Father's Day Tribute

A dad is a person who is loving and kind,

And often he knows what you have on your mind.
He's someone who listens, suggests, and defends.
A dad can be one of your very best friends!
He's proud of your triumphs, but when things go wrong,
A dad can be patient and helpful and strong.
In all that you do, a dad's love plays a part.
There's always a place for him deep in your heart.
And each year that passes, you're even more glad,
More grateful and proud just to call him your dad!

My dad is the 5th of 10 children born in 1939 to Joseph and Delora Flake who were a hard-working farming family. He utilized his strong-fit-farmboy-physique while at BYU as a gymnast and did the rings, trampoline, & tumbling. As well as his brawn, he also is full of brain. He graduated High School in 1957 as Class Salutatorian and received a full scholarship to BYU. He attended BYU for 1 year before serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the New England States mission (which included Boston, Nova Scotia, Maritime Provinces in Canada, etc.)

When he returned from his mission, USU rolled out the red carpet and gave him an offer he couldn't resist. He received an "Outstanding Chemistry Student" award and was an excellent student. While at USU he worked as a chemistry research technician for Electro Dynamics Laboratory in chemiluminescence and spectroscopy research studies of rocket plumes. (Phew, say that 10 times fast.) Part of his job was building glass gas handling systems (glass blowing). He received his major in Chemistry & Secondary Education and a minor in Mathematics. In the summer of 1962 (after he had proposed to my mom) he was sent to Massachusetts and hired at MIT to help set up the same glass handling system that he worked on at USU.

After doing all that, one would assume that he became some sort of a chemist or scientist. However, he was offered a job through the Church Educational System to teach seminary in Brigham City, Utah. After much deliberation, he felt that the life of a scientist would not be conducive to the type of family life he wanted and he chose to take a different path than what was previously intended.

{Joseph & Delora Flake, Mom & Dad, Carma & Keith Spencer}

He married my mom in January 1963. Out of everything that he has experienced, I'm sure he would probably agree that the best choice he ever made was marrying my mom for time and all eternity in the Logan, Utah temple. They lived in Brigham City, UT and he taught seminary there for 3 years. Then he was transferred to Fort Windgate, NM for 3 years. While teaching seminary in New Mexico, he was also an area coordinator of 7 Lamanite seminary programs for the Church Education System. He traveled out to the reservations and took students on a bus 2-3 times a week to their seminary locations. He was also the Branch President of the Perea Branch in New Mexico. In August of 1970, my parents moved to Snowflake, AZ to teach seminary.

Unfortunately, in the Spring of 1971, while helping on the Indian Reservation he contracted Hepatitis A and was severely sick and unable to teach for 6 weeks. This was a hard time for the family as my mom (8 months pregnant with her 5th child) also contracted Hepatitis A, and I think maybe my two oldest sisters did as well. (I can't remember for sure.) This was the beginning of a lot of health problems for my dad. When he did return to teach seminary, he was exhausted and could only teach for about an hour or so.

In the years that followed he worked construction, had his own radio program (Beehive Broadcasting), was the lead maintenance man for Snowflake School District. During this time he also set up a Mobile Home Park and ran the farm. =) It's amazing for me to think that almost all of these things took place before I was born.

{Back row: Dad holding me, Mayona, Mom, Grandma Spencer,

Noni, Grandpa Spencer, Tamra Front row: Maury, Lathan, Lorene.}

I have a few of my own memories with my dad. He would usually break from his work outside to come in and eat lunch while listening to Paul Harvey. Oh, how he loves to listen to Paul Harvey. =)

I remember the rare opportunity of playing racquetball with my dad. It didn't happen very often, but when it did, I was so excited to be playing with him. I still remember the day when I finally beat him at a game.

One of my favorite memories with my dad was going on a Daddy Daughter Date with him for Achievement Days. We made bow ties for our dads and matching hair bows for ourselves. Then we did some square dancing. I remember thinking that my dad was the best dancer out of all the dads. He seemed to know what he was doing and he had good rhythm.
He seemed to always need to be working on something while listening to General Conference. I can still picture him paring apples, or pears while listening to conference. I remember him inventing his own type of corn cutter that would slice the corn kernels right off the cob. I still think that particular contraption is pure genius.

