George Weylund
My father, George Weylund. is a hero for his gentleness as well as his strength, his wisdom as well as his ability to see the humor in everything, and most of all for the deep love and commitment he has for his family.
Daddy was a mailman during his first career, and he really did live by the motto “Neither rain nor snow, nor sleet nor dark of night shall stay these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” He delivered mail on a rural route in North Dakota, and even when other carriers would determine that the weather was too bad to make their deliveries, Daddy pressed on. It was a point of honor with him that the mail must go through, and he got it there one way or another.
I used to love riding with Daddy on his mail route in the summer, because everybody knew him and would wave, or come out to the mailbox to say hello. Since many of the farms and ranches he delivered to were miles from town, if somebody needed a prescription from the drug store, they would leave the money in the mailbox, and the next day Daddy would bring it to them. Everybody on his route loved my Daddy.
When Daddy retired from the post office, he drove school bus for several years, and parents always knew their children were in good hands with Daddy behind the wheel. The kids loved him too, but Daddy was no pushover, and more than one tough farm boy got his ears boxed for being unruly on the bus.
From the time I was a little girl, I had one dream, to become a Forest Ranger. But back in those days, that was “man’s work” and everybody told me that it could never happen. Everybody but my Daddy, that is. He always encouraged all of his children and told us we could accomplish anything we set our hearts on, if we tried hard enough.
With Daddy’s encouragement and support, during my summer vacations from college I worked manning fire lookout towers in Montana and Wyoming, and that was my foot in the door with the Forest Service. It was my Daddy who pinned my badge onto my uniform the day I was sworn in as an official Forest Ranger, and I don’t know who was the most proud, Daddy or me. It is because of him that I have accomplished everything I have in life.
Submitted by Ellen Strickland
Write and tell us about your hero at editor@todaysheroblog.com
