Family

 I have a beautiful granddaughter in Colorado, and she is the oldest of my granddaughters. In fact, she has grown into an inquisitive and exceptionally bright young woman. I will share one of my most cherished photos of the two of us in just a moment.

In fact, I'm going to share a lot about my past in a few minutes. I guess you can refer to them as some 'priceless family secrets.' Secrets that will help my Granddaughter, Amber Bauch, understand and clear up some Ancestry issues that will help her on her journey to discover her identity...and the identity of the rest of the Price clan.

Amber has already invested a few bucks on Ancestry.com and is well on her way to discovery. She is determined to get to 'the rest of the story.' That is a phrase she may not have heard before. Still, an Octogenarian like me is familiar with Paul Harvey, the famous American broadcaster who made quite a splash on the radio scene from 1951 to 2008, uttering his weekly words of wisdom and proceeding with his tales of the day before signing off, 'Good day!'

As we approach Father's Day 2025, it's time to enlighten my granddaughter that I've had two fathers -- an Arizona father, a well-respected teacher who got his start teaching youngins at Roskruge Elementary School many moons ago, and Huey Chapman, who was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

My Arizona father, Kermit Price, once ran for Tucson Superintendent of Schools but lost to the incumbent Florence Reece. How do I remember that? I sat in front of the television and watched the voting come in. That was because weeks prior, I had helped him put up signs all over Tucson that read, 'Vote for Kermit R. Price.' His middle name was Roosevelt.

My biological father was Huey Chapman. I was 32 years old when I met him and shook hands with him for the first time on the porch of his home in St Louis, Missouri. That was in 1977.

A lot, of course, has happened in my 80 years on this earth (I actually turn 80 on July 2, 2025). On that day in 1977, I instantly became part of the Chapman family and met five siblings: Jimmy, Janet Kathleen, Kenneth, Brenda, and Terry.

Gone now are Jimmy, Janet Kathleen, and Terry. Brenda and Kenneth remain on this earth to fight the good fight, and we communicate with each other despite being 2,000 miles apart. I talk on Sundays with Kenneth, now 69, as we discuss everything from Western movies to football games to the St Louis Cardinals.

My biological father passed away in December 1978.

Back home in Arizona, my sister Sheree, who was born 10 years after me, continues the good fight in the southwestern desert amongst the huge Saguaros on the eastern side of Tucson, near the Catalina Foothills.

Sheree actually lives 70 miles away now in Hereford, Arizona, with her husband, Chris Cook. Sheree is the kindest person in the world, just like my mother, Kathryn Price, who passed away in 2018.

And there you have it, sports fans! That's all you're gonna get in this sitting. That alone will give my granddaughter all the ammunition she'll need to continue her journey with Ancestry.com.

Her Grandpa is a walking encyclopedia. Knowing my granddaughter, bless her heart. She'll take her journey all the way to the Mayflower.  I doubt I'm related to Christopher Columbus; if I was, that alone could explain a few things.

The bottom line: Life goes on, and all the characters listed above are not characters in one of my books but are real-life, beautiful people making a name for themselves, whether they are Chapman or Price.

But it doesn't end there. I have two sons — Michael, 60, and Danny Brian, soon to be 57 — three granddaughters, three grandsons, and two great-grandsons. The little ones get plenty of airtime on Facebook already - two very photogenic boys, Braven and Fallon. My sister, Sheree, sadly lost her only son, Eric, in 2024. He was a bright young man and my favorite nephew.

As for me, I am an open book. As a writer, I claw away at my laptop, juggling three Facebook pages -- including an author page and a long-standing sports blog that has survived on Google since 2009.

My significant other, Sue, and I reside in a modest apartment on the east side of Tucson with two cats, Max and Tess, who require a lot of supervision. See the photo of Max below. Max is a University of Arizona Wildcats fan and gets depressed when they lose; of course, so do I.

My biological father is shown below:

Below are two pictures of Huey, Max, Sheree, my mom, Kathryn (her maiden name was  Hardcastle), and then me... and Mother.

Finally, my mom, Kathryn, and my father, Kermit R. Price.                           

                            

I once said that in my travels, the road ahead is full of potholes and obstacles.

As I near the age of 80 and within striking distance of another decade on this earth, I have one giant wish, and that is to have the good Lord hang tight with this old man. The answer to why I'm here has finally surfaced.

As I have said on more than one occasion:

I have yet to stare a Sequoia in the face, run the rapids...watch the stars burn bright. In short, I live life and cradle my surroundings as if it were the final time I'd see a river flow or have the prairie wind collide on the surface of my skin.

Father's Day is still a week or so away. However, it appears I'm going to get ahead start.

Happy Father's Day 2025 to all the fathers out there.