Dad’s life ends on a sour note.
Its depressing when you find your own father despised you.
All I tried to do was be his friend.
Dad and I talked a lot this last year.
He apologized for threatening to sue me.
He apologized for blaming me for losing the St Louis cross when my house got broken into and robbed.
I told him to forget about it, I realized he was just ranting.
He told me he thought he hadn't lived a good life. I told him I thought he had done just fine, that he had a good life.
However, his written words reach out beyond his grave.
Dad missed his calling to be a good parent.
He was never there for me.
We grew up poor, with an outhouse, and a pump well. We washed our clothes in #10 tubs.
Dad was a bricklayer, which should have been good money back then. Most Kentucky houses are brick.
But Dad was constantly sick, with his retina detaching, his arm going numb (he pulled a needle threw it).
He was a hypo-chondriac, which is why I still avoid doctors. I didn't want to be like that.
I was so depressed living in his house once Mom moved out, so at 14 (1970), I moved out to live with my Grandfather.
I moved in with my mom and my step-father from there.
I got Sonny into real estate when I was twenty one.
I'd put myself through college.
I offered Dad $40,000 to invest, and he turned me down.
I borrowed $2,000 and gave him back $2,500 in two months.
Nobody in the family, except for me, Aunt Tass or Uncle Art has done anything for him (to my knowledge).
About Mom and her estate:
Mom left me everything that was left over after her estate was close, that included this house's mortgage.
Basically, Kelly got $80k and I got $80k, but I had to pay the Probate lawyer $12k and take care of Mom's bills for 90 days. I also got this house free and clear, and thats where I really made out.
Dad thought I was a fool
He wanted me to give my inheritance to Kelly because she had kids. Kelly had already gotten half.
Dad thought I should invest in Vector Vest, a stock scam, instead of buying real estate in Las Vegas.
Mom didn't leave Sonny much, so I paid off the condo and put my name on it.
I also bought a house in Summerlin.
He was insensitive to my feelings
When I took out the St Louis Medallion (from a Safety Deposit Box), and my house got robbed, he threatened to sue me.
(never mind, that I left the house to wrap up an IRS audited which I beat, or that I just had major surgery with 3 bags hanging off of me, or that I was going through a divorce).
I suppose, in his mind, he damned me for moving in with Mom.
Now that I've read his letters, and will read more eventually, I finally know what he was saying about me.
He has told Tass, Sonny, and probably everyone else, what a terrible guy I am.
He dismissed these facts as being nothing to talk about:
I payed off the condo for Sonny.
I offered Dad $40k to play with.
I payed him the equivilent of 400%  interest on $2k he'd loaned me.
Meanwhile, in his letters, he's calling me the equivalant of an idiot because I bought real estate instead of running a program called Vector Vest, and investing in its stock picks.
All I can say is, fooey on Dad.
In Dad's words, and in his deeds, he did his best to turn people against me.
Dad did Sonny wrong
A settlement was awarded to Sonny. He suffered from damages in an auto accident while Grandfather was driving. 
Mom used the settlement to pay off the house on Hinkleville Road.
The house placed in Sonny's name. 
Which we grew up in that house.
After Sonny turned 21, Dad got Sonny to Quit Claim the house to him.
Dad sold that house and went on to build a 2 story house, and start an Ice Cream shop.
Dad lost everything. Sonny did not get his settlement money. 
All that talk about he was building the house for us, and what he was doing was just talk.
If there was an insurance settlement for my child,
and I used it to pay off my house, but had to put it in the childs name, I wouldn't hustle the child out of it when he turned 21. The money should have been put in a trust to begin with. I think I would have been grateful for all the years I lived there for free.
In short, Dad not leaving Sonny with a nickel was a total screw.
He left his insurance policys to his 90 year old wife. She'll leave it her 60 year old children.
Sonny didn't get the settlement, the house or anything...as promised. He did get a violin.
Judy mentioned that Dad raised him. What father demands payment from his child for raising him?
I don't understand these people.
Well, Sonny is my partner, and I have Becky by my side.
Whats mine is theirs.
Anyone else Dad spoke too about me doesn't concern me any more.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006 11:59:59 AM, From: Jim, To: Stories