My Dad ~ 12/19/1925 – 7/13/2009

Written July 13, 2009

Dad loved to smile, converse and rhyme
He told a mean tall tale
and being with his family
made him feel mighty fine

So here’s a few words
with an off rhyming scheme
To give you an idea
of how, to me, he did seem

Baseball at the Polo Grounds
with Harvey and Paul
Camp Oxford
tossing water balloons from rooftops
oh, those three cousins had quite a ball

We think it’s kind of funny, regardless of the year,
that in every photo of those three
it’s always Paul, then Harvey, then Burt
in perfectly aligned placement harmony

Along came the 290th Combat Engineers
in World War Two
followed by Columbia College, New York Law
and a CPA to see himself through

He put his heart and soul into his work
and from his responsibilities he never did shirk
To his employees he was fair and kind
and they agreed, a better boss they would not find

There was tennis and ice cream
and the Marx Brothers Four
(Harpo, Chico, Groucho, Zeppo)
Frank Sinatra and Pete Sampras
and Broadway shows, galore

Playing baseball in the Denton Avenue field
Creating Able Associates with its marvelous yield

Singing and dancing
Songs and words
to the very end
it’s the rhythms he heard

But these are just thoughts
that came flooding my mind
at 11:20 last night
when words I was trying to find

So I’ll borrow some of Dad’s
to give you a peek
of a guy who loved life
and gave it a good tweak

In 1986 on a trip to Hawaii, he prefaced his journal with:
Recorded on the scene at the time.
Be careful not to singe your fingers as you read it.

He then went on to describe a hot evening filled with a cruise, a
Polynesian party, and, among other spirited activities, the number of
times he was taken by the hand by a Polynesian princess to dance the
Lindy and a gigantic hora.

In 1995 he typed a 37 page, single-spaced memoir, and stated at the
beginning:
Sort of an Autobiography begun 6-3-95 – As I recall it. This will be
like describing a trip – similar to Provence, Greece, Scandinavia…I am
the guide and also the editor. The idea is that it should be fun – hold
the reader’s attention, like any good adventure yarn. I wish to thank
all members of my family for helping to enrich my life and hereby
grant them half of all royalties that may result form the sale of this
book to all the publishers that will be clamoring for rights. But
now…let’s get stared!!

He wrote of family and friends
and  adventures galore
It held my attention
of that you can be sure

But mostly, Burt was my Dad
wonderful and warm
funny and caring
always there to help out
giving freely of his love

To the very end his eyes sparkled
when he heard of his grandchildren
Often times he’d repeat their names
as their stories he was told

and he’d toss in a That’s wonderful
and give up a kiss

and on that I’ll end
for he lived with zest and heart
and that, dear friends, as Dad would say, is wonderful