I missed out in majority of my childhood after my mom left dad and moved far away.
I finally met dad again while I was about 15 years old. I learned a lot about him since then.
He become deaf by really bad flu at very young age, unlike me and my mother. We was born deaf from waardington syndrome.
He left high school in order to join navy. He had a friend that helped him pass exams even when he's deaf. He eventually got caught after a minor mistake, and his boss kicked him out. Boss let him keep the uniform, however.
After that, he worked at military base storage for many years. I'm not sure, but he may have worked for 30+ years.
5 years ago, he found out he had leukemia. He fought it for 2 years before he died. This is usually caused by old age, and he was 76.
He was a great father, even though I never knew him between 3 to 15 years old.
Don jr. 1926-2001