THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 18, 1995 TAG: 9506160206
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 201 lines
Today is Father's Day, and the thoughts of sons and daughters all over Chesapeake are turning to dad.
In recognition of the role of fathers in the lives of their children, The Clipper staff asked several Chesapeake fathers and children to share their thoughts about this special relationship.
Robert L. Masten is the father of 17 children - all of them adopted.
``He's my dad, and he's wonderful,'' said Sidney Masten, a 21-year-old son. ``He's helpful when it comes to homework. He's there when you need a shoulder to cry or someone to talk to. His standards are good. They are hard to live by sometimes, but they're good.
``He loves his children equally. He's there when the younger children need him to take them to the pool. They like that,'' said Masten, who is half-way through a Tidewater Community College elementary education program.
``He is a churchgoer. He takes us to church every Sunday, and that's good. The children don't all like getting up that early. But they all have friends at church.''
Robert Masten says that when he and his wife Carolyn entered into parenthood, they had no idea that their family would grow so large.
``For most people, this is outside their envelope. Because they couldn't do it, they think no one could do it,'' he said.
``We learned early on that we could not have natural children,'' he said. ``That led to the adoption of a newborn son.''
After moving from Texas to Maryland, they adopted a newborn girl from the same Texas agency.
By the time those two children had reached the ages of 8 and 12, the Mastens decided they wanted more children.
They adopted two children, ages 3 and 5, with special needs.
Three years later, while living in Yorktown, Masten heard a radio interview about the need for adoptive parents.
``We had been talking about the age gap between our kids,'' said Masten, 53. ``So we called. That led us on this journey to lots of kids. The idea had been to get only a couple more.'' Instead, they adopted of a group of five girls, all sisters. The oldest was 14; the youngest 8.
``In that process, we learned that there are different dynamics involved in managing the household where there are so many people in the house,'' he said.
The adoption of those five went so well that the couple adopted four more girls.
``We knew that 13 was an unstable number,'' he said with a chuckle. ``There are times when you need a sense of humor.''
Finally, they adopted four more boys.
``That's the 17. At home there are 16 with an age range of 5-21.''
While Masten admits that, even with his Navy retirement and his job as a management consultant, ``there's never enough money,'' he said the family manages to find the resources they need. Two of the children are even in college.
Daughter Kimberly joined the family when she was 14. She is now a graduate of Great Bridge High.
``You know that if these kids continued as they were going, they would be a liability to society,'' Masten said. ``Watching them go from their troubled backgrounds to where you know they will be productive is remarkable.''
``John D. Royals is the smartest and best dad in the whole world.'' said his daughter, Mary Lou Lundholm of Deep Creek.
As a child, Lundholm said, she often followed her dad to the garage, where he would poke through a pile of scraps for chunks of wood, which he crafted into trucks and cars.
``And he made me beautiful rings from nails and washers.'' said Lundholm.
His imagination and creativity have followed me and made my life so much fuller. And his love for animals and the outdoors are gifts he has passed on to my brother and me. He showed us that the best things in life don't come from the store but from God.''
``He's always there for me.'' said a chorus of Lynch children about their dad, Michael Joseph Lynch.
``Since I started playing sports, he has never missed a game,'' said Brooke Lynch, 16, who plays basketball, volleyball and softball at Oscar F. Smith High School.
``We all know that our family is the most important thing in the world to Dad,'' she said.
``Dad's always there.'' echoed Kari Lynch, 14. ``He has also gone to every dance recital, track meet and karate lesson, too. And he still tucks us in at night, and we get a good night kiss.''
``Dad always helps us when we need it,'' said Brandon Lynch, 9. ``And I like it when just the two of us do stuff together. Sometimes we watch TV on Saturday night or go to a movie. And, even though Dad doesn't like to fish, he takes me.''
Michael said that once when the two of them went fishing at the locks in Great Bridge his line got tangled in the top of a tree.
``When Dad climbed the tree to get the line untangled, the tree branch broke and my Dad fell into the water,'' giggled Brandon. ``Dad has taken me fishing since then but to a different spot.''
``My Dad is the best dad there is,'' said Samantha Jones, 16, about her father, Billy Jones. ``Once the two of us went out to dinner. It wasn't a special occasion or anything; we just went to sit and talk.
``He's special because he treats all my friends like they were his own children,'' she said. ``My Dad is the greatest.''
Randolph Harrison, known throughout his Brooklyn neighborhood as ``Uncle Randy,'' was a plumber - and a good one.
But working with pipes and wrenches was not his only talent.
He had a lot of artistic talent that he passed on to daughter, L. Randy Harrison, Chesapeake's fine arts commissioner and a successful artist.
