Who Is Your Biggest Influence?

I was thinking this would be a great thread. So i will start it.

I Think my greatest influence in life is my late grandmother who past away when I was sixteen. She was a great woman who suffered alot but was faithful inspite of everything. She showed me how to love and respect others. To forgive and not to stay angry for long. she showed me that when things go bad, to look on the bright side and know that everything will turn out fine. She told me to have absolute faith in God and He will never leave you.

My mom - If I could be 1/10 of the mother she was I would be a great one! She exuded love - respect - humbleness and gracious. She always was looking out for someone or some furry creature less fortunate. She was the most beautiful and caring woman I will ever know. I truly miss her.......

I have to say 2: my father and my maternal grandmother. My father gave me a lifelong love of learning. My grandmother taught me the meaning of being a survivor, no matter what.

Wow....what a great thread!! Thanks Nena!
My greatest influence on my life was my father. He worked hard all his life, and he tried not to let things get him down...he loved God with every fiber of his being, and dedicated his whole life to him, and was filled with the holy spirit one day, when he was 23, and out in the barn milking a cow, and praying! He said he wasn't sure who was more surprised when he started praising God and speaking in tounges....him or the cow!!!! He gave so much to everyone....he helped support missionaries in other countries, he drove the neighbor kids to church, and he would have given the shirt off his back to help anyone...even a stranger. My family name is so well known in this small community because of my father. Everyone knew he was honest, hard working, and always there to help. It has been pretty much impossible to live up to that!!
He never drank or smoked...(like me) and his heart was as pure as an angels. (or pretty close anyway)
He loved everyone....even people who took advantage of him, or hurt him.
When my mom got sick,when I was 21....(I am 35 now) and lost her mind completely...she was 68 years old then, and dad was 69, he refused to put her in a nursing home, because he loved her so very much, and he tried his best to take care of her....for 10 years.... even though he was getting old and it was so hard on him! Finally he at age 79, had to give up and put her in a home. She died not long after that, and dad lived almost exactly 3 years after that, and died last august at the age of 82. We always thought he would live alot longer....he seemed so strong, and his parents both had lived well into their 90's....but my brother said he thought that taking care of mom for so long had taken years off his life.
Anyway....the love he showed for God and for his family and for others, is what influenced my life the most....their could not be a more wonderful man than he was...I know he has a special place in heaven.

I've my mother's knack for survival. I've also her love of music — if not her talent for it. I've my father's knack for writing and scholarship. And I've his penchant for seeing things as they ought to be.

Genetics aside, I believe my enlistment in the U. S. Air Force influenced me greatly. It was the first time in my life I had responsibility beyond my own interests.

My experiences at university were often fascinating, but they chiefly involved self-centered accomplishments rather than teamwork. The same is true of my professional work after university.

Thanks, Dad and Mom, for giving me good tools to work with. With these tools I've survived. With these tools I've tried to go around people and not over them. With these tools I may yet help others.



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Dear Nena; What a "beautiful thread"! I have to second Debby; "Thank you so much for starting it".
I will have to say that I have been most influenced by my Mom and Dad. Briefly, they taught me the value of HARD WORK (and giving an "Honest days' work for a days' pay. . . . . . . That our wealth is measured by our friends and what others value in us. Like you, Nena and Debby, they taught me that our BEST FRIEND is our LORD and Saviour!!!! and to always put service to others above our own needs. (Sadly, I have forgotten that at times. . . . ) They also taught respect for all living things as well as to see the beauty in all things.

I wish I could have known your families and vice/versa. Perhaps we will all be together one day!

Darlene's Greatest Influence, Her Parents:

...And Number 2:

Woo hoo! Who's who, Blue? Please expound.



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Thank you so very much, blue, you are a good friend for posting these pictures for me.

Mr.Cat; both pictures are of my Mom (Dorothy(Waswo)Way) and my Dad(Wallace W. Way); taken on their wedding day. August 28th, 1942 in Miami Beach FL.
My Dad is wearing his Army Air Corp. uniform and my Mom was a statistics co-ordinator for the U. S. Quartermasters Corp. Dad was 21 and Mom 24 at the time.

