Leslie Remembers His Father

Leslie Remembers His Father, Harry George Botham

Memorial Service November 3, 2007

 

He was born March 13, 1925 in Vancouver, BC, Canada.  Died October 28, 2007, at Rogue Valley Medical Center, in Medford, OR.  He was 82. 

 

• He was married to Shirley for 60 years. 
• He and his family were very proud to become citizens of the USA in 1963. 
• Harry loved and was very proud of his family
• He has three kids, Leslie, Arlena, and Martin
• Six grandchildren- Sean, Adrian, Alex, Crystal, Ilene, and Aaron,
• Six great grandchildren- Kyla and Stacey, Paris, Phillip, Gilbert, and Payton.  All of them are present today
• Among his descendents, there are
• a teacher, an engineer, business owners, entrepreneurs, a researcher, an investment adviser, a marketer, a technology expert, and students
• There are BS, MS, and PhD degree holders
• People of different faiths
• People of different cultures.  When we take a family picture, it looks like the UN, and we are proud of it

Grandson Alex has created a web site to honor his grand father.  It contains pictures, stories, video, and postings from his friends and family.  You are encouraged to visit the site, enjoy the material there, and post your own picture or memory.  The web address is listed on these handouts, and it is just www.HarryBotham.com.

 

Harry went off to World War II at 18, just out of high school.  He was part of the Canadian Army.  He was captured by the German army in Holland and was a prisoner of war.  They made him work under ground in a salt mine, which probably kept him alive during that cold winter.  All the time we were kids at home, he never spoke about the war.  He kept his war stuff was in a duffle bag.  About 43 years after the war, which is well after all his kids were gone from the home, he decided to make an audio tape of his life for his grand children.  One part of the tape was his story about his time as a POW.  I had to get the tape from my own son to hear his story.  We posted Harry’s Pieces of Time as an audio file on the web site. 

 

Harry told his war story recently to the Men’s group at church.  We posted his notes on the web site for you to read. 

 

After the war, Harry came back home to Vancouver, Canada.  He met my mother Shirley on a blind date.  It was a Thursday night.  He called back to follow up with her on Saturday.  At first, she did not remember who Harry was.  It’s Harry from Thursday night.  Good thing he called back, and good thing she remembered who he was, because none of us would be here today if they hadn’t hit it off.  The story “Harry from Thursday Night” is posted on the web site. 

 

On the third date, his future father-in-law called him “son”, and Shirley knew her future was sealed.  My grandfather made him promise that he would wait five years before getting married.  He didn’t. 

 

Here are some things I remember about my Dad

 