``Even before `The Waltons' came out, he was `Uncle Randy,' and I was known in our neighborhood as `Randy Girl,' '' Harrison said. ``I used to go on plumbing jobs with my dad every Saturday. I was his assistant.''
One of her fondest memories is of her dad creating a vanity for his ``Randy Girl.''
``My most vivid recollection came when he had me sit on a chair and shined a strong lamp on me that created a shadow of my profile and my pony tail on the wall,'' she said. ``He drew my profile on cardboard, cut that out and put the profile on plywood.''
Dad then attached a round mirror in the middle of his daughter's profile, attached hooks to hold costume jewelry and added a shelf and chair. It became her personal, one-of-a-kind vanity.
``A lot of my friends, who were from wealthy families, would look at that vanity and say, `Oooh, where'd you get that?' '' she said. ``It was so different and unusual.''
Harrison's father is now 84 years old and still living in Brooklyn.
``I think his creative genes must have been transferred to me,'' she said. ``And his encouragement of my own art helped, too.''
Scott Thomas and his wife, Pam, arrived five minutes early to their first Lamaze class last Wednesday at Chesapeake General Hospital. Eleven couples participated in the class and, like all the fathers-to-be, Scott was a bit nervous.
``I'm taking this class so I don't pass out while Pam's having the baby,'' Thomas explained.
``I'll just be glad once this is all over and the baby gets here.''
This will be the first child for Scott and Pam, and although the due date isn't until Aug. 4, Scott has several ideas about how he'll raise his child.
``If it's a boy, I'm going to let it drive a stock car,'' he said, adding that he himself drove a mini stock car.
Boy or girl, Scott is adamant about teaching his child independence.
``He'll have to earn his own way, and to not allow other people to do everything for him.''
Although Scott will be a first-time dad, he's not inexperienced when it comes to children.
``I'm the oldest of four and uncle to six,'' he said. ``It just feels strange to be expecting a child myself. I never thought I was going to have children.''
Jack Pearrow, father of Yvonne Rice, who heads the Chesapeake-based Clubhouse Kids Productions and the national children's lobby against television violence, could have been a top singer in his day.
``He could have been the next Frank Sinatra,'' Rice said. ``But he gave it all up, because he loved my mama too much.''
Rice said her father sang with the Henry King Band and with Frances Langford. Women screamed when he crooned, she said.
``He taught me about love and loyalty,'' Rice said. ``He gave up a promising performing career for my mother. They stayed together and ran successful retail businesses. They worked together all those years. They just recently celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary.''
Although Pearrow gave up his own show business career, he encouraged his daughter's desire to sing on stage.
``My father always encouraged me,'' said Rice, who now produces local television and stage productions with her son, David Cummings. ``He encouraged me to sing to people, to use my gifts from God.
``He was and is my warrior and my defender,'' Rice said. ``I'm blessed to have him.''
``His love for the Lord and the church are some of the most important things that my Dad has passed on to me,'' said Elaine Sigmon about her father, Mickey Ables. ``And he's carrying on his love for me by the incredible love and attention he gives my children, just as he did for me. He's always there to take them swimming or for a bike ride around the block. When they are sick he worries more than I do, and he brings over ice cream.''
Ables' grandchildren are Caranie, 15; Jeremy, 8; Gabriel, 2; and Michaela, just 7 days old.
Elaine's husband and Ables' son-in-law is also a dad who is there when he's needed.
Joe Sigmon not only helped with the birth of Jeremy and Gabriel, but last Sunday morning he and Elaine delivered baby Michaela when she arrived unexpectedly at home.
``My dad is perfect,'' said Caranie. ``I don't ever have to worry about anything because I know that he will always take care of everything.''
About once a month, Caranie said, she and her Dad go by themselves to a movie or out to dinner.
``When I marry, he'll have to be just like my dad.'' said Caranie. MEMO: Janelle La Bouve, Jennifer C. O'Donnell, Susan Smith and Eric Feber
contributed to this story. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by MORT FRYMAN
ABOVE: Retired Navy Capt. Robert Masten and his wife have adopted 17
children, 15 of whom still live at home. Masten, a management
consultant, is shown with his two youngest sons, Jonathan, left, and
Robi.
LEFT: ``We all know that our family is the most important thing in
the world to Dad,'' said Brooke Lynch about her father, Michael
Joseph Lynch. Lynch, sporting his ALL STAR DAD T-shirt is surrounded
by, from left, Kari, Brooke and Brandon.
Photo by JENNIFER O'DONNELL
Father-to-be Scott and Pam Thomas are preparing for their first
child.
by CNB