Father’s Day: ‘We were blessed to call him Dad’

Whether it’s his uncanny ability to sense a one-degree change in the thermostat or his amazing skill of being able to fix anything with duct tape and WD-40, it seems every dad has some sort of secret “superpower.” 
For instance, while some dads are hopeless in the kitchen with even most routine cooking tasks, get them outdoors and light a fire and they become a Grillmaster Extraordinaire. These amazing barbecue chefs are veritable “steak whisperers” who can determine when a piece of beef is perfectly done without using a timer, thermometer or admitting they might have guessed.
On the more serious side, sometimes Dad’s superpowers have names like “The Steady Rock,” the ability to remain calm during family storms, offering strength, wisdom and reassurance when life gets difficult. And then there is “Life Lesson Generator,” teaching responsibility, integrity, perseverance and kindness through countless ordinary moments. 
With the multitude of superpowers dads possess in mind, ANR recently asked our readers to share the amazing abilities possessed by their fathers. 
The first family to respond was the Tyler and Autumn Anderson family of Aurora. Autumn responded by saying she had asked their three children (the two older ones via text message and the youngest as they were snuggling in bed) what they thought Tyler’s superpower to be. 
Sixteen year old Carley, a junior at AHS, responded by saying, “My dad’s superpower is he knows exactly when my curfew is.” Meanwhile, 10-year-old fifth grader Blaze said “My dad’s superpower is happiness.”
We’ve decided 4-year old preschooler Nova, must have been half asleep when Autumn posed the question, because her answer was, “My dad’s superpower is I love my birthday so much but it’s not my birthday anymore and nobody’s taking me back to my birthday party or got me a trampoline!” When asked later, however, she added that her dad is “amazing and her dad loves her.”  
Damaris Olsen has had a few more years than Nova to contemplate the superpowers of her father, the late Melvin Troester of Hampton. 
“My dad was always my super hero and was gone too soon at the age of 73,” she wrote. “He taught me so much from living life to working to my love of animals. He was strict but had that way about him that you knew you did wrong but he had a way of getting through to you so that you didn’t do it again. He praised you always for what you did right and let me know how proud he was, which always gave me the feeling and inspiration of making him proud of me. When he got mad at animals when we were loading to other incidents, he used his words in German. I continue to do that to this day. He will forever be my super hero!”
Olsen’s mother, Noni Troester also submitted a tribute to her father, Cyrus Carlson, in which she noted that he also had a unique way of administering discipline to his children. 
“So much to remember,” she wrote. “We never doubted that he loved us or my mother. When he had to correct us he never used force – mostly just a good talking-to and grounding. As times got better, we moved into town to 418 N. St. across the street from my Grandpa Carlson, where we continued school and high school. He passed away two months before his 54th birthday in 1952 from cancer. He has never been forgotten even at my advanced age. I remember all the good and the bad as life is filled with both.” 
Caroline Epp of Giltner wrote on behalf of her siblings -- Jeanette Friesen, Kathy Nauman, Paul Huenefeld and Dan Huenefeld -- when she submitted a tribute to their father, Charles A. Huenefeld.
“Our Dad’s superpower was the Lord God Almighty!” Epp wrote. “God gave him a big heart and a big dream and a lot of determination. He owned a piece of land, bought as a favor from a farmer with failing health, dedicating it to the Lord, hoping someday it would be a place where children could learn about God and His creation, as well as a place for fun and fellowship. On July 5 the Christian Resource Center will be celebrating 50 years of our dad’s dream in fulfillment. Thousands of youth (& adults) have enjoyed his land, learned about his Lord, & enjoyed the many activities available there.” 
“Our dad walked by faith and not by sight!” Epp continued. “He walked to the beat of a different “drummer.” His heart was not set on financial gain, but on spiritual gain for his community to personally know Jesus! The Lord’s “superpower” helped him do all this work and so much more in spite of losing an arm & having a hook for a left hand. We were blessed to call him Dad!”
Another superpower possessed by many fathers is that of “Unconditional Encourager,” defined as having the art of making his children believe they can do things they weren’t sure were possible. In the mind of a kid, if Dad thinks it’s possible, it’s possible no matter what the odds against it. 
And that puts in this writer’s mind an old poem often quoted by my own father – Edgar Guest’s “It Couldn’t Be Done:”
Somebody said that it couldn’t be done
But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it!