![](https://s32.postimg.org/oc3g9p2o5/Dad_Young.jpg)

I am extremely proud of my father. This is a man who shouldn’t have been as good at parenting as he is, according to the statistics all the odds were against him. His dad passed away when he was three years old. 

![](https://s32.postimg.org/oeumut52t/Granddad.jpg)
*The only existing photo of my paternal Grandfather.*

His mother (my grandmother) was poor and, although she did the best she could, my father found himself being raised off and on in a succession of foster homes throughout the 1940’s. In these foster homes he was subjected to abuse that he rarely talks about. One set of foster parents made him keep a coal furnace stoked through the night in the winter and he would be beaten if he fell asleep and the furnace went out. As a result of all this instability he had a difficult time adjusting in school and he eventually dropped out in the eighth grade. 

![](https://s32.postimg.org/9u0s8pav9/dad_and_grandma.jpg)
*My Father and Grandmother.*

![](https://s32.postimg.org/crymho1cl/Dad_and_AB.jpg)
*My father and his older sister in the early 1940’s*

Despite all of the hardship life threw at him my father retained an extremely kind heart and a sense of selflessness. His childhood easily could have left him a mean and bitter man, with a closed heart but it didn’t. To this day I know he would do anything he could for anyone he cares about, this alone is a monumental accomplishment given his upbringing. There’s so much more. 

![](https://s32.postimg.org/3r0ktt985/Dad_Curt_and_I_Then.jpg)
*My Dad, brother and I (mid 1970’s)*

Even with no paternal example to follow he has been a great father to my brother and I.  He was always willing to be the first one to go down the biggest sledding hills, ride bikes the fastest, and fly kites the highest. I remember one afternoon we were flying a kite in the field of our neighborhood elementary school, Fairmoor. We had the kite up so high that we could barely see it and ran out of string. *What did he do?* He went to the store to get two more packages of kite string and we flew it even higher. I know now this was a metaphor and its message was consistently taught to my brother and I by his example. 

To be continued…the final installment of this story is coming soon. 

~eric vance walton~

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### *Did you miss Part 1 of this story?* If so please click this link to read it: https://steemit.com/story/@ericvancewalton/i-m-sorry-dad-but-i-don-t-want-to-be-a-welder-part-1-of-3 ###

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