It all started in a small town in Ohio.

My dad, Don Hinde, was born January 4th, 1933. His family lived in Huron Ohio. He was an only child. His mother doted on him. His father modeled the value of hard work. Together, his parents demonstrated the importance of family. Huron was a small, primarily agricultural town, and there was lots of family around.

Dad had four kids and 7 grandkids who adored him. Growing up, I though he knew everything and never thought him a know-it-all.

Since college, dad had two employers. He worked his way up at the University Union in Bowling Green, OH to become the assistant director. In 1973 he became director of the Union at Sac State. Upon his retirement they named the auditorium after him. The regional professional association he belonged to named an annual award after him and mom. He basically had one job, a career, an anachronism these days.

It is important to document that the buildings he worked in were not "Student Unions". In both cases they were University Unions. They were resources for the entire University community.

He and mom celebrated their 50th anniversary August 28th this year. There was a family dinner here and mom and dad went back to Bowling Green to celebrate. They both went to college at BGSU and were married on campus. This summer they re-visited Prout Chapel (In fact a friend hosted a reception for them.) and dad took mom back to the store where they purchased their wedding set and he presented her with a new ring.

This last Saturday Molly and I went over so that I could help dad remove and clean the 'summer' pool cover (insulated and, I assume more expensive) and put on the 'winter' pool cover (not insulated, it just keeps the leaves out). It went fine. I then pitched a project for my house, some bookshelves in the downstairs bedroom/den/office/study. He wasn't enthusiastic, but on Monday he emailed me and said if I'd send him the measurements he'd think on it.

Lee,

!. Thanks for the help on Saturday. Appreciate the assistance, and the
scrubbing too. Hope the shoes dried out OK.

2. Give me the measurements of the wall that you want to cover with
bookcases..Length and height. I'll cogitate on the project and think
about buildability and options.

Dod

Dod wasn't a typo, it's for Dear Old Dad. The exclamation point instead of a '1' may have been a typo. :-)

I will chose to think that he got that it wasn't just the bookshelves, but that it was something for us to do together.

Dad died yesterday afternoon, quite unexpectedly, at the age of 72. He was cleaning up after doing some lawn work and collapsed. Every indication is that he went quickly; I hope painlessly.

I miss him already.