Last week’s topic, “bald” reminded me of my dad’s family. Bearded just reminds me of my dad, William D. “Bill” Hahn. He always came back from a three- or six-month naval voyage with a beard.
The first photo was taken in April 1971 at a submarine ball in Dunoon, Scotland. I was five years old at that time. My dad was 36.
When we first went to Scotland, he was on the USS Canopus submarine tender. When one of the radioman on USS James Madison had a family emergency or some such, daddy moved over to take his place, and he was on subs for his sea duties the rest of his time in the Navy.
Other subs he was on were the USS Woodrow Wilson and the USS Finback.
Daddy grew a beard again, for a while, later in life. I have a couple of pictures from church directories, and I’m sharing one of them here. I don’t have the specific year.
When he got older and his beard turned white, it really shows the nicotine from his smoking. If I could have changed one thing about my dad, it would have been that. I really believe it contributed to his death from cancer, and I have to wonder if the second-hand smoke stunted my growth. It was really his only bad habit, though.
Rhyme Schemes and Daydreams 