The Love of 2 Daddys...

The Daddy longing to have a daughter:

On December 20, 1965, Jim Blake received a phone call stating the adoption agency had found a baby girl for them to adopt. Jim and his wife flew to Denver to look at the baby girl they had available. They were told to go into the room where the baby girl was and play with her. Take as much time as they wanted to get used to the baby girl. Jim took one look, walked back out and said "Yes, we want her!" So with that statement, Jim Blake became a Daddy to a 3 month old baby girl.

My Daddy, Jim, just enlisted in the Navy

My Daddy, Jim, was the best Daddy ever. We bonded immediately and had a very very close relationship. He was my best friend growing up. This is not to say that there were not arguments. Daddy, Jim was adopted as well. So he knew some of how I felt and he never made me feel like I was adopted. I belonged to him and he belonged to me.

Sherry and Daddy-10th birthday-1975

From the time I was about 15 till I got married, I rode every Saturday and Sunday with my Daddy on his work route. He worked for Pony Express and had to drop paperwork off at banks, department stores and then make a final run to the airport. I would have him drop me at the mall and then he would pick me back up and we would spend the rest of the afternoon together. This is a special time I cherish. This was real Daddy/daughter time for us.

Beautiful thing my Daddy wrote to me

I felt terrible leaving him when I got married. He was having trouble with Norma, his wife, and I was his whole world. He told me everything and he was planning on divorcing Norma and living his life. He had married 2 women who controlled him to the ends of the world. Both women were jealous of the relationship that he had with me. A year after I left, things were repaired and life seemed good for a change.

Wedding Day-1983

My Daddy, Jim, was never more happy than when Jennifer came along and I made him a Grampaw...He loved that little girl with all his heart. He was even more thrilled when Heather joined our family.  Daddy was excited when I was pregnant with our 3rd baby as he held out a small hope for possibly a grandson. We had come home for Christmas 1989. Norma was making me some maternity clothes and Jenn and Heather were playing with Grampaw. He had oxygen on and was having a hard time breathing. But he would not have missed playing with the girls for nothing. We left on December 29 to come back home. We would return to Farmington on January 15 to hopefully make it in time for me to say goodbye to my Daddy. But I didn't make it in time. Looking back, at the time I was 7 months pregnant with Wendy and would not  have been able to handle the ICU and watching my Daddy die.

Grampaw with Jenny-1988

Grampaw with Jenny-Christmas 1988

Years later as I would talk about Grampaw, Heather asked me if this was the man that had lifted her to the bells and had played boogie boogie with her. This took me back as Heather had just turned 2. There was no way she could remember him. As Heather told me what she remembered the tears filled my eyes. She DID remember and this was so precious to me that she was given this memory of a Grampaw that loved her so much. Booige Booige was a game they made up..as the girls would sneak up to him and he would tickle them and say boogie boogie..something she had to remember as we didn't talk about boogie boogie specifically.

Last photo-1989

The Daddy longing to save a daughter:

On April 10, 2008, Bill Coombe received a phone call from me telling him about his daughter, Heather. The only words I could utter after I heard his voice was "Its bad, get home." Bill left immediately and raced to try to find the doctor's office. He didn't even know where the doctor's office was. The panic he felt inside was tearing him apart as he drove. We passed each other as I was heading home and Bill followed me home. As we got home at the same time we stayed in the driveway and hugged each other and sobbed..."Why did God want our daughter?" So with that phone call, Bill Coombe became a Daddy to a 20 year old daughter who was fighting for her life.

Bill with Jenny-1986

Bill with Heather-1988

Bill holding Wendy with Heather and Jenny-1990

On March 13, 1986, Bill became a Daddy for the 1st time. Bill would change diapers and make and feed bottles. Our lives revolved around our little Jennifer. Then on December 10, 1987, Bill became a Daddy for the 2nd time. We had a bet as to the sex of the baby. I bet it was a girl and he said a boy. Not that it mattered, but I won. I got a new dual cassette am/fm player...and he still got the new fishing reel. Our new baby girl, Heather, was such a joy to add to our family. What slight glimmer we had of adding a boy to our family was crushed when on April 9, 1990, Bill became a Daddy to his 3rd daughter, Wendy. The closing edition to our family.

Jenny on play phone-Bill on real phone with his Mom

Jenny, Lanny tigger and Bill-Bronco Babies

  Bill loved all his little girls and enjoyed playing and doing things with them. They all were avid Denver Bronco fans as we lived in Colorado at the time. One of Bill's greatest memories he has is walking his girls to school in the morning before work. This began in Minnesota with Jenn and continued here at Falcon Hill. He loved spending any time he could with his girls.

Wendy and Bill on the Apple computer

 As most Daddys do, Bill has provided a good life for us and allowed me to stay at home. Bill grew up with his mother being at home. The kind to clean and fix meals, kiss scrapes and make chocolate chip cookies. This was important to both of us that I be able to stay at home with the girls. He worked during the day but could not wait to get off and come home to his girls. He would nap with them, play with them and even built them a huge sandbox first thing in the new house. So we may not have had the boat and summer vacation home...but our girls grew up with a Daddy and a Mommy who loved each other and tried to make the best life possible.

Heather, Wendy, Bill and Jenny-1992

As the girls got older it was more of Bill working to pay the bills for dance and piano lessons. Bill was there for every dance, orchestra and piano recital the girls had. It was important to him and to them. As the girls got into the harder math it was Bill who would patiently sit and try to teach them algebraical equations or rise over run and slope. Bill realized that his job had then turned into the guy who pays all the bills for the girls.

Our 1st trip to Disneyland-1996

This was hit home when Heather got sick. Bill had just begun a new stressful job. As if cancer or a new job was not enough, we had both. Bill faithfully went to work and tried to focus on his job each day. This was very difficult for him as he wanted to be with Heather and me at the hospital. He wanted to hear the reports from the doctors. Many days he came to see us for lunch. Every night that Heather was in the hospital we had dinner as a family. It might have been in Heather's room with her eating, or in the cafeteria so she could sleep. During this time Bill took over all the household duties. He cleaned, mopped, vacuumed and did the laundry. he took care of all the pets and Jenn as well. He also was just a phone call away for me as he proved one late night when he had to bring stuffed animals to Heather. It was once stated that he was just insurance guy, he was so much more than that. He was our rock and strength during the cancer treatments.

Bill and Heather-2006

Beautiful...

As things got rough with the last time Heather was in the hospital, Bill began to understand his deep love of his daughters. It is a love like no other. You hurt for what your child is going thru and would give your very life to save them. I know that Bill would give anything for all of this to have happened to him and not to Heather. He prayed by her bedside and watched day in and day out helpless to do anything as she slipped further away.

These 3 men have been with me and supported me throughout my whole life-each one at different stages. To all 3 of them I say

I love you very much and Happy Father's Day...