Barbershop Quartet out of Ft. Collins CO and volunteers as an usher for the local symphony orchestra, and he is active on his church council. On top of all that, he remains a voracious reader on matters of history, politics and biography. He is also an unapologetic trout fishing maniac who never fails to keep his freezer stocked with fish.
Happy Birthday, Dad, and best wishes for your next eighty!
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May He cause His face to shine upon you.
May He lift up His countenance and grant you peace.
Maokun: Ninjas or Pirates? (Vikings are not a valid answer, sorry)
EricTheFred: Vikings are always a valid answer.
Feel free to visit
My Writing.com Portfolio
Largo: "Well Ed, good to see ya. Guess I gotta beat the crap out of you now."
Jamie Hyneman: "It's just another lovely day at the bomb range. Birds are singing, rabbits are hopping about, and soon there's going to be a big explosion."