Treasures from My Father

My sister Gail brought a treasure trove of pictures, slides letters, diplomas and writings that were my mother's...but mostly my father's writing and musings.

Edward S Onody

Edward S Onody was a character...one that you rarely see any more in this world.  He was a Renaissance man of sorts. He was definitely a product of his Hungarian Immigrant parents; a generation who toiled and learned how to live with little and being blessed with much.  Until I started reading my father's younger musings, when he was young and in love, starting a family, being sent off to war and dealing with family and life issues...I didn't realize until now that it was my father who was the romantic one of my parents.  It was my father who openly struggled and grappled with life’s growing pains, but all the while leaning on an ever present faith in God.

Here is the one of many Treasures my father left behind.  I found this list written on a bank deposit slip, front and back...he never wasted anything and always used bank deposit lists for his lists and notes.  This one, I believe, tells you a lot about a man that at the time that he wrote it, which was at my mother's and his final home at Loughberry Park in Saratoga...that he was a man who was looking over his life and jotting down his thoughts. To me, this list is what is missing in the men today...it is the foundation of what makes a Noble Man.

 I am Just Old Enough to Have remembered when…

Edward S Onody
 Former Superintendent of Oneonta Schools

• You (get excited) run outside and tried to see the airplane whose engine you just heard approaching.
• To have seen Charles Lindbergh in a parade in Buffalo and have him wave at me. (my father)
• To have seen the Graf Zeppelin and The Shenandoah Zeppelins.
• To have sat at night with my father as he worked his crystal set to get the first radio station WKDK.
• To have seen a total eclipse of the sun.
• To remember a telephone you had to crank to get the operator
• When during a parade people put their hand over their heart and ALL men took off their hats
• When men took off their hats when eating in a restaurant.
• When Ladies first was a rule.
• When men gave his seat to women and old folks on a street car or buses.

The list ends here...and I wonder what other wonderful thoughts he had on things.  My father was an amazing man...I have more to share from his Treasure Trove.  It has been almost 17 years since his passing, but his spirit is as strong today as when he was living.  This is man who quietly left a life legacy.

I miss you Dad!!  More Treasures to come...

The List