This is my dad, Ed Browning. One of the hardest working men I know, who instilled in his children at an early age, a solid work ethic. I can rarely remember him calling in sick to work…and that of course meant that if we wanted to miss a day of school, we’d better have a leg or arm that fell off! Ed was an electrician at Chrysler, and for over 30 years, he worked nearly 7 days a week. I’ve heard from several of his co-workers and apprentices and each of them have nothing but admiration for the guy! I am thankful of his sacrifices because my brother and I never went without anything. But that’s not to say that we got anything we wanted. I can remember Ed teaching me and my older brother how to cut the grass when I was 6 years old. My first job earning some extra cash was cutting our neighbor Freeda’s lawn. Dad did most of the pushing, but taught us how to overlap the paths in the lawn for a clean cut. Ed also loved billiards is probably considered the best player in Kokomo, Indiana. Oh, he would be modest and tell you there are better players than he is, but I have watched him in playing 9 ball, going through multiple racks, his opponent never even getting a turn at bat! Ed tried to teach me how to play pool, but it is a very skillful game that’s tougher than it looks! My dad has true talent and he has perfected it since he was a boy. Two of my favorite memories as a child were having my dad come to my elementary school and pick me up for lunch. Such a treat when I saw dad’s brown pickup truck waiting for me in front of the school. He took me to McDonalds, and as cheesy as this sounds, it was probably the best meal I’ve ever had there. It’s the simple moments in life that matter most. And the other memory is when I played farm league baseball. I was probably 8 or 9. My dad was the coach. He didn’t show favoritism, and I certainly heard about it if I was slacking. But one particular game, I was playing while running a fever. Hadn’t been feeling good, but I loved baseball and talked my parents into letting me still play that evening. It was towards the end of the game, and all we needed was one more ‘out’ and our team would be the winner. The batter hits a pop up fly and it’s coming my way. As I caught it, our team cheered and I see my dad jumping up and down in the dugout! It was the best feeling to know that I had made him proud.
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Thank you Dad, for all the times you loved me as a boy. I hope I still make you proud.
