DEDICATION
MY DAD - EARL JOSEPH LANDRY, SR
May 11, 1925 - January 1, 2007
Did you ever meet someone that you admired, someone you wish you could be like? Well, i did! "MY DAD!" I remember, as a young boy, Dad sitting at his desk doing his work or someone's taxes thru long hours of the day or night, going to some kind of church, community or school meeting. His clients would come to the house office any day, any time, or call, and he never failed to answer the phone or the door. Some he even helped financially. "Why does he work so hard?" Why is he involved in all this stuff?
Now i know....too late. He did it, knowing dad, probably because he enjoyed it and to set an example for his children. He, and not to forget MOM, set very good examples for us. Mom was there at Dad's side at all times, even at the end. They gave us opportunites to participate in any school activity we had an interest in and participated themselves. They made sure we all had an opportunity to attend college(I did and wasted it!) and gave us a jump start in our lives.
Even though he was busy, he always made time for us, his family. We would go to church, as an entire family, dad, mom, my brothers, sisters and myself (there was 5 of us, 3 boys and 2 girls) every Sunday. After church we would go out to eat, and on most, we took a drive to some kind of park, or visit other family members.
We would often gather at our house with others having some type of barbeque, fish fry or seafood boil on weekends, or holidays. Dad was alway the good host. When it was just us, we would play croquett, baseball, or any other kind of family activity that was popular. But Dad also managed to take fishing and hunting trips with his friends. I went on ONE when i was young. Sitting in a duck blind at 4:00AM with rain and a temperature of 35-40 degrees, shivering IS NOT, my kind of fun!!! Hunting and fishing trips were plentiful in Dad's activities, both with his friends and with us. He managed to save enough to finally buy his pride and joy "The Family Affair":
We took many a trip, as a family, down the river. The houseboat, as we call it, had hot and cold running water, air condition (yea, we roughed it) and if i remember correctly, slept about 10-12 people. We would go red-fishing, shrimping or hunting. Dad was an expert shooter. Once, he told me he was to going to get some rabbits to make a spaghetti. I went with him and came back amazed. Dad shot the "nose" off several rabbits in the brush where i couldn't even see the trees!!! He was good......
We weren't wealthy, but we never lacked for anything. Dad was a modest, quite man who really didn't brag, or put on "airs". He was just DAD. Two words "MY DAD", can mean so much! Some may call John Kennedy, Superman, or whoever is popular their "Hero", mine is ....."MY DAD".
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