Neat! Miami Beach must have been an interesting place during the Second World War. Several of my maternal relatives lived in Miami at that time; and a few of them later told me about the military patrols on Miami Beach which were deployed to enforce wartime blackout restrictions (such as against night-time beachgoers lighting cigarettes) and to guard against enemy agents who might be landed by submarine. There was also an interesting rumor about, asserting German submarines had a secret re-fueling station at one of the Florida Keys!

Eleven years after the war, when I first lived in Miami, there was still a faded-brown roadside fence along Haulover Beach (just north of Miami Beach proper) with signs every twenty feet or so stating it was a military area and that trespassing was not allowed! There were still de-commissioned motor torpedo boats (PT boats) and submarine chasers moored in the Miami River; and various types of de-commissioned military aircraft (A-26s, B-24s, et cetera) were parked on abandoned aprons at Miami International Airport. We kids would sneak into them from time to time!

All those things were, even then, fading and ghostly relics of a time when the entire nation made a maximum effort — something that had not happened before and will probably never happen again.



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Originally posted by Mr. Cat
All those things were, even then, fading and ghostly relics of a time when the entire nation made a maximum effort — something that had not happened before and will probably never happen again.

Click to expand...

Joe:

I couldn't agree more. I am absolutely fascinated by WWII from every angle. I mostly love learning about the "all for one" effort made by this entire nation. Just last night I saw a great show on the History Channel that dealt with the Atlantic Wall and the Normandy invasion. Simply amazing. To think that Hollywood (re: Saving Private Ryan ) was the catalyst for the current heightened awareness of this crucial period of our history.

Seeing those photographs of Darlene's parents called to mind the many people I've known whose lives were directly impacted by the Second World War. The mother of a good friend of mine built Liberty Ships here at Portland during the war. (She was a welder.) Her husband — they'd married just before the war — served in the U. S. Army and ended up going through Europe with the Allies.

Another friend of mine, a retired university-professor, served in the U.S. Marine Corps and went ashore with the first "wave" at Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands. Most of my uncles and one of my aunts — none of whom survive today — served in the military as well, some going to Europe and others to the Pacific. (My aunt Lillian Haran was a WAVE.)

A maternal cousin of mine served with the U. S. Army Air Corps (later the U. S. Army Air Forces) in China. The list goes on and on. How I wish, now, that I'd been wiser and asked more questions of them! But, like most military veterans of that era, they were not readily forthcoming with anecdotes about the war.

My father was deemed "too old" — 37 years of age in 1941 — for military service; and he was "married with children" to boot. That was not an entirely comfortable position for a man in those days, as so many men were in uniform!

My uncle Henry Marcotte was released from active duty during the war, due to wounds received in combat. But after a few months back in the States he petitioned the U. S. Army and was placed back on active duty overseas. He couldn't take the insults from civilians ("What's a healthy young man like you doing out of uniform?") nor the thought of his buddies being exposed to danger whilst he was safe at home.



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I really want to read Tom Brokaw's 2 books: The Greatest Generation and The Greatest Generation Speaks. I know what you mean about men of the day not speaking of their military experiences during WWII.

My father served in Korea. I, too, wish I would have asked more questions. He did talk a little about his time in the last couple of years of his life. One thing that brought it all back was that when he retired to Florida, he ran into a man who lived in the same community as he did. Turns out they were in the same platoon in Korea. He even gave my dad a picture of him that he had taken all those years ago and hung onto.

My dad did tell me that before he went to Korea, the Army had almost sent him to VietNam (in the early 50s). He was also almost slated to be one of these guys that were guinea pigs for our further nuclear tests. We watched a documentary on it one night, where they showed footage of soldiers going into nuclear testing sites. The gov't wanted to experiment with how close troops could be to ground zero.

I find the whole thing fascinating.

My paternal grandfather fought in WWI (for Great Britain). He told me of being buried alive in a trench. He came to 8 days later in a hospital.

no problem, Darlene, it's my pleasure

Darlene!!!! I loved seeing the pictures of your parents!!!! I want so badly to have a way to show a wedding picture of my parents here also!!!! Blue, you are a doll for posting those for her! If I ever have a way to get my parents photo on the computer...I will e-mail it to you so you can post it for me!