Editorial: Time With My Dad Was a Gift

The following editorial was posted in the Hanover Evening Sun on December 26, 2014.

I write to express sincere gratitude to the greater Hanover area community for a good deed that, while long past, is certainly not forgotten.

Nearly twenty years ago, my father, Allen Egger of Abbottstown, was diagnosed with heart problems following a heart attack that would assuredly shorten his life. He was 51 at the time, and I was an impressionable teenager who very much needed the positive influence of his father.

An experimental procedure in Oklahoma held the promise of removing the harmful effects of the scar tissue left by his earlier heart attack. While possible, the procedure was not covered under insurance at the time.

Dear family, friends and strangers throughout the Hanover area organized and participated in a local fund raiser to help raise the needed funds to give Allen a chance to live as normal a life as was possible. And the story had a happy ending: the operation was successful, and dad had the chance to live another 20 years before he passed away earlier this month.

At the time I was grateful of course, but I lacked the perspective and maturity to truly understand the impact that the community’s gift would have on my life. No one can know for sure how I might have “turned out” if my father had died 20 years ago. But I do know for sure that his mentoring, support and unconditional love are directly responsible for the person I have become today. The people of the Hanover area gave me and my mother a wonderful gift – the gift of a little more time with dad, a great and wonderful father, husband, and man. And for that I am truly grateful.

The years have since taken me away from Hanover. I now live in Northern Virginia with my wife, Val. To give back, we will be establishing a memorial scholarship fund in Allen’s honor in the near future that I hope will be able to serve the community by offsetting educational expenses for students seeking to pursue a career in engineering or computer sciences – dad’s career and favorite hobbies.

To our extended family in Hanover (and surrounding areas) your generosity knew no bounds and has meant the world to me. In Shakespeare’s words, “I can no other answer make but thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks.”