Today, a not so great son lost his pretty damn good father, and the world lost a great man.
Hugh Archer was not perfect, but he did a hell of a lot of good for a hell of a lot of people... Not just his family, but all of his students that he guided into the real world in his time at Occupational Work Experience, and through other organizations that he helped in various ways throughout his long life. He often talked about the various jobs that he held throughout his life, not because they defined him, but because all the things he learned from each of them made him the man that he was, and gave him the experience to help other people out whenever he could in so many different ways.
I'll try to list as many jobs as I can: working in his brother's garage when he was still a teenager, serving in the US Army where he spent most of his time in Hawaii, working for the US Postal Service, working as a surveyor for the City of Zanesville (quite a few of you reading this have driven on roads that he helped layout and may even have lived in a neighborhood he helped to layout), going to college at Ohio University, and then becoming a teacher at the Vocational School. During that time, he also met and married a great and formidable woman named Mary and after a fair amount of time together, they made the little jackass typing this message. After we both lost Mom, he was lucky enough to find another partner in crime named Ann. I can't possibly put into words how glad I am that she and her entire family accepted him as one of theirs and spent the time with him that I couldn't. He cared deeply for all of them, and I'm glad they were with him to the end.
Hugh LOVED to tell stories, and that's one thing we have always had in common. The difference is that people LOVED to listen to his, even if they'd heard them 5 times before. One thing he often mentioned was something he learned in the military... "Tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em. Tell 'em. Then, tell 'em what you told 'em!" I'll see if I can do that here...
My father and I didn't really agree on much since we were 40 years and about 3 generations apart, but I loved and respected him, even when he was driving me crazy (which was almost all the time).
As I said at the beginning, the world lost a great man today... If you can spare a moment to raise a glass in his honor, I'm sure he'll be matching everyone with a long chug for each of their sips!
I love you Dad!! I'll do the best I can to make you proud...
