My Dad Died Yesterday

[dezysmith]

Very nice picture of you and your dad, so sorry to hear of your loss. My dad died 2 years ago and it takes a while to get over the fact that they are gone, but time does help to heal your sorrow. I don't know what else to say to you except that I hope you can continue to have faith and I will pray for you that you can get through these emotional times but spiritually and physically.

[ranger]

i'm so sorry.
my heart aches for you, Eric.

[jules10100]

Beautiful picture of happier times. My thoughts and prayers ate with you

[Lee]

Eric,

That is a nice pic of you and your Dad. Again, I am so sorry for your loss.

Take care of yourself,

Lee

[GreenLakeGirl]

Nice photo of you and your dad, BB. Thinking of you.

[SoCalSaz]

I'm so very sorry, Eric. I hope you and your family find comfort in good, loving memories.

[garbovatwin]

May his next adventure be a pain free one.

gt

[vern4me]

i werk with a woman whos been cancer free for four years stage 4 unsure about the abc
do they have that in stage four well i talked to an older man yesturday stage 4 hes been free but its come back in different places thru the years like his lung now his liver they got the lung in time an his liver chemo treating him now but he has been alive now 11 years after first diagnoised so if it spreads it can still be treated up to the very end so keep fight we all are different an i put all my trust in the lord im stage 3b my was hopefully caught in time i had one infected limpnode even one is a werry wort but im not afraid to go if i go im goin shoutinn an singing im only 45 but ive lived a lots in my time so keep your head up an dont listin to satin he is a liar an he will try every way to bring you down

[Gloria]

Great picture of you and your dad. Sorry for your loss

[thelongglass]

So sorry for you and your family. I lost my father to a stroke when I was 24 and I still miss him terribly. I am glad you have had a chance to prepare and spend time with him in advance of his passing. I pray you and your family will be comforted while you handle everything on your plate now.

[Bill5107]

Thanks for the pic Eric. Great sharing.

[BrownBagger]

I edit three forestry-themed magazines, all of which my dad wrote for over the years. He was a good writer. Not flashy or exceptionally proficient, but he wrote interesting articles about people in the forestry business that my readers really liked to read. He connected with people; working people. That was one of his many talents. He was an avid reader (haunted the Goodwill book shelves), which is a big part of what made him such a good writer. I also edited his one book, entitled "The Good Woodcutter's Guide," which is available on Amazon.

Anyway, I had the distinct honor of writing his obits for these publications and while they differed depending on the magazine, the one I'm happiest with actually lists two things he was passionate about, but unsuccessful in. When I get to my other computer, I'll paste a copy. But I've been thinking recently that pointing out a guy's failures is an odd thing to do in an obituary. Typically, we celebrate successes, of which he had many.

But I decided to write what I did because it represents one final chance for him to possibly make a difference in two areas he cared about, albeit from the grave. I wanted to remind those who stood in his way that I haven't forgotten what he was trying to accomplish, and perhaps reading about it in his obit will help nudge them into action. My mother, who knew him best, of course, gave these short obits an enthusiastic thumbs up, so I'm comfortable with this rather unconventional approach. It will be interesting to see how my readers react.

Here it is:

Contributing writer, David C. Johnson, died October 20 following a brief illness. He was 79. Johnson, a tree farmer and logger from Coloma, Wisconsin, wrote for numerous publications serving landowners and the forest products industry. He was an early adopter of safer manual logging techniques promoted in North America by Swedish logger and trainer Soren Eriksson, which he used when working on his own land, and was always eager to share that knowledge with others. One of his many interests was researching logging accidents reported in local newspapers, in an attempt to find out more about the circumstances of these tragedies, so that others might learn to avoid similar accidents. Unfortunately, he often found that detailed information was either not available, or not willingly shared by those directly involved. Another one of his passions was to make landowners in Wisconsin aware of the difference between calculating stumpage payments by the cord vs. by weight. He pointed out that wood bought by the cord but sold by the ton carried potential--but invisible--losses to the landowner. He advocated the adoption of a universally standard conversion factor for converting cords to tons, so that all wood bought and sold in the state would be measured equally. Again, he had little success in this effort. "Those who stand to lose the most aren't usually aware of the problem," he often said, "And those in a position to make them aware that there is a potential problem, are unwilling to do so.

[live2jett]

I love the picture of you and your father...I'm sorry that he passed...

[Bill5107]

"Those who stand to lose the most aren't usually aware of the problem,"

Eric, this is all too often the case. Even in my pet interest over free software vs. proprietary (secret) software.

That was a nice obit. Yet another little glimpse of your dad. Thanks for sharing.

[jgall]

But I've been thinking recently that pointing out a guy's failures is an odd thing to do in an obituary. Typically, we celebrate successes, of which he had many.

Sometimes how we handle our failures says more about a person than all of his/her successes combined. Based on the ideas, sounds to me like your dad was full of integrity even if he wasn't successful in making his ideas a reality. Great picture of you two also! Thanks for sharing so much of him (and yourself) with us. It's the mark of a very caring person.

Julia