Father Figures: Biggest Fan

“My dad was literally my biggest fan, anything I did he gained an interest in.
I got my Paramedic license in 2018 and gave him my first patch. It’s still on his desk where he propped it up to be seen every day. He then joined the local CERT team and told anyone who dared come within earshot that his son was a medic.
If I absolutely needed money, food, or gas as a budding adult making my way, he would take care of it – despite not really having the money to do so. He was always at my games growing up despite working the overnight shift and having a part time job in the mornings. I don’t know how he did it.
He got to meet my two boys that made him a grandpa and I could see the joy in his eyes when he was around them. Unfortunately, he was taken from us suddenly in January of 2020.
When I was 20 I went through a breakup and had to move home and was pretty beat up about it. My dad repainted the bathroom in our basement and put up a dartboard in my room trying to do whatever he could to ease my fall back in the nest.
I was home for his services in NH and opened the door to the bathroom he painted and saw him standing there encouraging me like the day I moved home, then walked back to my old room and walked across the throw line he spray painted on the floor and cried my face off.
We will miss him forever and we are all in a better place in life, directly related to his sacrifices, and I strive to do the same to honor him. Call your dad if you still can boys…. you never know when he will be gone.”
– Patrick Kelley
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