Happy Birthday To My Dad

From husband Bill, August 30, 2026, home

Happy Birthday to my father (August 30, 1934 - February 14, 1997). I still sorely and immensely miss him.

The top photo shows my dad and me in December 1974 at the house of my great-aunt Rose in East Orange, New Jersey. I was 13 years old. The bottom photo shows my dad aboard the Queen Elizabeth II (QEII) cruise ship during the 1980s; I can't remember exactly when it was.

My dad died at age 62 on his mother's birthday -- she passed away on May 22, 1977 -- and the day after the birthday of his sister who still resides on Long Island, New York.

Dad was cremated. Half of his ashes were interred at Breslau Cemetery in Lindenhurst, Long Island, New York. The other half of his ashes were scattered into the North Atlantic Ocean from a U.S. Navy ship. Dad served 22 years in the Navy and retired at the rank of Commander. He was a few months short of Captain. He served on a ship in the late 1950s, transporting World War II DPs (displaced persons or, as he called them, delayed pilgrims) from Bremerhaven, Germany, to New York City.

For decades, my dad owned and operated three agencies in Lindenhurst, the town where he grew up: insurance, real estate, and travel. The latter was run by my mother; we now live less than a mile from each other in southeastern Florida. My dad retired to Maryland in the early 1990s, but he soon became a car salesman.

My father had a twin brother named Wilbur who died in 1935 at the age of 9 months due to spinal meningitis.

Note: My dear friend's departed father from childhood in the 1960s shares the same birthday as my dad, so I wish him a Happy Birthday.