Tom Cifelli

After he retired, he enjoyed playing with mom, and me and Alex when we were visiting. My mom was a better cribbage player than he was. However, when we played teams and they were on opposite teams, mom was always looking at him because she seemed to know that somehow he would get the better of her with some sneaky play.

Dad was in the Navy during WWII. He was honorably discharged after the war at Treasure Island near San Francisco. My first job after college was working for the Navy near Treasure Island. When Mom and Dad came to visit me in the 1980s, I drove them onto Treasure Island. Dad said with a big smile "I wouldn't have ever thought that 40 years later I would be back on Treasure Island with my wife and son."

Dad always liked boxing and managed one of our cousins who was a middleweight boxer. Maybe you saw the photo of Dad in his boxing pose on this web site? After he retired, he and I drove to Atlantic City to see a championship fight and had a great time. It was one of the best moments we ever had together.

The year before I graduated college, he and mom decided to buy me a car as a graduation present. There was a car I wanted but I had no idea how to negotiate buying the car. He went with me, got the car I wanted, and at a significant discount. I was thrilled and caught by surprise with his ability to do something like this.

Dad was driving me and 2 of my friends home from junior high school. He usually was very quiet and drove safely. Out of nowhere he hit the accelerator, the car lunged forward as he swerved around, passed the double white line in the center to pass a few cars. He shot a glance at me and laughed. My friends and I looked at each other with big smiles. Neither of my friends knew their own fathers and I think they appreciated how "cool" it was to have someone like Dad around.