My Dad, he was special,
since we were little,
Margaret and I called him Skinny
our own affectionate name for him,
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he was funny,
he liked to sing
"There's a tree in the meadow
With a spring running by"
My Dad, he was off tune
but he was cute
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he was whimsical,
He liked to sing this other song
That went like this,
"On the way to Italy,
By the Gulf of Mexico"
We all laughed and told him
That's not the way to Italy
He'd laugh too and say
"That's the way I am going.
What's wrong with that?"
and we'd laugh once again,
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he was comical
He sang another little ditty
"Dance with the Dolly with the
Hole in her sock, her knees keep a knockin'
And her eyes keep a rockin'"
And we'd all laugh
At these little tunes he sang,
He would always tell me
"I could have been in Hollywood
Making movies, then you'd be rich too!"
And I'd tease him and say,
"You in the movies!"
And he'd say,
"Yeah, why not, what's wrong with me?"
And I'd tease him again,
"Well, Skinny, you didn't make it to the movies,
so we're not rich,"
And he'd say,
"Imagine if I could have!" and we'd all laugh,
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he was loving
He loved to take pictures
Movies and slides
Because of that we have
A lifetime of memories to look
Back on and always cherish,
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he was special
When Margaret and I were little,
There was a big snowstorm,
And he made us a wonderful snowman
He took pictures of it,
Memories to cherish,
My Dad, Skinny
My Dad, he was handy,
He and Uncle Dom put up all the
Paneling in our house,
My Dad was mechanical,
He was good with cars,
He could fix anything,
He even could make things,
He made my Mom her own vanity table,
He made me a bookcase, a real nice one,
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he was proud of his family,
Margaret and I were his whole world,
He was so proud of Margaret's accomplishments,
At Sikorsky where she works,
He was proud of her intelligence and her creativity
They often put things together,
And Margaret would follow the directions,
And tell him what to do,
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he was proud of me too,
He told everyone I was a writer,
He went to all my book signing events at
The bookstores and the libraries,
He loved my stories and poems
He was proud of my accomplishments
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he was proud of my Mom,
He depended on her to take care of things
Which she always did,
My Mom wrote out the checks
To pay the bills,
She took care of the insurance
And the income tax,
She cooked and cleaned
And she liked to bake
My Dad loved us all very much,
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he was special
He loved Uncle Dominic
Like he was his own brother
Uncle Dominic was my Mom's brother,
My Dad spent a lot of time with him
They often watched sports together
especially the Huskies,
They went shopping together too,
My Dad took Uncle Dominic to the barber shop
For his hair cut
When they both got sick, our hairdresser
Warner would come to the house
To give them their hair cuts
And he enjoyed talking and laughing with both of them,
Warner is a good friend,
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he was patriotic
He was a Korean War Veteran
A Purple Heart Veteran
He wore his hat all the time
With all his pins on it,
His Korean War Veteran hat,
He loved that hat,
Sometimes I'd tell him
To wear one of his other hats
Since he had so many of them
But he always wore that hat,
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he was playful
Margaret and I used to make a map
At Christmas time
And my Dad had to follow the map
And go to the rooms in the house
The map directed him too,
Sometimes he just had to
Open the attic door and say "hello",
That was in the map,
But finally he would find
The little gift we had hidden
He'd open it up and he would smile,
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he was hard-working and smart
He was an aircraft mechanic
At Sikorsky Aircraft
And we were very proud of him
He had worked his way up
From being a utility man
He was proud of himself too
He even got to fly in the helicopters
And he even went on the road for the company,
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he took us lots of places
We went to the White Mountains
in New Hampshire when I was eight
we went to the Catskills another year
He took us to see Gillette Castle,
Mystic Seaport, Sturbridge Village
The P.T. Barnum Museum
The Peabody Museum
The Branford Trolley Museum
And other places in Connecticut
We even went to see the submarine at
The base in Groton,
The Bradley Air Museum in Windsor Locks,
We took a ride on the train in Essex,
And we went for the boat ride on the Connecticut River,
We drove up to Hunter's Mountain
In Northern New York State to see
some of the concerts there.
We always went to see the shows at Oakdale Theatre
and at Foxwood
and Mohegan Casino
A couple of times we had gone to the Westchester Premier Theater
In Tarrytown, New York, especially one particular time when
Johnny Cash was there. My Dad was a big fan of Johnny Cash
He loved Dean Martin too
He and my Mom had gone to Las Vegas to see Dean Martin
But Dean canceled the show because he was sick
So my Dad didn't get to see him,
He felt bad about it,
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he was our helper,
We run a fan club for Tom Jones
And when we had to fold and stuff the newsletters
In the envelopes,
My Dad always sat at the table and helped us
He folded pretty fast too,
He was special that way,
One time at Foxwoods
When we went to see Tom Jones
We took my Dad backstage to meet him.
