# Kinda Cool ...



## SCraig (Feb 16, 2013)

I was heading back home this morning through a part of Nashville I don't go through very often.  My dad lived there years ago, he and my mom were divorced when I was 3 so I didn't know him all that well.

Anyway, I glanced up and happened to notice this sign on the side of the highway:







Rest in peace, Dad!


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## Tee (Feb 16, 2013)

That's awesome.


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## ratssass (Feb 16, 2013)

...very nice,and very nice find.


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## oldhippy (Feb 16, 2013)

Totally awsome.  You have a right to be proud


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## SCraig (Feb 16, 2013)

I am proud of it, I always thought he was a great man.  I did a quick Google search and it apparently took place in March, 2011.  I found This PDF Document that describes when it was enacted.  It shows a pretty impressive career with the THP until he retired back in the 60's.  It doesn't mention that for several years he also served as a photographer for the THP.  I have a photograph in one of my old scrapbooks that my mom kept taken sometime back in the 50's of him holding a big old Graflex Speed Graphic.


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## Mully (Feb 16, 2013)

What a find ...God brought you there for a reason...you might not know it right now but it will become evident.... that is so cool, I know you are just thrilled!


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## SCraig (Feb 16, 2013)

Mully said:


> What a find ...God brought you there for a reason...you might not know it right now but it will become evident.... that is so cool, I know you are just thrilled!



Something certainly did because when I headed back home I didn't intend to go that way.  I was hungry and had an urge for Krystal cheeseburgers.  I thought I remembered one up that way so I decided to go that way.

To say I was surprised to see that sign would be an understatement.  I was sitting at a stop light, looked up, and there it was.  I read it a couple of times to make sure I read it right and then just pulled over on the shoulder of the highway.  No way I was going to let that go by without a photograph


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## mishele (Feb 16, 2013)

Kinda cool?!! That's pretty damn awesome! :hug::


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## SCraig (Feb 16, 2013)

mishele said:


> Kinda cool?!! That's pretty damn awesome! :hug::



Thanks, Mishele.  I have to agree, it is pretty damn awesome and in my opinion he was a pretty awesome guy.  Not because he was my father necessarily but simply because of who he was and what he did.  All my life I've had people come up to me an tell me that.


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## pgriz (Feb 16, 2013)

Congratulation, MR. Craig.  It is good to know one's father served the public good, honorably and ably.  To be recognized for such, and to be remembered is something that few enjoy posthumously.


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## SCraig (Feb 16, 2013)

pgriz said:


> Congratulation, MR. Craig.  It is good to know one's father served the public good, honorably and ably.  To be recognized for such, and to be remembered is something that few enjoy posthumously.



I agree completely.  I knew a good bit about him, but there were, and still are, a lot of gaps.  He was pretty much in public service his entire adult life, first as a US Marine and then the Tennessee Highway Patrol.  He was one of the few to hold the lowest and highest ranks in the THP since he joined as a raw recruit and eventually made it to Commissioner of Safety.

Surprisingly, one of the "Gaps" was only made known to me right before he died.  He was in the hospital and I went to visit him.  The floor nurse told me what room he was in and said, "You just missed your brother, he just left."  I told her that I had apparently missed him my entire life since I didn't even know I had a brother   We met at Dad's funeral, Johnny was from my father's first marriage and I was from his second.

I really feel that he would have been somewhat embarrassed to have a highway named in his honor though.  He was a pretty down-to-Earth person and never really sought publicity.  I'm sure he would have been honored though.


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## Ron Evers (Feb 16, 2013)

The story that can spill out from a photograph.  Awesome.


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## SCraig (Feb 17, 2013)

Ron Evers said:


> The story that can spill out from a photograph.  Awesome.



Thanks, Ron.  He was an awesome guy that I wish I had known better.


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## manaheim (Feb 17, 2013)

Wow, that's very cool.


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## sm4him (Feb 17, 2013)

Wow, that's awesome, Scott!
I wonder who proposed the naming of the highway?  Might be interesting to see if there is some "official" documentation on it.


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## PixelRabbit (Feb 17, 2013)

Amazing Scott! Thanks so much for sharing him with us


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## SCraig (Feb 17, 2013)

Thanks guys.

Sharon, the PDF document I mentioned in post #5 indicates that it was Senator Haynes who sponsored the bill.


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## manaheim (Feb 17, 2013)

So wait... This happened and you didn't know about it?  That's weird.  I wound have assumed they would have involved the family.


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## SCraig (Feb 17, 2013)

manaheim said:


> So wait... This happened and you didn't know about it?  That's weird.  I wound have assumed they would have involved the family.



Yep, that's what happened.  I just happened across the sign yesterday and that was the first I had ever heard about it.  I sent a copy of the photo to my sister and it was news to her as well.  I'm sure my half-brother knew about it since he is Tennessee Highway Patrol, but nobody let my side of the family know.


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## manaheim (Feb 17, 2013)

Wow. Weird.


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## SCraig (Feb 17, 2013)

manaheim said:


> Wow. Weird.



I sent an email to the public information officer yesterday asking when the sign was erected (before I found the information on the internet).  In it I mentioned that I was his son and knew nothing about it so perhaps that will get someone asking the question of WHY did the son know nothing about it.


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