Column 44 for June 18, 2000

I suppose several other columnists are going to write about Father’s Day, and as much as I usually try to steer my own course, I am driven to write about my Dad.

Thomas Whitelaw Miller. No one could be dearer to me. I passed the half-century mark some time ago, but some things never change. Thoughout the trials and tribulations of my life, my Dad has always been there. From my youngest years I remember him supporting me in school and especially within Boy Scouts. As a teenager, he lovingly allowed me to things I would be afraid to allow my own children to do. He let me take driver training when I was 15, and even allowed me to drive the family car, with a trailer attached, across the 5-mile long Mackinac Bridge. While I was on a Scout campout at a Nike nuclear missile base, he smuggled to me my Sears-Roebuck bolt action .22 rifle that had just came in the mail. Apparently the security was somewhat different then…

The best and most fantastic thing my father did for me was to open my eyes to science and inquiry. Every question I asked was either answered, or more likely given to me to research at school and the local library, even if he already knew the answer, which he quite often did. My Dad sent me on a course of discovery. I have been amazed at what I can find out ever since. I grew to love learning.

My dad grew up as one of the big kids his the neighborhood. Big and expected to be tough. He fell in with a group of friends that might have ended up to no good. Nowadays we’d call it a gang. They called themselves the Bone Crushers back then. Somehow, as he explained it to me, a man brought he and his friends into the gym. Taught them to box. Introduced them to Golden Gloves. Discipline. The lack of which is one of the things I complain about here in my column about young people today. Anyway, the team enjoyed some success, winning the Michigan Golden Gloves championship in 1942! I am proud to carry the names of my dad and two of his boxing partners with me throughout my life! Thomas Raymond Allan.

Back in the 40’s, my dad went on to impress. Barely eeking through high school, he joined up with the Navy. During training at Great Lakes, he became a member of the chorus, with his great bass voice, and toured a bit before being assigned duty as a weather forecaster aboard a destroyer tender sailing out of San Francisco. All over the south Pacific. You’ve heard the story of the Caine mutiny? Mostly fiction, but there were destroyers lost in a cyclone, and the story was based upon that incident. My dad testified in the inquiry, held aboard the USS Cascade, about the weather conditions. He received medals as a result of his military contributions during the war.

After the war, my dad returned to the states and took advantage of the GI Bill. He went to college and became a mechanical engineer. Not bad for a kid that spent time on the wrong side of town!

Right before the Salk vaccine for polio was discovered in the mid 50’s, I was struck with the virus. Thank God not badly, but it was a nightmare anyway. The March of Dimes helped fund my hospitalization. This inspired my dad to become active. He went on to become a major leader in Michigan of the March of Dimes, and at his retirement, was credited with being the one who inspired the national March of Dimes, after polio was conquered, to move to eliminating birth defects.

I have messed up my life often. I have made many bad choices. The one constant in my life has been my Dad. He has been there. He has supported me many times, knowing I was wrong, but respecting my judgement, and urging me in a wonderful way toward the right path. For his guidance and support I am eternally grateful. I am so lucky. Thank you Dad, I love you! tomiswho@mindspring.com