This essay is both the easiest and the most difficult
thing I have ever written. It is easy because I loved him. It is difficult because
it is hard to encapsulate a man's worth in mere words.
This is for you Dad...
I wrote it for myself. I wish to share it because
the world lost a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, friend, engineer and
a truly great man.
Robert Daniel Elkin was born during the great
depression on April 20th 1929 to Benjamin and Rebecca Elkin in Detroit Michigan.
"Grampa Benji and Gramma Bebe" as I knew them, owned a small grocery store. Dad
was the second of three children. Sandwiched between his older sister Elizabeth
and younger sister Joanne. Dad was rough and tumble kid who never looked for a
fight and never ran from one.
Despite his tough exterior, he was a clever,
introspective, deep thinker. He enjoyed building and flying model airplanes. A
hobby he enjoyed his entire life. Building light and delicate structures and
launching them into the sky never lost it's lustre. Little did he know as a
boy, he was molding his future as a noted mechanical engineer later in his life.
He was a good student and was rewarded for his efforts by earning enrollment to
Cass Tech. A specialized high school for gifted students. It is on par with
Juilliard in New York. Dad studied engineering in the accelerated curriculum of
the school.
One of my favorite stories from his high
school days was a program enacted by the district. I was at the height of World
War II. The allies outcome was unsure. The Detroit School administrators decided
that if they enacted a military type physical education program, the boys would
be in great physical condition when they enlisted...
The day the program was initiated Dad was in
gym. The coach announced the program and instructed the boys to take "X" number
of laps around the gym floor and then run up the stairs to the second level
balcony, swing under the rail, hang from the lip and drop the remaining 4
feet to the mat on the gym floor...
Dad figured a real soldier wouldn't hang and drop,
he would vault the rail.... Which he did. He missed the mat and shattered both arches
on his already flat feet.
The school board met in emergency session.
There was no day 2...
Dad went to both Wayne State and the University
of Michigan Ann Arbor. Served 2 years in the Army during the Korean War, he was
stationed in Fairbanks Alaska. He was part of special unit in which everyone
there was a specialist matched to their civilian skills. An extremely radical
program. It defied a standard military protocall of making infantry out of
cooks and cooks out of mechanics. Since he was a mechanical engineer he was assigned to heavy artillery maintenance. Since he was raised in Michigan and was used to the cold he was often found in -20*F weather sweating over a howitzer in a t-shirt.
Because of the harsh and remote enviorment, the Army went to great lengths to boost moral. The men were encouraged to take advantage of the rugged beauty of the territory. Hunting and fishing excursions were fully provisioned by Uncle Sam. My father enjoyed hunting and fishing. Caribou and salmon abounded.