Another Sister's Perspective

My sister Irma remembers being impressed with our father because he taught himself to read and write in English without much help and doesn't know how in the world he ever did that.

She remembers coming home to see him sitting at the kitchen table reading the World Book encyclopedia. She thinks he probably read the whole series cover-to-cover. He must have, she says, because of all the many times she saw him doing that.

He was so hungry for knowledge, he read constantly.

He always knew everything that was going on all over the world, she recalls, and he used to get disgusted with Americans because nobody knew anything. He'd ask them who the leader of Germany was and nobody knew. He couldn't get over that.

She thought he would have been a great politician, but of course that was not to be.

Another thing she remembers is that Dad couldn't stand it when people sat around in bathrobes, like she used to do, until 10 o'clock in the morning. It about drove him crazy. He just did not like that look. He felt you should get dressed and eat and start the day dressed.

On the (somewhat) humorous side, Irma recalls, he hated seafood — any kind of seafood. It was almost as if he thought it was a sin to eat any of it. Anyway, one time she was fixing razor clams, dipping them in flour and frying them like cutlets. He said, "Oh, those look good" and she said, "I'll give you a plate."

So he sat down and started eating. "This is good," he said. "What is it?"

Not being able to lie to him, she told him — kind of jokingly, like she'd pulled one over on him.

He picked up the plate and flung it across the room.

He was very upset with her for deceiving him, so that was the first and last time she ever did that to him.