Funny stuff

You people are quick! Cards for Bill are slowly making their way from across the country to my mailbox. This means so much to him and makes him continue to feel connected.

Babs sent a sweet boating-themed card. A friend of my friend Janel -- this is someone I've never met, but she must be a special person! -- sent Dad a card from Dayton. Boating friends are coming through with good humor and fine penmanship, I might add. And long, lost friends from Lorain Products have jumped on the card wagon.

For example, Dick and Laura, colleagues from Dad's Lorain Products days, sent a long letter with several good Bill stories that really epitomized his (wacky) sense of humor, his entrepreneurial spirit and the way he wears his heart on his sleeve.

I hope you guys don't mind, but here's an excerpt from their letter:

I told Laura about the time probably in the late 1960s when (Bill) first grew a beard. For the benefit of Lisa, or anyone else who may read this note, in the 1960s the company was under the direction of the founder C.P. Stocker. To say the company dress code was conservative would probably be an understatement! All men were required to wear buttoned shirts with a tie, and the women had to wear a dress or a skirt -- no slacks. Although at that time in the 1960s facial hair was becoming quite stylish, no one working in the offices at Lorain Products wore a bear -- until Bill. In his usual "push the envelope" style, one day word spread among the young guys that, "Bill Beecheler is growing a beard!" While many guys were interested in growing a beard themselves, no one did immediately. We waited to see if Bill got reprimanded, or maybe even fired! After several weeks, during which Bill's beard could not have escaped the notice of the higher-ups, he shaved it off. I'm not sure if he was asked to, or if he felt he had made his point, but shortly afterward, others were growing beards. I'm curious, Bill, did anyone ever pressure you to shave that beard?

Funny. First because it's just hilarious to think that a beard was so risky ... I mean can you imagine all these young dudes whispering about Bill's beard? But also, I can't picture my Dad *without* a beard!

Anyway, thanks a bunch to Dick and Laura and so many others.

So I guess I should mention that Dad's back at my house! Hospital stay and rehab are behind him, and he's focusing on continued healing so he can make the trek back to Ohio at the end of August. More to come on that, because again I will enlist all of you wonderful friends and family to give him a warm welcome home. We are truly blessed to have you all in our lives.