Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- What Did Your Father Leave You?

 Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: 

 It's Saturday Night again - 

time for some more Genealogy Fun!!

Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):

1) It's Father's Day in the USA on Sunday, so let's talk about our fathers.  

2)  Your father probably lived a complete life, and you probably have memories of him.  What memories and attitudes did he "leave" you with?

3)  Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook post.

Here's mine:

My father was Frederick Walton Seaver, Jr. (1911-1983). He married Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002) in 1942. I was the eldest son of three sons. What did he leave me with?

a) A competitive spirit and nature. As a child, I played baseball, football, ping pong, board games, word games, etc. I was encouraged by my parents even though I wasn't very big or good at them. Beating my father at ping pong at age 15 was an achievement. I gravitated to watching, keeping score and coaching (Little League, Bobby Sox softball) when I couldn't compete physically.

b) A love of my local sports teams. My father was a Boston Red Sox and Boston Celtics fan his whole life since he was from Massachusetts. I have been a San Diego Padres fan since 1953 (minor league, then major league in 1969) and have had season tickets for over 25 years. I've been a Chargers fan since 1961 when they came to San Diego, even though they went to Los Angeles in 2017. I've been a San Diego State Aztecs fan since 1961 when I enrolled there.  It's hard being a fan when your team doesn't win very often.

c) A work ethic. "If you're going to do a job, do it well, be on time, act responsibly." I studied, I learned, I applied my knowledge, I learned more, I became skilled at my job, I helped others. My father's job was being a Prudential life insurance agent. He had a big account book of policies that he managed out of a local office. He went door-to-door in his "debit" (geographical area - Pacific Beach) selling life insurance, and then followed up every year with each customer to collect the next "premium" (yearly payment). He worked at home in his office almost every day making phone calls and adding information to his account book.  He did it well.

d) He provided for his family. It was never a lot, but it was enough. He never owned a house, my mother didn't work outside the home after 1945, but we were fed, clothed, educated, and loved.  We took several driving vacations up and down California - mainly to bowling tournaments.  

e)  A wonderful New England ancestry, which I have researched for over 33 years and found that he was descended from Mayflower passengers, European royalty, immigrants, soldiers, farmers, shopkeepers, and landowners.  Almost all of them were successful in life - they worked hard, raised and supported families, overcame hardships, etc.  I have tried to emulate them.  

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