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Daddy of Mine
"Daddy Ben"
(Playing ~ "Oh, My Papa")

David Benjamin Springer, Sr.
February 28, 1902 ~ April 1, 1974

My father (known as Ben) was a mild, kind soul who would never harm a flea and never said an unkind word
about anyone. I never heard of a single person who did not like him. Daddy had a quiet, calm demeanor which
surely must have been deceptive at times because he and Mother married in 1927, and they raised three
children in tough times ~ the Depression. He worked very hard in the midst of a great deal of loud noise, and
that was in the days before thought was given to protecting the ears. When Daddy came home from work
each afternoon, Mother made sure that we gave him his "space" and peace and quiet, at least before suppertime.
(He also had his own chair, which we all respected; no one ever sat in Daddy's chair!)

Daddy was born in Graysville, Georgia, (as were all his siblings) barely outside of Chattanooga,
but the family moved into Chattanooga when he was very young.

When he was only 15 years old, he started to work at Converse Bridge and Steel Company in Chattanooga
in the Ridgedale community, and we always lived within walking distance of the plant. His older brother,
George Chester Springer, already was working at Converse. Unheard of in the present day and time,
Daddy worked at Converse until he retired. He was a Master Mechanic and was head of the Machine Shop.

Daddy was a person who could do anything, at least we thought so. Being so good at anything mechanical,
he fixed anything that needed repairing; I can never recall a repair man coming to our house. When they
decided to build on to the house, Daddy did most of the work, including all the electrical work.
My brother David picked up on all this and was also good at fixing anything that was broken.

Daddy was in that rare age group that never had to go to war. Born in 1902, he was too young for
World War I. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, it was less than three months before his 40th birthday.
Not only that, but he had a wife and 3 children to support and, perhaps more importantly, his plant
immediately began war-time production, and he was in a critical position. Converse made the huge wheels
(I think they were called) that were used to load and unload the ships that went out during World War II.
Because Daddy designed and made tools and was on call anytime something broke down, I can remember
many times, especially during the War years, when he could not even get home for 2 and 3 days.
At that time, we were only 2 blocks away, and Mother had to take all his meals to him.

Daddy was definitely a homebody and loved his family. He was not comfortable in crowds, 'though he
always worked in one; that was a different matter. He simply preferred to stay at home. (In fact,
I was most surprised and very pleased that he came with Mother to my college graduation.)

My brother David was burned very badly in 1944, at the age of 10, and he was never really well
after that. His illness had a profound impact on the family. This caused Daddy much pain,
but he did not talk very much about his problems, keeping these things to himself.

'Though it may not seem so, Daddy had a dry wit that always delighted us. He seemed to have a talent
for coming up with things that amused us in quite an unexpected way ..... and then he would laugh
the heartiest. His sisters said he always kept them laughing and told me he had always been that way
growing up, even to the point of pulling pranks. That part I have a hard time imagining ! 'Though
they didn't travel very much, he and Mother always went to Indianapolis to see his three sisters
at least once a year. He did love them and all his family so much. (The sisters ~ Jessie, Della and Johnnie ~
all moved to Indy from Chattanooga very early in their married lives.)

Daddy also loved and delighted in his grandsons, Tommy, born in 1951, and Andy, born in 1961.
For reasons that I no longer recall, Tommy began calling Daddy "Daddy Ben," and it stuck. From then on,
almost everyone referred to him as "Daddy Ben."

Daddy was a Mason and a Shriner. Because he was not a person to go out much, I always believed he
only joined the Shriners because of their help to David after he was burned so badly. They sent him
to the Crippled Children's Home in Lexington, Kentucky, several times for work on his right hand, hip
and leg. At that point in time, the hospital took burn victims, 'though there is another hospital for that now.

I think Daddy must have been the world's greatest radio fan. It seemed the radio was always on.
I can still hear him laughing at programs like "Jack Benny," "Amos and Andy," "Fibber McGee and Molly,"
"Fred Allen," "Burns and Allen," "Lum Edwards and the Jot 'Em Down Store" ~ well, if you're old enough,
you get the idea. David may have been too young, but I can still remember my sister Pat and I lying very still
in bed at night, and, if we were very quiet, we could hear Daddy's radio programs. Of course, there were
other, more serious, things. We always heard all the news programs; especially, I remember the War
years and Walter Winchell's reports. Naturally, we had the radio on that fateful Sunday after church,
December 7, 1941; during lunch the news broke about Pearl Harbor. My uncle happened to be
lunching with us, and he got right up from the table to report. He was in the National Guard,
and they were immediately called up.

His enjoyment of the radio eventually took him into the area of ham radio ~ his was for receiving only.
He would sit and listen to those foreign broadcasts for a long time. I still remember hearing "Columbia,
the Gem of the Ocean," which told him that the country of Columbia was coming on the air. He eventually
came to find great enjoyment also from television. Chattanooga came on the air with
its first TV station in 1952.

Daddy was an intensely organized person and somewhat of a perfectionist. This spilled over from his ability
to fix most anything to other areas: he kept a lot of detailed notes, files and lists, most of which I did not
see until after his death. When he worked at something, he worked fast; he walked fast. Mother, of course,
did the grocery shopping, but she took Daddy's list with her when she went.

In later years, after Daddy retired, I loved having him come for an occasional visit with us at our home
in Lebanon. I so much enjoyed having him here and waiting on him hand and foot !! Normally, since Mother
had not retired, she would bring him up one weekend and then come back the next weekend and take
him home. He enjoyed his leisure years ~ free from the day to day grind. He and Mother had been married
for 47 years when he died. He had talked about how he so much wished he could have made it to 50 years!

God was good to us to give us the person we called "Daddy."

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