HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!

Today would have been my Dad's 86th birthday -- Donald Joseph Sherlock was born on March 2, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois.  He is the baby in this photo.  It reminds me of how I looked in my baby photos. His brother Eddie is also in the photo and I am not sure who the woman was.  My Dad and his family moved to Southern California when he was 6 months old so I am assuming this photo was taken in Southern California.

The above photo is my Dad and his date to some high school dance.  Don attended Loyola High School in Los Angeles.  After all of us kids graduated from high school, my Dad stopped attending our high school (St. Genevieve's) football games and went back to attending his high school (Loyola) football games with an old friend of his from his high school days.

My Dad and his oldest brother Chuck went on an annual fishing trip.  They did this for years after us kids were grown. Then they started inviting my oldest brother Danny.  Next thing you knew my husband was joining them on their trips.  In 1998 they rented a houseboat and fished the California Delta.  The above photo shows my Dad on the boat with his Notre Dame shirt.  My Dad was a true Notre Dame fan -- even though we lived in California, he would receive a copy of the South Bend Tribune newspaper every day during football season and spring football.  Our mailman was not a happy person carrying all those newspapers, especially the very large Sunday paper.  We left a candy bar and soda for him in our mailbox while he walked his route.  Such fun memories!

Happy Birthday, Dad!  We love you and miss you!

TOUR OF DUTY IN KOREA

         After graduating from Loyola High School, Donald Sherlock attended Los Angeles City College with the career goal of becoming a dentist.  While attending college, he also worked as a postal carrier, delivering mail to a route in Sherman Oaks.  On his route, he met his future wife Joan as she was working in one of the offices that he delivered mail to.  Don and Joan married in October of 1951 at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Van Nuys.

          Four weeks after the wedding in November 1951, Don was drafted into the US Army. He served the first year at Ford Ord (which interesting enough is the location of California State University, Monterey Bay).  In November of 1952 (2 ½ months after the birth of his eldest son) he was sent overseas to Korea.  He was stationed in Korea for a year.  He was discharged as a Corporal and received the United Nations Award and the Korean Combat Medal for his time in the service.  Don served as a medic during his time in the army.

          The above photo shows Don at Ford Ord (in Seaside, California) in 1952.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!

         My father Donald Joseph Sherlock was born to Charles Sherlock and Theresa Anna Barbara Nebgen on this date 83 years ago.  At the time Charlie was recuperating from his injuries on the Chicago police force and was wondering what lied ahead for him.  He knew he was done serving on the force and would receive a pension but where should he go with his young family and what would the future hold for him in terms of work.

          Donald was born by Cesarean section and therefore was a beautiful baby from the beginning.  Of course, he mentioned this fact, along with his winning a beauty contest with his mother, to his kids for most of their childhood.  Don’t you wish you won a beauty contest?  The photo below is the picture from the beauty contest and he was a beautiful baby. 

          Donald had two older brothers – Edmund, who was 2 ½ and Charles (Chuck) who was 7 when Donald was born.  When Donald was 6 months old, the family moved from Chicago to Redondo Beach, California.  Dad told me that they had made some sort of hammock across the backseat and that is how Baby Donald moved to California.  Hopefully, there were no sudden stops!

          When Donald was 5 years old, they moved to the Hollywood Hills and more specifically to a house on Beachwood Drive, where he would spend his childhood and adolescent years.  After attending kindergarten in Redondo Beach, Donald attended the first few years of elementary school at Cheremoya Elementary in Hollywood before transferring to Holy Sacrament Elementary School.  For high school, he attended the prestigious Loyola High School in Los Angeles.  

          Now, that I have started writing this I think this may be a 2 or 3 post story. So, I will wrap up this post by saying’ “Even though, Dad, is no longer with us, we still think about him a lot, the example he set,  and the impact that he had on our lives.”  Amazingly, his first grandchild was born on his birthday in 1977.  He was a very proud Grandpa that day. 

          Happy Birthday, DAD!   We love and miss you!!