My Dad was so happy to meet Tom
And he told him how he helped us,
My Dad was our mailman too,
He brought all the newsletters down to
The Post Office to mail for us,
He was always mailing things out for us,
He mailed all my submissions for the publishers too,
Everyone at the Post Office loved him,
Gerri and Ann Marie got to know him well,
When he was sick,
They always asked about him,
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he was special,
He and my Mom celebrated their
25th Wedding Anniversary back in 1978
They traveled to Hawaii, San Francisco, and Las Vegas
And they had a nice time
Dad always wanted to return to Hawaii
But he never did
He did come with us to Las Vegas several times
He liked it there,
He and my Mom flew out
To Las Vegas for his 7th Cavalry Reunion
Something he totally enjoyed and
talked about all the time,
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he was a Korean War Veteran
And so proud of his service to his country,
In 1995, the Korean War Memorial in
Washington, D.C. was being dedicated,
We flew to D.C. so my Dad could see the Memorial
He met a lot of fellow Veterans
And he was so emotional when he finally got to see the
Korean War Memorial
We took lots of pictures,
We met Senator Dodd at the U.S. Capitol
too and we took a picture with him,
We returned again in 1997
To D.C. and went to see
The Memorial once more,
It was so important to my Dad,
I'm glad he got to see it,
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he was unique
He and I watched the New York Giants together
He was always a fan
And because of him
Since a child, I also became a fan,
We cheered for the Giants together
My Dad was always the coach
He'd say, "He should take that guy out
And put that big guy from Pennsylvania in",
And I'd say, "What big guy from Pennsylvania?"
And my Dad would say, "I don't know his name
but that big guy from Pennsylvania. He doesn't
let him play,"
That was my Dad,
He was sweet,
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he had a hobby,
He loved his trains
He added on to his trains
All the time, and he had his
Own envelope of money
He saved to buy his trains
We would buy him trains and
Accessories for Christmas,
Father's Day and his birthday,
He loved that
He spent hours down in the cellar,
Puttering with his trains
Making tunnels, lifts and bridges
And having fun
He would run his trains
And he'd call us to come down
And see what he was doing
I'd give anything to see him
Running his trains again,
My Dad, he was special,
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he was my debating partner,
He was a Democrat
And I'm a Republican
He and I got into a lot of heavy debates
About politics
But he understood me
And I understood him
I will forever miss our debates,
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he was kind, gentle, thoughtful
and generous
He always ran all the errands for us
Everyone at Stop&Shop loved him
He made friends with the clerks at the
Post Office-Gerri and Ann Marie
My Dad, he was always there for me
When one of my temporary assignments ended,
And I was feeling sad,
My Dad came home from the store
And brought me Champ the Care Bear
He made me so happy
I love Teddy Bears
And Champ, he is so special
Because my Dad bought him for me
My other special bear, Fozzie the Muppet Bear
My sister bought me Fozzie,
I always made Fozzie talk and he would
Tease my Dad, and my Dad would play along,
My Dad loved Fozzie
My Dad was always there for me,
If I needed money to pay a bill,
He'd give it to me right away
He always told me things would
Get better for me
And now they are,
My home business is really growing,
Just like my Dad told me it would,
He always believed in me,
And he always told me not to let
Anyone get me down,
My Dad was always there for our
Friends, Dolores and Susie,
Dolores would always call him when
She needed a ride or she needed something
fixed, She could always count on my Dad,
and she trusted him completely,
Dolores and Susie shared a lot of happy moments
With all of us,
Dolores and Susie miss my Dad,
They loved him too
Our neighbor, Barbara, loved him too,
She always liked to talk to him,
And he liked her too,
When my Dad got sick,
Barbara would come over to help us
And she'd visit with my Dad,
Sometimes she stayed and had a cup of tea,
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he was a lot of fun,
He and I always made the beds together,
And we'd get into it and kind of got in each other's way,
I would spray him with the Lysol, he would laugh
And then he'd spray me,
Sometimes he'd take a break and I'd say,
"Skinny, come on, we don't have all day!"
And he'd say, " I got to take a break!"
I'd be pulling the blanket one way, and sometimes he
Would have a hard time pulling the
blanket on the other side,
And I'd have to show him so he wouldn't pull
it in the wrong place,
But we always managed to get it done and get all the stuffed animals,
Back on top of the bedspread,
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he was always there for me,
Whenever I had an interview to go to,
He would go with me the day before
To take a dry run to see where the place was,
Sometimes he even came with me on the day
Of the interview to keep me company,
And he'd wait in the lobby,
He was so special,
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he liked to be with us,
We would have our dinner and
Watch our tape of "All My Children",
My Dad enjoyed the soap operas,
and always watched them with us,
He had his own opinion of the characters,
He liked Bo on "One Life to Live"
And Spinelli on "General Hospital"
He liked to watch "Nightshift"
too, which was a spinoff of "General Hospital"
he liked Epiphany and the part that Billy Dee Williams played,
My Dad enjoyed "Price is Right",
and he also liked to watch "Lingo" and "Chain Reaction"
he liked to play along with the game,
and he always enjoyed "Deal or No Deal,"
My Dad, Skinny

My Dad, he was very special to all of us
He was our hero
Our special angel,
The best Dad in the world,
My Dad, Skinny,
I love you Skinny,
I always have and I always will,
Now and forever.
Love always
Your daughter,
Celine