My Mom and Dad moved to Tellico Village back in 1998, and after decades of living hundreds of miles away from them, my husband and I had the good fortune to relocate to Tellico Village in early 2014.

Recently, after nearly 20 years in the same home, my parents decided to downsize, and while helping them pack, I “rediscovered” a Father’s Day letter I had written to my father — back in 1984 — that had been framed and hung in a guest bedroom.

My father has always been my hero, and when you read the following letter, you will understand why I wrote this for him. Even though many years and life events have come and gone, everything I wrote then still holds true today.


At that time, I was 25 years  old and married with a new baby, so Dad would have been 44, living in Ohio and flying full time as a pilot for United Airlines.

Fast forward 31 years, and Dad is now 75 years young, happily retired, a wonderful grandfather

to my own three adult children and a great-grandfather to one granddaughter, with a second due in October.

My Dad offers love, compassion, generosity and support that never weakens, and he continues to be an exemplary example of what a father should be.

I have been blessed beyond measure by his presence in my life, and he has shown that same unconditional love to my husband, my children and now my grandchildren.

While I could never repay him for a lifetime of

love, after 31 years, I still want to say thank you to

my father for loving me enough to share his life with  me.

To Dad with love, Father’s Day 1984

My mother was married young, and at 18 was the mother of two young babies. She and her husband, my biological father, divorced shortly after my birth, and he was never to be seen nor heard from again.

For many years, she raised my older brother and me alone, working nights and sometimes two jobs to keep a roof over our heads.

When I was 9, she fell in love with a wonderful man who is now my father. Dad was a 28-year-old bachelor when they married, and I know now that it must have been quite a shock for him to go from a “swinging single” to a husband and father of two in only one day.

After the “four of us” returned from our honeymoon, he legally adopted my brother and me and never once showed the least bit of regret in accepting his “ready-made” family.

My dad worked hard and loved us all, and I remember well the nights he stayed up late, showing me flash cards too (from which) I would learn my multiplication tables and going to “father-son banquets” with my brother. And, of course, he took care of and loved my mother with all his heart, and that was really the nicest thing of all.

I may be “adopted” by this man, but he is, to me, the best father a girl could ever have. Never could anyone have replaced the love, caring and guidance that he has given to me so unselfishly over the past 16 years.

And because it is Father’s Day, I want to say thank you to my father; not only for the long-forgotten sacrifices he made for our family, but more importantly, for loving me enough to share his life with me.

It was indeed the greatest gift a person could have given.

Happy Father’s Day, Dad

With love from your daughter, Genese

Genese Kerns is a resident of Tellico Village.