Flashback Friday: My Dad, Galen Grossarth

Today is my dad's birthday.  He was born in 1937, so he would have been 72 today.  Wow, that seems so old!  He was only 67 when he died, which seemed so young to me.  It's funny how numbers change your perspective.  

This is my dad with his pet goat.  Which is funny to me for two reasons.  One, if you knew my dad, you know how he didn't like stinky animals and I'm sure this goat was a stinkin' mess!  Two, my sister Nancy is loving known as "Nanny Goat."  I wonder if my dad started calling her that.  I'll have to ask my siblings.

 
This is my dad with his parents and siblings.  My dad is the oldest and standing between his mom and dad.  If you live in my ward and know Vern, that's him at the bottom with his tongue out.  Uncle Ron is on the left and Aunt Gloria is on the right.  This must have been before Uncle Nathan was born.

This is my dad in high school.  He loved basketball.  Especially when my sister Nancy was the star player on the Beaverton High Girls Varsity basketball team.  You should have heard him scream and cheer at those games.

This is another picture of dad with his mom & dad and siblings.  I think it was taken in 1985, but not sure. The top row from left to right is Ron, Vern, Gloria, and Nathan.  The bottom row from left to right is my dad, Grandma Grossarth, and Grandpa Grossarth.

I like this last picture because this is how I remember my dad.  He worked for CF (Consolidated Freightways) and always had one of these hats in back of his car and would occasionally wear them on his blad head to protect it from the sun, which is ironic because he had skin cancer later in life.  This was taken at Disneyland in the late 80s.  I remember it was a special trip for Jodi because it was here first time at the happiest place on earth.  Good times! 

My dad and I didn't always see eye to eye.  In fact, there were days I wanted to strangle him.  But he was a good grandpa to Bryn.  I've learned that I have a lot of his personality, so I'm understanding him more now that I'm older and have kids that drive me crazy :-)