My Dad, Johnny Walker was born in December 1926, but for many years as a young boy I thought different as he often told fellow lovers of the amber fluid “Aye Born 1820, still going strong”.
Born in Dundee the second eldest of five children to John & Isobel he was a Friday's child and was loving and giving exactly as the saying goes. His passion as a teenager was cycling and hostelling through the Trossachs & the Highlands of Scotland. I recall in his younger days he had legs like an Oak tree obviously from all the cycling and I am sure that was one of the reasons Mom fell for him.
Leaving school he followed his Dad’s advice and was apprenticed as a cabinet maker in Dundee. These were the war years and on passing out of his time, he joined the Fleet Air Arm to serve his country, but the war was almost won by then and they de-mobilised his unit before finishing his training. Still wanting to serve he moved down to London to help with the clear up & re-construction following the Bombings where his skills in working in wood were very well received.
In 1949, answering another call of his country he took the assisted passage to go out and build the colonies, where again his skills were sorely needed. The Windsor Castle out of Southampton took him to Cape Town, followed by a 3 day train journey; he arrived in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia. Here he started a new life, the life which brought us into the world and which would influence and shape us and all the people this family has touched.
He was fiercely proud to be Scots and would tell us tales around the dining room table of Scotland and his childhood which would bring tears to his eyes. Although he missed his family back in Scotland, he loved Africa and adopted her in every way possible, giving her and us his family, the best years of his life.
Dad was a good Husband to Mom and Father to us. We celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary on the Saturday before he passed away. A good provider for the household, he was able to turn his hand to almost anything he attempted. We are a family of 3 sons and a daughter and we always teased him, saying that he kept going until he finally had his little girl.
Dad we love you because you were so faithful to Mom and us.
We love you because by example you showed us the way.
We love you because you cared about things
We love you for your compassion for those suffering
We love you because of your enquiring mind, not satisfied until you understood and that you passed onto us.
But Dad as Jim Reeves said, most of all we love you because you are you. We miss you Dad.
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