This is my Father. Isn't he handsome!?Last year on Father's day my sister wrote a beautiful tribute to my Dad that can't be topped. I am going to steal some of it and post it here. I really am the luckiest girl on the planet, I have the most fabulous Dad ever!
I am so lucky to have a dad like my Dad and I love him so much. He's the kindest, most forgiving man on the planet. His great example of what a man should be like will be in my heart forever. I hope I can raise my kids(whenever they get here) to be like their Grandfather.
HISTORY
My Dad grew up in Waterloo, Iowa where he was born with a beard. Growing up he tamed wild salamanders and hunted gophers. He sneezed his way through elementary school and then survived through crazy girl, razor fights in high school. His family and friends also spent a LOT of time on the Mississippi river where they water-skied and caught giant snapping turtles for lunch. Dad learned to play the trumpet and would often go to the bar on the wrong side of the railroad tracks and play jazz with all the black folk with his Levi jeans rolled up, white shirt and penny loafers. He was the original James Dean.
In college Dad was known was as "The Fish." The rest of his days at UNI are a blur, as he won't tell us about them and his best friend Dane Sommers has also been sworn to secrecy (the old "you don't tell my kids and I won't tell yours" thing). I know that he had some crazy times as one of the popular stories about "his friends" that he tells where "he wasn't there" involves a police chase and a corn field. There is also a mysterious picture of him wearing some underwear on his head. He claims he knows nothing about it.
He met and married his sweetheart at the ripe old age of 21. He finished his masters degree in geology and then started working. Interestingly enough, he wanted to be a lawyer but didn't want to spend his life in a cubicle. Little did he know that the geology department sucks you in with their cool field trips for a few years and THEN throws you in a cubicle (or in Dad's case a nice office with a view). My Mom joined the LDS church when they lived in Louisiana. It wasn't til 12 years later in Texas that Dad followed her great example. Ha-no one would believe that THE Craig Davis was getting baptized and so many people came they had to meet in the chapel.
Dad is the father of six marvelous kids (I'm his favorite) and 11 grandchildren who he loves very much.
CALLINGS, AWARDS, ETC.
Dad is quite the guy. Since he joined the church he's only ever had 3 callings. First he was in the bishopric, then he's had over a bazillion scout callings and now he's in nursery and scouts. When we first moved to Texas my Dad and a couple other guys started the largest scout troop in Houston (big deal-Houston's HUGE). They were infamous for a while in scout history. In his scouting career he's received so many awards I can hardly remember all of them. But, here are a few.
LeRoy Golson Award (very distinguished)
Scouting Family of the Year
Unit Commissioner of the Year
Scoutmaster of the Year
Silver Beaver
And so many other Pine Tree awards I can't even recall
Other Random Information
Because he was so involved with scouting, he was a favorite among all the guys we all hung out with in high school. My brother's friends knew that he was the voice of Jack In The Box. Every time he'd leave and go on another "business" trip, a new commercial would come out. They were obsessed with this for months.
He always has a handkerchief (AKA snot rag).
He doesn't drink after children.
On one of the scouting trips he took, Blake Rhalston kept taking off his smelly shoes. My dad repeatedly said not to. Blake didn't listen, and his socks ended up on the freeway. Blake is still whining about this 10 years later.
Jonathan Kay was fascinated with my dad's beard. I remember the day he witnessed something that is usually only captured on a high speed camera-my dad coming his beard. He keeps a comb in his pocket so he can straighten it out and when Jonathan saw him comb his whole face in less than a second he was impressed out of his mind and couldn't stop talking about it for months.
He's not a cowboy. In fact, he hates country music.
He shaved the beard into a goatee, and now people think he is Colonel Sanders.
He's been mistaken for Steve Martin and Richard Dreifus more than once. People are very disappointed when they see him at the airport, ask for a signature and it comes out, "Craig Davis."
He's the best husband ever. He's been shopping patiently for hours with my mom at antique stores so she can find this certain drawer for a sewing machine and I've never heard a complaint.
People fear and love him. He is intimidating... he's really smart and knows everything. He wrote the dictionary.
He can make things explode just by looking at them.
He has traveled to more countries than I am old. I think so anyway. He has spent a lot of time in Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Greece, Europe, China and like four hundred other places I can't even keep track of. He's dined with ambassadors, presidents, and all sorts of VIP peoples.
I have had numerous people at church over the years pull me aside to tell me how lucky I am to be his daughter and how much they love and respect him.
Dad has a unique cough. Whenever we go somewhere and lose site of him, we listen for his "Eh heh" cough and we can find him.
He likes to canoe, rock climb, mountain bike (face first), hike.
He can name every kind of rock. My least favorite as a kid was the "Levarite." ... Leave it right where you found it...
FAVORITE PHRASES
"YOU KIDS DON'T DO DIDDLY-SQUAT!"
"You couldn't find your butt with both hands!""You're as blind as a bat!"
My Dad grew up in Waterloo, Iowa where he was born with a beard. Growing up he tamed wild salamanders and hunted gophers. He sneezed his way through elementary school and then survived through crazy girl, razor fights in high school. His family and friends also spent a LOT of time on the Mississippi river where they water-skied and caught giant snapping turtles for lunch. Dad learned to play the trumpet and would often go to the bar on the wrong side of the railroad tracks and play jazz with all the black folk with his Levi jeans rolled up, white shirt and penny loafers. He was the original James Dean.
