A Different View of my Father on his Birthday
My father was born 119 years ago on this day, June 26th, in Hannibal, Missouri.
He is best known for having created the Learjet. Less known for inventing the 8-track tape, and even fewer people know that he was the first to come up with a practical car radio.
He did not invent the car radio — but he made it doable on a large scale by reducing the size (it only took up the space of a briefcase!). If you’re old enough, you’ll know the name Motorola. He coined that term. It’s a combination of ‘motorcar’ and ‘victrola’. He is in the National Aviation Hall of Fame, the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame, and the International Air & Space Hall of Fame.
I’ve never done this before, but I looked him up on Wikipedia. I noticed that nothing is said of his mother or his father. It tells all about when he was born, what he did, how many wives he had, and children. But absolutely nothing about where he came from.
He was a difficult, charming, brilliant man in the world. He was as good a father and husband as he knew how to be, given his many demons. But today, on the day of his birth so long ago, I look for him as a newborn.
