What was your father鈥檚 name?
My father鈥檚 name was Alvis Henry Carpenter.
When and where was your father born?
My father was born on May 4, 1926, in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Merle Haggard never met my father, but if he had, he wouldn鈥檛 have changed a word in his song, 鈥淥kie from Muskogee.鈥�
Is your father still with us?
My father died 31 years ago, on February 3, 1994. He was 67 years old. A heart attack killed him, but he had been fighting a losing battle with cancer, as well. I learned later that, when the big one hit, he had been speaking to the nurses. He was gone in an instant. The last thing he did on this earth was share a smile with a woman.
What are your fondest memories of your father?
Likewise, I have several. He and I could make each other laugh. He loved a good joke. They appear silly here in print, but I laughed when he told them and I鈥檓 laughing now. We were driving from Montana, where we lived, to Arizona, to visit family. It was 1960. My mom and sister sat in the back seat. I sat up front with dad. We were rolling along when a big grasshopper hit our windshield. Dad looked over at me and said, 鈥淚 bet he doesn鈥檛 have the guts to do that again.鈥�
It took a moment for me to get the joke, but when I did, we both laughed. I can still see the twinkle in his eye. He was a master of crass idioms that would elicit admonitions from mom 鈥� 鈥淎lvis!鈥� 鈥� and howls of laughter from me.
One more, one more, and I鈥檒l move on.
We were driving somewhere 鈥� funny how road trips framed so many of these memories 鈥� when we approached a truck carrying a load of pipe. Dad, deadpan, said, 鈥淚 wish I had that load of pipe, and that fella had a feather in his shorts.鈥� He paused for effect. 鈥淲e鈥檇 both be tickled.鈥� Why dad wanted a load of pipe he never explained, but I whenever I pass a truck with a load of pipe, I smile.
What is a memorable character attribute of your father?
Set aside the startling resemblance between his last driver license photograph and my current one 鈥� My goodness, how did that happen? 鈥� I would say his sense of duty and service to others stand out. He had other occupations as a young man finding his way, but I only knew of his work in the rural electrification industry 鈥� electric cooperatives, in particular.
Power outages in rural areas are as serious as they are in town. I recall my father sitting in our family room (a room he built) many, many times, using a portable two-way radio to monitor line crews troubleshooting an outage somewhere in the boondocks. He stayed with the radio until the crew returned home.
Anything else you remember about your dad?
Yeah, I know my dad loved me, too.
Happy Father鈥檚 Day.