Thoughts on My Dad on His 83rd Birthday

Story ID:	2888
Written by:	Virginia Allain
Organization:	none
Story type:	Biography
Writers Conference:	$500 2007 Family Memories Writing Project
Location:	El Dorado Kansas USA
Year:	2007
Person:	Clyde O. Martin

My father didn't have an easy life, but fortunately the Martins are a hardy lot. He raised six children to be hard-working, solid citizens. Mom said they wanted to have twelve children. I appreciate that they wised up before reaching that number. It wasn't easy supporting even six children.
He and Mom have passed their 60th wedding anniversary, so I guess they won't be getting divorced anytime soon. He had a good punch line ready when anyone asked "what's the secret for staying married so long?" His straight-faced answer was "we agreed early on that whoever asked for a divorce, had to take the kids."
When he retired, I worried that he wouldn't have enough hobbies to keep occupied. His work had been so all-consuming, that it left little time and energy for other activities. It wasn't a problem though, as he and Mom fished and gardened and fixed up a small house for their getaway place. That gave him two places to have a garden and he kept them both going.
Their gardens were so bountiful, they started selling the vegetables at the farmers' market. Hearing others praise their beautiful produce, I think, meant more than the money they made. They picked sand plums and made jelly from it to sell. They gathered nuts and Dad spent laborious hours painstakingly removing the nutmeats and sorting them to sell.
He made his own beer and bottled it in the kitchen. That was only for his own consumption and to offer to visiting son-in-laws. They were wary at first, as they'd tasted his hot chili peppers from the garden. There was no trick to the beer though and it was safe to drink.
He tried bread baking, using a bread machine. The results using the standard recipe didn't suit him so he tinkered with the ingredients and timing. He ended up with a variety of breads that sold quite well at the farmers' market. People loved "Clyde's Bread" and he kept eight bread machines working to meet demand.
Mom was a bit jealous of the attention he received for his bread baking. Still she appreciated the interest he took in cooking in his retirement. After feeding a family of eight for many years, she was ready to retire from cooking. The family looked forward to a meal of Dad's bread-machine pizza with its thick crust or his slow-cooked brisket when they visited.
He bought a Model A car that needed restoring. It was a model that he'd driven way back when. He'd always worked on his own cars, keeping them running. That was necessity, but this one was just for fun.
He bought old cedar chests at yard sales and refinished them in the garage. Each grandchild received a cedar chest for their high school graduation gift. I'd forgotten the woodworking projects he'd made as a young father. There were rocking horses and a swan rocker under the Christmas tree when we were little.
Dad is a reader and re-reader. He always has a book at hand next to his recliner. He reads widely, but his favorites, I think, are the old westerns of Zane Grey and B.M. Bower. He built the bookshelves that cover the whole wall of their living room.
Run out of things to do in retirement... I sure underestimated my Dad.

PHOTOS:
1) Gail and Clyde Martin with their first baby, Owen
2) Clyde Martin and his bread
3) Gail and Clyde Martin with their farmers' market booth
4) Dad's Model A and Owen's yellow Essex