Dad You Are Not Forgotten R. I. P. February 7, 1977

It’s hard to believe it’s been so long since Dad passed away. It was about this time of the night when he died. I never know how the anniversary will hit me. In some years, it’s harder than others. In other years, I may miss the date if I am not paying attention to what the date is.

You can visit his grave on BillionGraves: https://billiongraves.com/headstone/Fredrick-Willard-Smith/843592  or Find-A-Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/85161383/f-smit – has a photo taken after the birth of his first grandchild, my niece.

I covered a lot in this post from 2014 – 52 Ancestors Week 6 – Dad (Fred Smith 1929 – 1977) Happy Angel Day, and this post Happy Angel Day Dad February 7, 1977

I haven’t been to his grave since around February 2007 when I was down there doing Hurricane Katrina reconstruction. I am thankful that graving sites like BillionGraves and Find-A-Grave are available so I can visit his grave virtually.

From the 52 Ancestors post, here are some things Dad taught me:

• Be a man of your word.
• Respect others even if they don’t respect you.
• Customer service can make or break your business.
• The joy of visiting new places. This was years before the Internet made it so easy to find things and virtually visit places.
• Anything worth doing is worth doing right the first time.
• Vehicle maintenance is expensive, but cheaper than waiting until something breaks.
• His last lesson was unexpected – you never know how long you will live.

The above teachings were not by him saying these things, but by showing us these things.