• Cub scout and boy scout projects, merit badges, and outings.  Dad was our scout master for a time
• Family camping trips
• Sometimes he took us on some of his business trips, and we had to pick motels that had swimming pools so that the kids could swim in the morning
• He let Arlena and me build “forts” in the back yard and he let us believe that we could have a horse in the back yards by saving up enough coupons from comic books
• He let us have hobbies in the garage (electronics with me and photography with Marty)
• When we were growing up, he went to junior college to improve himself and to earn a better living.  He was proud to complete the course and receive his certificate
• He helped me get a job surveying with the Forrest service when I was in high school.  That helped me confirm my interest in engineering.
• He and Mom always encouraged us to broaden our horizons and made sure that happened by exposing us to people that could increase our opportunities
• He loved his wife.  He always introduced her as “My lovely bride.”  Isn’t that romantic? 
• He built our first house in Vancouver Canada (the tar paper house) Mom relates how cold it was that first winter with the baby (me) living in it with just tar paper siding up
• Whatever home we lived in, he always made improvements to add more room and make it better to live in.  At our home in San Mateo, CA, he built a wall down the middle of the bedroom so that Martin and I could have our own bedroom spaces. 
• He was not afraid to take risks and that he worked hard to better his family
• He worked as
• A fire extinguisher technician (Fleck Brothers)
• A salesman of fire extinguishers and fire fighting equipment (General Fire and Red Comet)
• He tried his hand in restaurant business (with his brother-in-law in OR- The Hungry Whale, and his son in CA- Princeton Seafood company).  They had cute mottos for the restaurants
• Bigger better burgers with Gas (Hungry Whale); and
• We serve crabs and other fine people (PSF Co)
• He and Mom drove for Hertz car rental company driving/delivering  cars around the country
• Both of them were Census Takers
• Helped other people fix things (handyman projects)
• Made friends wherever he went (it helps to have an outgoing wife, and a cute dog)
• People appreciated his wit and humor.
• Struggled with dementia and the loss of his leg, and that he was comforted by visits and prayers from Pastor Erv, during this time
• Participated in his Men’s group and that he enjoyed his bible study class
• He listened to O’Riley every night on the TV, and that he struggled somewhat to live peacefully with his conservative leanings surrounded by strong liberal women
• As part of the 50^th year celebration of the end of the World War II, he went back with other Canadian soldiers to Holland.  The Canadians had liberated Holland.  He visited the place where he was taken prisoner and he was honored by the people and the mayor of that town. 
• He was a happy man, and that he made others around him happy
• People appreciated his wit and positive outlook
• He was a moral man.  He lost one job because he wasn’t willing to be as promiscuous as the other salesman wanted him to be.  I remember him inviting a nude lady to float her air mattress a little further upstream, away from our family.  As a young teenager, I thought that he should at least let her float by. 

 Here are some things I learned from my Father

• To choose wisely
• Invest for the long term
• To respect women. 
• To love my country
• To give back to my community
• To be honesty and in integrity
• To live within my means
• To be responsible

Whenever I do an exercise that starts out making a list of the men and qualities that I admire, he is first on that list

 

Here are some more fun things that I remember

• He used to make our school lunches, lining up all the pieces of bread so that he could put on the ingredients efficiently.  He called it lining up all the soldiers
• He let me rebuild car engines in the driveway
• He sold me my first car (the family Rambler American with folding down seats) for $1
• Encouraged me to have jobs to earn and save my own money
• He was the fastest two-fingered typist I ever met
• He was present to people.  You had his attention when you were talking to him. 
• He liked to take the ladies to lunch.  I think he was a flirt with the ladies, but there was only one for him, Shirley

 Here are a few Daddy Sayings

• I can run faster backwards than you can run forwards, and for a lot of years, he could. 
• These two he repeated from his father-in-law
• Taste it, taste it, bless your heart, it’s like a bowl of sugar
• What you can’t eat, rub in your hair
• FHB (family hold back) That is what you affirmed before company arrived, so that there would be enough food and appetizers for the company
• If two will hold, three will hold the devil (that was for deciding how many nails or screws to use for fastening things)
• Crooked as a dog’s hind leg (that was how he would describe a not so good saw cut
• I /you do good work, just not much of it
• If you don’t shape up, we may have to cut your pay
• I may have to put you on report
• You are the cutest pup in the park (Minnie Mouse)

Harry Blazed new trails: from Vancouver, BC, Canada; Mill Valley, CA; Seattle, WA; San Mateo, CA; Denver, CO; Nehalem, OR; Half Moon Bay, CA; Ukiah, CA, Jacksonville, OR; and now he is blazing the trail for the rest of us to heaven. 

 

They say that you can tell what a man is committed to by looking in his check book and his calendar.  That is place where he documents where and how does he spends his time, and where he invests his money.  My father invested his time and money in things that made a difference for his family, his church, and his community. 

 

I say that the difference that a man makes for other people can be measured by what people say when he is gone.  Judging by just the things that people have told me in the last week, he made a huge difference in his world, right up till the end. 

 

Daddy, I say goodbye to you with this "Prayer for Protection."  If you know it, you can say it along with me. 

 

The light of God surrounds you.

The love of God enfolds you.

The power of God protects you.

The presence of God watches over you.

Wherever you are God is. 

And so it is.  Amen.