Old Mr. Rabbit born June 1, 1911

[Jack Rabbit]

I spent the day with a quietly great man: my father. He was born 95 years ago today in Oakland, California.

He lives alone in a retirement home. My mother passed away four years ago just before they would have celebrated their sixty-fifth wedding anniversary.

His father was a construction worker. Dad graduated from high school just in time for the Great Depression. The family was one of many which benefited from the New Deal. Dad, his bother and sister were all lifelong Democrats.

Dad had just become a father at the age of thirty when Pearl Harbor was bombed. He spent the war years working in the shipyards in Stockton. To save gasoline for the war effort, he rode to work on a bicycle. He supervised an otherwise all-woman crew. Although he never joined any political organization, he was not shy about stating his belief that it was wrong to intern Japanese Americans.

In 1948, he quit his job as advertising manager for the local Sears-Roebuck store and opened a photography studio. He was in business for fourteen years, during which time I was born. In 1962, he sold the business and returned to work as advertising manager for another locally-owned discount store. In 1964, over some mild opposition from the store's general manager, he hired an Afro-American man as his assistant. Dad retired in the seventies.

He is getting lonely at 95. He and my 90-year-old aunt, his sister-in-law, are the last members of their generation on either side of my family still living. The sudden death of my sister two years ago also hit him hard.

Nevertheless, he is sharp and alert. He still drives a car, although he drives it only in town and never at night. He survived surgery two years ago in which a pig valve was implanted in his heart. He says that since then he feels like a cannibal whenever he eats pork. He also says that at 95, it's a good day whenever he wakes up in the morning.

[miss_american_pie]

1. Happy Birthday Mr. Rabbit

:party:

This is such a great post.

[LeftyMom]

2. Please tell him I said hi and happy birthday!

:hi:

[BreweryYardRat]

3. Happy birthday to him.

Best wishes.

[Suich]

4. What a nice story!

Your Father sound like a great guy...Happy Birthday to him!!!

:party:

[Lisa]

5. a very happy birthday ...

Please tell your dad thanks ... as someone of Japanese ancestry whose family was interned during the war, I deeply appreciate his actions. A lot of people who were born after the war have said that they are sorry for what happened, and I feel relieved when I hear that ... and others who were alive then have told me that they felt it was wrong but were afraid to say anything at the time, and I'm glad for their honesty. But I very rarely get a chance to pass along a message to someone who spoke up on our behalf. If it weren't for people like your dad, I believe that the whole situation would have been dismissed and forgotten, because folks (including the internees) would simply not have talked about it at all.

My family are so grateful, because they felt very scared and isolated back then -- they didn't know what was going to happen to them, and just knowing that some people supported them was a tremendous comfort. I shall tell my parents (who are in their 80s) about your father, and I know that they will send their regards as well.

I know that it can't have been easy for your dad to speak up and tell other people what he thought. I can only imagine some of the ugly names that they called him, behind his back or even to his face. One of my dad's high school friends was left in tears after some other kids were very cruel to her, because she felt sorry for all the Japanese people who were taken away. And after it turned out that the internees were innocent after all ... well, people can get even more stubborn when they are proven wrong (your dad is no doubt wise about human nature after seeing all of this unfold!).

Happy birthday, Mr. Rabbit, and may you enjoy many more good days.

[u4ic]

6. What an amazing man

Happy Birthday, Old Mr Rabbit!:-)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. What a lovely tribute

to a wonderful man! He sounds like the salt of the earth. Please give him a birthday hug from me! :hug:

[The_Casual_Observer]

8. Bless that man.

My kindest regards!

T_C_O

[Oeditpus Rex]

9. Great sense o' humor at 95

with the cannibal joke. :thumbsup:

Happy birthday, Mr. Rabbit. May you have many more. :patriot:

[SeattleGirl]

10. Happy Birthday, Old Mr. Rabbit.

You have lived a good life, thus far. Here's to as many more years as you want! :toast: :party: :toast:

[Vidar]

11. Happy birthday to your dad.

[hfojvt]

12. so I am wondering

did he whomp you in chess, or did you just let him win on his birthday?

Nice story.

[Jack Rabbit]

14. I used to whomp him years ago

I was the chess player of the family. The kid who used to whomp me at the Stockton YMCA was a tall, skinny fellow named John Gianelli, who grew up to have a brief career in the NBA.

Dad and I didn't play chess yesterday. We had lunch with my aunt, who lives in the same retirement complex. Then he and I talked about a number of things ranging from the Bush mafia to geriatric diabetes. Dad thinks there will be no impeachments, but investigations will hound them after they leave office and Cheney, at least, will be convicted of something; on geriatric diabetes, he is thankful he does not have it because his mother and her three siblings did.

[newyawker99]

13. Happy birthday wishes to your Dad. He sounds

like an amazing man. :toast:

[bridgit]

15. thanks, JB...

:hug: