On June 1st of this year, my dad would have turned 70 years old. Bernard Royce "Tink" Wagner died on November 18, 1970. He was barely 31, and I was about seven months old at the time. Sometime during the previous year he had been diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease, which was at that time still a young man's disease but it was nowhere near as manageable and treatable as it is today. I think it's safe to say that all my life I've missed him; I've been fascinated by the thought of him; I've felt cheated that so many of the people in my life knew him but that I never did. There's not a week that goes by when I'm out in the park or on the field with one of my boys, throwing a baseball, that I don't wish I could have done the same thing with my dad, the ballplayer. Or that my boys could be out there having a catch with their granddad, the ballplayer. It's the same reason that I cry like a baby every time I watch Field of Dreams, a movie that I'd seen a zillion times over the years but to which my nine-year-old has recently taken a shine.Over the next week or two or three I'm planning on putting some of my thoughts about him into this blog. I hope it's not too weird to do that. I AM pretty sure that it's not as weird as my first idea, which I hope no one has stumbled upon yet (although I'm about to spill that one). In clicking around Facebook one day a few months back, I found a network of folks who would have been contemporaries of my dad's at Colby College in the early 60s. I thought, "hey, maybe it would be cool if I started a FB page for my dad," so that his old friends and classmates can get the news about my mom (who many of them would surely remember), and about his son (me), and about his grandkids that he himself never met. I ran that plan by a couple of my colleagues at Davidson, who were less than enthusiastic about the notion of a friend of theirs starting a page for his dead father. Yeah, maybe a little odd. So now that I have this blog I thought that I'd be able to post a few things and circulate them to a targeted group of family, friends, and folks in the Colby alumni network who might be interested.
Anyway, you get the idea. All of you in the family and group of close friends, I hope that this all doesn't offend you. And I hope that you'll be patient and realize that I'm probably the one guy who's completely NOT qualified to write about my dad, since I never knew him. So I'm counting on all of you to help me along with some of the details, and to share your stories and memories with me so that I've got a better picture in my mind than I have now. And speaking of that, I'd also love to have you send to me any photos or other tidbits that you think would interest me. I will greatly appreciate anything that you have to offer.
So I'm going to let this post sit for a day or two, and I'll come back with some more in a little bit now that I've got the concept out there for all of you to consider.
And it was so great to hear from you yesterday, Uncle Dan.
BTW, the caption of the photo above is "French Ferucci Tink Ralph Bill". Not sure which year it's from, but it is one of the photos that over the years helped me build my personality myth around my dad: strong, confident, right in the middle of the pitching staff, a force to be reckoned with.
Peter Peter Peter. You never fail to amaze and inspire. Coincidentally, I work with a woman whose Dad, also known as 'Tink' (Tink Kilbreth), played with our Tink in the Twilight League for the Turner Townies in the early '60's. I'll ask him for some of his memories from those days. I remember seeing your Dad pitch under the lights at Pettengill Park in Auburn. Although I was too young to understand, he did some 'hidden ball' move that resulted in throwing out a base runner which was the final out of the game. He was the hero of the game. I can still picture him sitting on the couch at Brettuns, post-game, downing a quart of milk - right from the carton. He LOVED milk. Did you know that? Love you and can't wait to see you in Maine. 'Auntie' Kristel
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