I'm so sorry, Paul.

you're in my thoughts and prayers today...beautiful tribute

God bless.

Absolutely beautiful Paul. 5's. I'm not the only one here with a tribute.

I'm speechless.

My deepest sympathies, Paul....I'm sure he's smiling down on you now

A most poignant eulogy...my condolences...

Thank you, all.

What a beautiful tribute.

I'm sorry for your loss, Paul, but it sounds like he had a full life and left you with a lot of good memories.

Very few people receive the honor of having a work written specifically for them. I'll bet your dad would have really appreciated this.

JJ - Yes, he did. As a golfer you would know how rare a hole-in-one is...Dad never had one until he was 81...it turned out to be the last hole of golf he ever played...he was still able at the time but got busy with work he was doing...and by the time all that cleared up he was having elbow problems....I was with him that day, 9th hole on the little Kirkwood course in Studio City(it wasn't a great shot...he sculled it but it went straight and rolled in...the week before on the same hole he hit a real beauty...9-iron tee that landed a few feet past and rolled back to within 2 or 3 feet of the cup). He was still beating me a golf at 81, but having played with me once you know that's not particularly difficult to do...lol...but I did finally beat him at ping-pong...and he was ONLY 70 then...(and I'm a pretty decent player at that). Thanks, Spaff....geez, I wrote one for you...lol...but that was a different kind and I was, of course, j/k...

that's sad news, Paul - beautifully done - and that's an amazing story about the ace at 81 - did he ever manage to shoot under (or close to) his age?

stuart, thanks! Actually, from about age 70 on Dad never played a full 18 holes at a Regulation-size course. We often played what they call an "Executive"Course in Van Nuys that is a 9-nine hole course consisting of 6 par-3 of moderate distance (about 3 holes were 9-iron tee shots, the longest "3" was about 185 yds.) and 3 rather short par 4's...as he got past 75 or so he started having a bit of trouble extending his elbow so we started playing little par 3 courses. He was still shooting about 3 or 4 over generally on those at age 81. When he was younger and before a car accident when he was about 40 he was a 'scratch" golfer at the local club back in Connecticut. I, or course, always pretty much stunk at golf, except for having a mostly decent short game and being a good putter. To brag on Dad just a bit more, while stationed in San Antonio, TX, with the Air Force during WW II he won the "SAACC Ping-Pong Championship", which had over 30 other base champions entered in it from camps all over the States. He was, to quote the article I'm looking at now "an expert Table Tennis Player in civilian life"...and that's no lie...I'm quite good and I never beat him until I reached 1/2 his age...I was 35 - he was 70...I recall the score was 21-19...from that point on I generally won, but not by much until he got past 75 when the gap widened...however, he was still able to clean the table with my two older brothers...lol...We only played a couple times after he passed Age 80...if you hit at him he could return just about anything back, but if he had to make a quick lunge sometimes the body didn't cooperate...it was a little dicey playing him at that point...I didn't want him to get hurt...he played a couple times on boat cruises and won his age group...such as they were...usually the "80 and up" age group was him and "One other old guy"...yeah, he won those, too...thanks for prompting that bit of personal nostalgia...those are some of the best memories I have...testing his competitive streak - and my own...

sounds like he sure did have a competitive streak Paul, and to keep it up in his 80s shows he had a bit of fire in his belly - what great memories to have of him