Heritage

My lesson in Young Women's last Sunday was on Honoring Your Parents. As part of that lesson I gave the girls a questionnaire to take home to help them get to know their parents better. I was looking over the questions and thought they were pretty interesting and realized there were many questions I couldn't answer about my own parents. So I thought it would be fun to send them the questions and have them fill them out. It was interesting how different their responses were and how emotional I felt afterwards having gained some new insight into my parents lives. I'm going to start with my dad whose answers were very brief and straight forward but insightful nonetheless.

Name: Ross Wallace Gilroy

Birthplace: Long Beach, Ca 1946

His father was a manufacturer and businessman who provided financial security growing up although there was always concern over finances (but nothing more than what we all feel as parents raising children). His mother was able to stay home and raise both he and his sister. Their family attended services at a local Presbyterian church with varying regularity. His parents were conservative, careful, and socially conscious (which sounds just like my dad). He says he had an average relationship with his parents, not too close and not too distant.

My dad received a two year college degree plus two more years of formal college but he has also enjoyed many years of informal college. His business has been in manufacturing but he is currently brokering.

His main goal in life is survival (is that sarcasm, dad?) The things that make him most happy are his wife, pursuing things of interest, his wife, being healthy, his wife, associates, his wife, flowers, and his wife. (Pretty cute, huh?) The thing that makes him most sad is people in pain. He most enjoys talking, walking hand in hand, playing games, and visiting interesting places. In his spare time he enjoys fine art woodworking (of which he is incredibly talented), reading, and visiting places of historical interest.

He shared with me one story of a hard time he went through. In the early 1980's the country was in a recession and he found his company pretty deep in debt and the creditors calling demanding payments. He said people advised him to declare bankruptcy but instead my dad was able to work with the creditors for more time, renegotiate with the union contracts for his employees, sold assets that weren't crucial, raised prices (in a declining market), met with bank executives to extend terms on loans, and then, as he put it, "hunkered down to weather the storm". It took him six years before he paid off his last loan. I've always admired my dad for being conservative and careful with his finances but I felt especially proud after hearing this story. I could go on and on about how much his example means to me in the world we live in today but I think he's experience speaks for itself.

I'm proud of my dad. I am grateful to have a close relationship with him but was disappointed in myself for not knowing more about him. I want my children to know their grandfather and feel as proud of him as I am.