Honor thy father and thy mother--thus sayeth the Lord. We are here today to honor my father--Joe Shedlock, Senior--and to honor his memory. Dad's life showed a devotion to three principal values: first, dedication to education and learning; second, dedication to work, and especially a task-oriented work ethic; and third, devotion to family, to community, and to helping others.

Dad¹ was the first member of his family to have attended college. After serving his country in the U.S. Navy, Dad was eligible to attend college on the GI Bill. He attended the local Catholic, Jesuit-run college, the University of Scranton, graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting and Business Administration. He began his career in the defense industry, and worked in the defense and aerospace industry all his life. Dad's career involved a great deal of continuing education, including active participation in the National Contracts Management Association and in many of its training seminars.

Dad instilled the value of education and the importance of learning in his children--my sister Maurita and me. We grew up in a house filled with books. While we did not have many luxuries, Dad saw to it that we did have an Encyclopaedia Britannica and a Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, and we were constantly told to look things up. Dad helped finance our educations through college, law school and graduate school. The values he instilled in his children helped ensure that we graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. In his later years, Dad loved to hold his grandsons in his lap and read aloud to them.

Dad worked very hard during his career, to provide for his family and to further the success of the companies he worked for. He was very conscious of "the good of the company," and often went "beyond the call of duty." He had a particularly "task oriented" or "mission oriented" work ethic that he passed along to his children. Dad was a work horse, not a show horse. He was interested in the task at hand. And he was interested in getting the job done.

Of all the achievements during his career, which concluded with his employment at Textron Aerostructures here in Nashville, perhaps none better illustrates his personality than his role as Assistant Director of the Fairchild A-10 "Warthog" Fighter-Bomber² Program, the plane credited with destroying more than half of the Iraqi tanks and armored vehicles during the Persian Gulf War of 1991. Dad headed Fairchild's team that won in competitive negotiations bidding on the A-10 aircraft, the largest single program ever awarded to the company, and Dad spent a decade of his life administering the A-10 program. Named as our "Best antitank weapon" in its survey of America's best weapons, U.S. News and World Report commented: "Ugly and slow, the A-10 tank killer simply gets the job done." Called "an anachronism in today's tech-crazy Air Force--a cheap, practical weapon," the A-10 employs some high-tech features, like a titanium hull, a seven-barrel 30-mm cannon, and depleted-uranium armor-piercing bullets, but also some "safety throwbacks," like rugged self-sealing gas tanks, of the type used in WWII. The radical placement of the turbofan engines, canted upward from the rear of the fuselage, gives the plane its distinctive "ugly" look. Yet the plane was designed for combat effectiveness and survivability, survivability, survivability. The classic comment on the A-10 came from Lt. Gen. Charles Horner, Airforce Commander of Operation Desert Storm: "I take back all the bad things I've said about the A-10. I love them. They are saving our lives.³"

Dad was a devoted family man, often spending his weekends cutting the lawn or doing other household chores as well as going shopping with my Mom. Dad and Mom were married for 42 years, before my Mom died of cancer two years ago.

I have heard many stories about the "great flood" of the Susquehanna River in the 1950s, and how I was spirited away as a baby, in the middle of the night, before the flood waters reached our home in Pennsylvania. Dad spent a decade of his life in the local civic association working for flood control in the area, which was finally achieved. Dad was very supportive of civic involvement, and strongly supported my own activity in the League of Women Voters of Nashville. Recently, this led to my editing of the third edition of The Metro Blue Book, a directory of Metro Government, the prior editions of which were edited by former League President (and all around "super woman") Suzie Tolmie. Dad should be credited as a patron of this publication, since he so strongly supported my involvement with it and was proud of the result.

Dad's concern with the community and interest in furthering education, led to his involvement over several years with the MDRD (Monitored Diet in Renal Disease) Study at Vanderbilt, after he had developed some kidney-related problems. Dad was selected by Dr. Paul Teschan to appear in a Channel 4 TV news report by Kerry Andersen describing the study and its findings in March of 1994. The results of the study may help many kidney patients avoid or delay the need for dialysis, a costly and often painful treatment.

Dad's willingness to help others, combined with his accounting background, was illustrated a few years ago when he found a wallet outside an AutoZone one Saturday. He looked at the contents, tried to contact the owner (whose number was unlisted), tried to contact the man through his union (whose official was unhelpful), and finally called the police. Dad then wrote out an inventory of the contents of the wallet, including the denomination and serial number of every dollar bill inside, and made the police officer sign the inventory before he would turn the wallet over. The police delivered the wallet (intact) to its owner within an hour, and he called Dad to thank him and was overjoyed. Dad wanted things to be done properly and "by the book," but his basic instinct was to do the right thing and try to help people.

Over the years a few hapless people have knocked on our door to tell us they ran out of gas. Dad would grumble and gripe, but he would let them use our phone to call their families, and would go down to the garage and get them some gas from the gas can we use to fuel our lawn mower, sending them on their way with directions to the nearest gas station. His basic instinct was to try to help people.

Dad belonged to the Donelson Post of the American Legion, and had served on its Executive Committee. Dad believed strongly in the organization and its goals, and wanted to see its business and accounting methods improved so the Post could flourish financially.

A few weeks before he died, Dad cut out an article on the Book 'Em! Program, in which adults read books to and with Nashville school children. Dad wanted to participate in the program if his health improved.

In the final act of his life, Dad donated his eyes to the Lion's Eye Bank for transplantation. He wanted to help others, and his final gift may help someone to read a book aloud to a child, just as Dad would read aloud to his grandchildren Kenny Joe and Gregory. Dad has left us, but I believe that his spirit lives on.