Happy Birthday Daddy

Today is my Daddy's birthday. He would have been 88 yrs. old. It's been about 2.5 yrs. since he left this earth to join Mother, the love of his life for 56 years. I love this picture of him. He was a Texan through and through. He participated in lots of parades and and served many a plate of bar-b-que with the Odessa Chuck Wagon Gang (http://www.ocwg.org/). I still have that shirt.

Daddy, J.T. Rutherford, was born in Hot Springs, AR in 1921. In his youth, his family moved to Odessa, TX where he grew up. He joined the Marine Corp to fight in WWII, and came home a war hero.

He married Sara Jane Armstrong, my Mother, in 1948 and I was born 9 months and 11 days later. Surprise! At the same time he ran and was elected to the Texas legislature in addition to being state commander of chief of the VFW, along with going to Baylor Law School. He came from poverty and earned everything with hard work. He loved government and believed that the people’s voice needed to be heard. He had no large financial backing but instead won his campaigns by lots of shoe leather and cups of coffee, the old fashioned way.

When I was five, he was elected to the U.S. Congress from his beloved West Texas so we moved to the Washington, DC area. It was a tough transition for the family. We left behind our entire support system and had no money. That meant one car, which Daddy took to the "Hill" everyday, no washing machine or dryer and no money for sitters so that Mother could join Daddy for some of the new and wonderful opportunities. It was very hard times.



But he believed in what he was elected to do and fought hard for his district. He also got to know and become close friends with some of his heros in politics, like Sam Rayburn, long time Speaker of the House from TX, and former Pres. Harry Truman, shown in this picture enjoying a good laugh.



It was in his district of West Texas that the ticket of Kennedy-Johnson made their first official campaign stop, specifically El Paso, TX. Daddy said that the supposed feud between Kennedy and Johnson was a myth and that actually the two greatly respected each other even while disagreeing.

Pres. Kennedy was especially pleased when, as the first Chairman of the National Parks and Services, Daddy shepherded the legislation to create the Cape Cod National Seashore and preserve vasts amount of land for generations to come.


My parents were madly in love all 56 years of their marriage. He was the most generous human being I have ever known, doing many, many good deeds that we didn’t know anything about until I cleaned out his office. He was firm and old-fashioned but a strong man of integrity. He believed in God, his country and his family and was willing to lay down his life for any or all of them.




He adored his two grandchildren, Sara and Charles, and was fortunate to share the first 21 months of his great-grandson's life, Colin, whom he nicknamed “Little Buddy.” He and Colin shared many tender moments. Here they are on Daddy's 84th birthday.

He was a man who was friends with Presidents and custodians and he treated them all the same. I had great respect for the way he lived his life but I was in awe watching him accept the disease of Alzheimer's and relinquish everything he had worked for to me. The trust he placed in me in the last years of his life was a testimony to the strong, enduring relationship we shared.

I know that he is enjoying watching his great-grandsons growing and thriving in my childhood home. I miss you Daddy but I carry you in my heart.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/10/AR2006111001675.html