He has a gentle demeanor about him. I remember one time when I accidentally broke an irrigation head while working on the tractor. I thought he would be so mad, but he wasn't. He just worked with me on fixing it.

My father has a very good strong speaking voice. He enjoys public speaking and I have learned the importance of enunciating from him. He also has a love of reading good books. However, with so much to do on the farm there wasn't a lot of time for leisure reading. I remember sometimes in the evenings or on Sundays he would read aloud a book to us. He loved to read the Children's Friend magazine to me when I was little. (Even now when he comes to visit, that's one of his favorite things to do, is read the Children's Friend to my kids.) As I grew older we read some really great books together. The book I remember the most was, "The Hiding Place," by Corrie Ten Boom.

{Grandpa reading to Zachary and Shaylin in 2005}

We made a lot of car trips when I was growing up. We seemed to be making the 10 hour drive up to Utah a couple of times each year. My dad enjoys car trips and driving. He loves the scenery and the beauty of what he sees. He loves and respects nature. I remember hearing him tell us stories on these road trips. I also remember him pulling out his harmonica and playing his harmonica while he drove. Looking back it was probably to keep himself awake, but it always seemed to put me to sleep and was very soothing for me. When he comes to visit he always brings his harmonica, and after the kids are in their beds, he'll sit in the hallway and play his harmonica for them while they drift off to sleep. It's very nostalgic for me.

My dad is a very hard-working man. He is extremely handy and can fix just about anything himself, usually without a trip to a hardware store (just using whatever is on hand). I am constantly amazed at his ingenuity. Growing up I didn't know any different and I just thought all dads were super dads and could fix anything and everything with whatever they had on hand. I quickly learned that this was a special gift that my dad has. He's showed us how to use a plunger to get a dent out of a car door, and used soda bottle lids to fix door knobs. He is very resourceful and also lives by the motto, "Fix it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." When building or making anything, he is very thorough and precise. The job might take a while to get done, but it is beautiful and done correctly. We are very appreciative of his building and fixing abilities and all that he does when he comes to visit us.
My dad is a friend to everyone. He gives so much of his time to others, whether it is helping them fix a leaky pipe or getting their furnace fixed, he is always there to lend a hand.

My father is also an amazing missionary, and not just when he was an actual set apart missionary, but always. He always carries Books of Mormon in the car and pass along cards, and hands them out frequently. He loves sharing the gospel.

He set a great example to our family about the importance of bearing our testimonies. He was diligent in holding family prayer regularly. He honored his priesthood. He gave us father's blessings regularly.

My dad taught me the importance of "living within your means." From an early age, he taught us to be accountable for every penny earned and spent. We had (and still have) our little ledger books where we recorded everything earned and spent and then we would have a meeting with dad to show where our money was to and how much we had saved. He taught me to pay an honest tithe. He set an example of this by even counting in things like our chicken eggs, or how much corn or milk was sold, etc. He counted anything that was an "increase" to us.

{This is a snip-it of my ledger book from when I was about 6 years old.

My favorite inserts are the ones for like 3 cents that were so faithfully recorded.
I wasn't exaggerating when I said e-v-e-r-y penny was accounted for.}

My most tender memory that still brings tears to my eyes when I think about it, is when I was in labor in the hospital right before Candace was born. I will never forget my dad walking in the room holding this beautiful pink pot, with beautiful pink flowers inside it just for me. It meant so much to me to have him bring me flowers and at such a tender time. It spoke volumes to me about how much he cared and wanted to do something for me, his daughter. To some they might say it was just flowers, but it was more than the flowers for me, it was the gesture that spoke so much to me, and still touches me to this day.

For all this and more, I wish to honor you today Dad.

Thank you for listening, caring, for giving and sharing.
You have been a constant in my life.
You have always been MY dad and I love you for it!
Happy Father's Day!