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<\/a><\/strong>There are all kinds of legends: music legends like Elvis, literary legends like Shakespeare, technology legends like Steve Jobs, boxing legends like Muhammad Ali, and saintly legends like Mother Teresa.<\/p>\nBut there are also legends on a smaller scale, hometown legends and family legends. The list I\u2019ve compiled below is based on the life of just one man, my dad.<\/p>\n
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- Don\u2019t make excuses.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
My dad, Andy Cromarty, had what sounds to me like a difficult childhood. Canada deported his mother back to Ireland when his dad was off following a job to California. Then the authorities threw my dad and his brothers into an orphanage. Eventually their dad retrieved them and raised them as best he could. The later addition of a stepmother only made matters worse from the boys\u2019 points of view. When he was fifteen years old, my dad left home, determined to make his way in the world. One at a time, his two younger brothers followed.<\/p>\n
A difficult childhood might be a good excuse for failure. Or, it could become part of the legend.<\/p>\n
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- Be brave.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
The next ten or twelve years of my dad\u2019s life are a little hazy to me. He built trails through the forest for the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps). He worked in logging camps. He lived with some other guys on a houseboat on the Skagit River until he almost died from a bad case of typhoid from drinking the water. He married my mom, Jacquie Johnstone. And he joined the Army to fight the Nazis in World War II.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Andy Cromarty and his best friend before the siege of Monte Cassino<\/p><\/div>\n
Serving in North Africa, Italy, France, and Germany, he took part in the landing at Salerno on Red Beach and fought in the bloody battles of Monte Casino and Bruyeres in Southern France. He was an army engineer, often going beyond the front lines to build or destroy infrastructure. He was wounded in France, and after six weeks in a French hospital, he rejoined the fight, crossing the Rhine into Germany.<\/p>\n
Fifteen-year-old boys making their way in the world and front-line soldiers have to be brave.<\/p>\n
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- Don\u2019t toot your own horn.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
None of the above information was provided by my dad. He didn\u2019t talk about the war or his early days. My sister and I had to gather the facts from various other sources.<\/p>\n
Humility and a little mystery feed the legend.<\/p>\n
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- Fearlessly attack new projects.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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<\/a>Dad’s and Jim’s first house, Dad on the roof<\/p><\/div>\n
After returning from the war, with little house building experience or money, my dad and his brother Jim jumped right into what would be their future career. They built a small house on spec in Sedro-Woolley. Legend has it, the toilet fell through the floor when Jim sat on it during construction. An uncomfortable mistake, but it taught them a lesson they\u2019d never forget.<\/p>\n
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- Do good work.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Dad was determined to learn the construction trade and learn it well. Before long, he was considered a master carpenter. In those days a carpenter had to do everything, and he did: framing, cabinets, electrical, plumbing, plaster work, tile, concrete work, hardwood floors, painting. His houses were known for being perfectly square, level, and plumb. More than 40 years after his death, people still live in those houses, and some of the residents remember my dad, the man who built them.<\/p>\n
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- Be honest and fair.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Put in an honest day\u2019s work and don\u2019t overcharge. Mom might have argued that he under-charged. But his prices only added to his sterling reputation.<\/p>\n
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- Love your work.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Dad used to go out to his shop after dinner to build things for fun. He called it \u201cplaying.\u201d You might say he found his passion. Or you could say that he came to his work open to all it had to offer, which is how he learned to love it.<\/p>\n
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- Teach others.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Dad taught my sister and me a few things about carpentry. He also let my husband Eugene work with him building our first house. His most trusted apprentice was a young man named Darrell. Under Dad\u2019s tutelage, Darrell, too, became a master carpenter. Then Darrell\u2019s son became a well-known and respected builder of houses\u2026. And so the legend continues.<\/p>\n
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- Be generous.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Dad\u2019s generosity often took the form of unexpected gifts, many of which he made himself\u2014a spice shelf for someone\u2019s grandma or a pair of stilts for a kid down the street. On a larger scale, he donated his time and expertise to the American Legion Club and the Eagles Club in Sedro-Woolley, supervising their 1953 expansion<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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- Love your family.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Dad didn\u2019t talk much about loving his daughters; he showed us. Every morning on a school day, he made sure my sister and I got up on time (more or less). Then he cooked us breakfast: oatmeal, eggs, bacon and toast. Sometimes he made French toast, pancakes or the crepes he called Swedish pancakes. The crepes were to die for!<\/p>\n
Mom consistently provided our birthday and Christmas gifts. Dad liked to surprise us. One summer he built us a below-ground concrete swimming pool. When we were older, he built a runabout boat and then a cabin cruiser. He made sure I had a pair of water skis to use with the runabout.<\/p>\n
- Love your family.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- Be generous.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- Teach others.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- Love your work.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- Be honest and fair.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- Do good work.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- Fearlessly attack new projects.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- Don\u2019t toot your own horn.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- Be brave.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n