My Dad...

My Dad had rheumatic fever when he was a kid.

It was going around back then, so he got it and it changed his life, forever.  And his family's lives, as it turned out...

Rheumatic fever can, and in my Dad's case did, damage his heart muscle.  So much so that a side effect was his teeth had all fallen out by the time he was in his early twenties, and he could not qualify for military service.  And qualifying for military service was very important to a young man like my Dad in the shadow of Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.  So he looked for and found an alternative he could use to serve his Country.

My Dad went to work for the Sunflower Ordnance Plant in what was then-unincorporated Johnson County, Kansas.  The Army had built a brand-new town of 12,000+ acres in which more than 13,000 people would produce ammunition.  And boy, did it ever!  From 1942 to 1945 it produced more than 120,000,000 rounds of small arms ammunition and some 2,000,000 pounds of gunpowder!  Dad's Plant made all the explosives used in the Pacific Theater.

And my Dad was so smart he wound up in charge of their chemical lab.  A guy with a high school education was running with the Big Dogs.

You'll forgive me if I brag a bit.  It's a DNA thing, doncha' know...

And thus, with all this new-found knowledge, my Dad applied to take the Board of Pharmacy examination in the State of Missouri following the War.  It seems the State of MO found itself with a dearth of pharmacies to serve towns of under 300 population at the time, so it offered PharmD licenses to any who could pass the test.

My Dad passed the test.  With colors that flew.

And thus, Cassity's Drug Store came into being.  In the tiny town of Bosworth, Missouri.  From there Dad moved on to a career in insurance and real estate, as well as serving as the Livingston County Superintendent for several years.  My Dad chose not to be limited by his disability.  Nor should any of us.  Thanks, Dad!  You found a way to serve...

Epilogue:  My Dad's heart finally gave out when he was only 66 years old.  I was visiting from out of town when he collapsed into my arms and died.  But he packed one Hell of a lot of life into those 66 years.   

All us disabled should do so well...