Harold "Bud" Reimer
Dad is in the middleI was a Daddy's girl. I've already written how my Dad wanted a baby girl as he helped to take care of one while he was stationed in Germany during World War II.
He was handsome, he was fun and funny, he was a hard worker and everyone loved him. His only real fault was that he was vain, but that gave us some laughs. He loved staying fit and trim and wore tiny Speedo bathing suits into his 70's.
He was also a perfectionist but he didn't really expect it of others. Supposedly, he was brought up poor and got a job at the age of 12 picking cotton! He was the first in his group of friends to own his own car.
He swore that his kids would not "want" for anything, the way he did when he was
little. Our house was full of candy and treats and Dad and I both had a sweet tooth. The photo to the right is his confirmation picture.I found out years later that Dad was a very jealous man and that surprised me. My Mom told me that while he was overseas during the war that he did not want her going to wedding showers or anything. I never saw that in him.
He loved long hair on women. My Mom kept her hair long until she looked silly. Even as an older woman, Dad would complain if she got it cut too short. He was angry when my Mom took me to get a "Twiggy" haircut when I was in 8th grade. He called me Butch until it started growing out.
But Dad was rarely mad and worked hard to give us our wonderful childhood in our nice homes, nice cars and our annual vacations. But he was always economical because he remembered being poor.
He never bought a new car and never had to place an ad to sell one of his beauties. He was a true family man and his hobby was taking care of his cars. The engines shined, the cars were kept meticulous. He did his own repairs and rarely had to go to an auto repair shop.
As hard as my Dad worked, he always had plenty of time to give to his family. I remember him coming home from working at the Post Office and playing with Uncle Johnny and me.
He worked at the Post Office (Oak Lawn) from the age of 18/19 until he retired in his 60's. He had so many sick days accumulated (I don't remember how many he had left but I believe it was more than a year or two - he was so reliable and I don't know if he ever called in sick) that he got some good money just for that.
He started as a mail sorter/carrier and worked his way up to a supervisor position. He did a temporary stint as the Postmaster of the Berwyn post office but did not accept the permanent assignment since he couldn't go home for lunch, and he loved being able to do that. The employees at that post office were sad as my Dad treated everyone so nice - and not many postal supervisors were nice. The employees at the Oak Lawn post office loved and respected him since he showed respect to them.
Most people that met Dad loved him. He was chosen to be the speaker at several events. The neighbors would help Mom throw surprise birthday parties for him. He was the go-to guy, always lending his tools and expertise.
I didn't think I'd ever be able to let him go. I'll write a separate post about his downhill spiral and some other stories as this is getting long.
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