Tuesday, March 7, 2023
My father Richard had many talents and interests, most of which centered on seeking knowledge to “boldly go where no one has gone before.”
Pop loved computers. In the early ‘70s, he built one from a kit. I helped him put it together, which is to say, I held the soldering iron while he put circuit boards together. It was the size of a large laser printer and had blue levers that went up and down and lights that blinked red. In the 1970s, THAT was cutting-edge. I - think - it made simple mathematical calculations. I just liked playing with the levers and watching the blinking lights and doing something with my father.
As computer technology advanced, he crafted “Franken-computers” for people from discarded machines he “found”. Because, that was the man my father was - never letting things go to waste, always seeing the utility of things.
He also loved science fiction - the idea of “brave new worlds” and flying cars becoming a reality fascinated him. I remember watching reruns of the original Star Trek series and episodes of Doctor Who with him in our living room - again and again and again.
In 1977, some “space cowboy” movie hit theaters, so Pop piled all of us into the station wagon, and we headed to the RKO in New Rochelle to see it. We were a little late, so we watched the movie until it ended and sat through it a second time. Pop didn’t want us to miss out on any of it.
Little did Pop know that from that night on my brother Robert and I would become lifelong Star Wars fans, a fandom that has passed on to his grandsons - Hudson and Cole. And although all of those shows and movies had great special effects - okay, great for their time - they told really good stories, which Pop also loved. He also shared his love of storytelling with my sister Christina. He’d take her to the old Yonkers library for storytime. She’d sit on his lap and hear of places Where the Wild Things Are and of Narnia. She loved these stories so much, he bought her her own copies.
All of these stories, all of them, tell of optimism and good over evil and ------ hope.
He also gifted me with my first copy of The Illustrated Man and shared his copies of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy with me. I even remember sitting in that tank-sized station wagon - on another of those family adventures - listening to the Hitchhiker radio series.
Although I never developed Pop’s talent for tinkering with computers like my sister did, I fell in love with storytelling, like the ones we shared as a family, so much so that I have spent my career sharing good stories with my students.
So, thanks Pop, thanks for helping me find the way.
Love,
Your Daughter Judith
