Page 19 - Amarillo Senior Link Magazine Winter 2020- Online Magazine

pheasant, ruffed grouse, and deer. I learned to field dress bed neatly made every morning. I also give credit to a
these animals and to butcher them for meal preparation. fastidious spouse.
We always had a freezer filled with both produce and
game from the hunt. Another of Father’s sayings was: “You’ll never be a
man until you learn to carry a knife.” I have carried a
Dad taught me carpentry, plumbing and electrical work. pocketknife since the age of twelve. Not only do I always
We built a large chicken house. We shingled the roof, cut carry a pocketknife and use it daily for something, but I
glass for windows, laid water lines, and strung electrical have scores of spare pocketknives and carving knives in
wire. Together we did a great deal of electrical work in my toolbox. One of my most satisfying hobbies comes
the house. I learned to sweat joints of copper pipe, thread with knife in hand, fashioning a woodcarving.
galvanized pipe and other plumbing
work. This knowledge has been useful My father taught me the value of
many times as a homeowner. setting goals and realizing self-
satisfaction in achieving them and
My great-great grandfather was a stone the self-confidence that grows
mason who helped lay the stone of the with accomplishment. He led me
first capitol building for the State of to be ambitious, with a desire to
Iowa. One hundred years later, Dad better myself in every way I’m
and I went to an abandoned quarry and able. I learned different kinds of
slid huge blocks of stone up a ramp into discipline – swift, stern punishment
a pickup to haul to our house. With for wrong-doing and the kind that
his instruction, we spent two months is stick-to-it-iveness or persistence
chiseling, shaping, and laying 300-pound that gets results. He taught me to
rocks to make a wall for a terrace in our listen carefully and to stand firm in
yard. We built a large outdoor stone grill, my convictions. Dad whistled and
fishpond and patio. Twenty-five years sang. I whistle and sing. Dad was
later, I constructed a rock wall around a terraced garden proud of his heritage and began putting together family
at our home. All these structures still stand as monuments genealogy. I carry on.
to three different generations of McGinnis stone masons.
My parents taught me the absolute joy of travel, for we
One of Dad’s favorite sayings was, “There’s a place had fabulous family vacations. Each was an adventure to
for everything, and everything’s in its place.” He was see places and people quite different than home. By the
extremely well-organized and believed that all should be time I graduated from high school, I had been to Mexico,
in good order - always. I’m sure his attention to detail Canada and 42 states. Now I’ve been to all states many
and orderliness came from his engineering training times and 58 other countries as well, with a thirst to see
and military background. Dad expected cleanliness and learn more of planet earth.
and neatness, and he got it. My home is still tidy and
These are but a few of the lessons my parents taught me.
I pay tribute and honor them in helping me become who
I am.

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