A tribute to my dad, George Bernard Haskins, Jr. could fill a whole book, even though he was on this earth for 38 short years. He was born and raised in DeRidder, Louisiana and joined the Marines right out of high school in 1962. While stationed at Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta, Georgia, he met and married my mother and had two “Georgia Peaches”, me and my little sister.
When he finished his service in the Marines in the early 1970’s, which included a tour of duty in Thailand during the Vietnam War, he joined the Army to be stationed at Fort Polk, Louisiana and raise his family in DeRidder. We had the awesome pleasure of living on 23 acres along with my grandparents and a variety of animals. I even had a pony! My sister and I were total “Daddy’s Girls” and wanted to do everything with him. We had a pond for fishing, horses for riding, and even a mini bike and go-cart to drive around. I found out years later that we were poor as church mice during this time, but I never knew it.
Daddy always showed love to my mother and us girls and always made time for us. He died on August 2, 1982 due to burns he sustained in a single vehicle accident. I was 14 years old at the time and had no idea how much a teenage girl needs her daddy.
Love your dads today and everyday, because they won’t always be around to watch out for you.
Mom moved us back to Georgia to be near her family and we moved on somehow. I can say that if my daddy had lived, I wouldn’t have dated any of the guys I ended up dating! Because of the firm foundation he created for us, we were stronger than we even knew we could be.
Even after almost 34 years, I still think about him every day and often wonder what he would think of the world today. The year he died, we didn’t have home computers, cell phones, music CDs or DVDs and only 3 channels on TV. He was a true patriot and loved this country. I believe he would be horrified with how our country is being run. I have a feeling he would be a “Trumpster” today, although I remember him proudly supporting Jimmy Carter for president in the 1970’s because he was from Georgia.
I was named after my dad and am so glad my parents thought to do that.
I picture him in Heaven with my mom and little sister, still on a plot of land much like our home in DeRidder, surrounded by animals. It makes me smile to know I will be with them again one day and helps me to get through tough times to know how much love and influence I received from him.