In college Dad was known was as "The Fish." The rest of his days at UNI are a blur, as he won't tell us about them and his best friend Dane Sommers has also been sworn to secrecy (the old "you don't tell my kids and I won't tell yours" thing). I know that he had some crazy times as one of the popular stories about "his friends" that he tells where "he wasn't there" involves a police chase and a corn field. There is also a mysterious picture of him wearing some underwear on his head. He claims he knows nothing about it.
He met and married his sweetheart at the ripe old age of 21. He finished his masters degree in geology and then started working. Interestingly enough, he wanted to be a lawyer but didn't want to spend his life in a cubicle. Little did he know that the geology department sucks you in with their cool field trips for a few years and THEN throws you in a cubicle (or in Dad's case a nice office with a view). My Mom joined the LDS church when they lived in Louisiana. It wasn't til 12 years later in Texas that Dad followed her great example. Ha-no one would believe that THE Craig Davis was getting baptized and so many people came they had to meet in the chapel.
Dad is the father of six marvelous kids (I'm his favorite) and 11 grandchildren who he loves very much.
CALLINGS, AWARDS, ETC.
Dad is quite the guy. Since he joined the church he's only ever had 3 callings. First he was in the bishopric, then he's had over a bazillion scout callings and now he's in nursery and scouts. When we first moved to Texas my Dad and a couple other guys started the largest scout troop in Houston (big deal-Houston's HUGE). They were infamous for a while in scout history. In his scouting career he's received so many awards I can hardly remember all of them. But, here are a few.
LeRoy Golson Award (very distinguished)
Scouting Family of the Year
Unit Commissioner of the Year
Scoutmaster of the Year
Silver Beaver
And so many other Pine Tree awards I can't even recall
Other Random Information
Because he was so involved with scouting, he was a favorite among all the guys we all hung out with in high school. My brother's friends knew that he was the voice of Jack In The Box. Every time he'd leave and go on another "business" trip, a new commercial would come out. They were obsessed with this for months.
He always has a handkerchief (AKA snot rag).
He doesn't drink after children.
On one of the scouting trips he took, Blake Rhalston kept taking off his smelly shoes. My dad repeatedly said not to. Blake didn't listen, and his socks ended up on the freeway. Blake is still whining about this 10 years later.
Jonathan Kay was fascinated with my dad's beard. I remember the day he witnessed something that is usually only captured on a high speed camera-my dad coming his beard. He keeps a comb in his pocket so he can straighten it out and when Jonathan saw him comb his whole face in less than a second he was impressed out of his mind and couldn't stop talking about it for months.
He's not a cowboy. In fact, he hates country music.
He shaved the beard into a goatee, and now people think he is Colonel Sanders.
He's been mistaken for Steve Martin and Richard Dreifus more than once. People are very disappointed when they see him at the airport, ask for a signature and it comes out, "Craig Davis."
He's the best husband ever. He's been shopping patiently for hours with my mom at antique stores so she can find this certain drawer for a sewing machine and I've never heard a complaint.
People fear and love him. He is intimidating... he's really smart and knows everything. He wrote the dictionary.
He can make things explode just by looking at them.
He has traveled to more countries than I am old. I think so anyway. He has spent a lot of time in Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Greece, Europe, China and like four hundred other places I can't even keep track of. He's dined with ambassadors, presidents, and all sorts of VIP peoples.
I have had numerous people at church over the years pull me aside to tell me how lucky I am to be his daughter and how much they love and respect him.
Dad has a unique cough. Whenever we go somewhere and lose site of him, we listen for his "Eh heh" cough and we can find him.
He likes to canoe, rock climb, mountain bike (face first), hike.
He can name every kind of rock. My least favorite as a kid was the "Levarite." ... Leave it right where you found it...
FAVORITE PHRASES
"YOU KIDS DON'T DO DIDDLY-SQUAT!"
"You couldn't find your butt with both hands!""You're as blind as a bat!"
I am so lucky to have a dad like my Dad and I love him so much. He's the kindest, most forgiving man on the planet. His great example of what a man should be like will be in my heart forever. I hope I can raise my kids(whenever they get here) to be like their Grandfather.
8 comments:
You have an AMAZING Dad!! I can see why you are so proud of him. I now have "you couldn't find your butt with both hands!" stuck in my head now :)
I love Craig. The best part about him is that he is so fun to hang out with.
That was such a cute tribute! Remember when we got to go along on one of his scout outings? Man, that was a long time ago. I thought he was such a cool dad!
He is handsome!! He looks like he would be the coolest dad ever!!
Your dad is awesome like my dad!! But I had to laugh when you mentioned Blake Ralston cuz I think my niece Melanie married his brother Mike!! I could be wrong and it could be a different Blake Ralston... :)
correction on a two things. The Silver bever Award is only given out to a few, LeRoy Golson Award (very distinguished)is still a high honor award just no where near the Silver Beaver award. the only award in scouting to surpass that is the Silver Buffalo award.
Also he never wanted to be a lawyer, it was an Achaeologist, however it wouldn't have supported a family. that is why he went with geology.
and I am his favorite daughter... sorry anna/tiffany/whitney.
katie,
haha, small world! Same Blake!
You think you're lucky! I married the guy so that makes me the luckiest ever. Just so you know, I looked the "fish in the sea" over and he won, I knew he'd be a great dad and that's only one of the reasons why I married him. Of course, the deep blue eyes totally won me over, too.
Mom
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