Thank you, Lord, for Gene O

January 2010

As I look back when I was a kid and growing up, I am thankful for the environment of my family in the way I was able to grow up, the things I was able to learn that gave me the foundation and outlook of my life to come. My stepdad has some very unique qualities and taught me some very valuable things that are cornerstones of my life today. In our home, all of our family members worked together as my stepdad found various ways of making a living. He worked as a wrangler in the motion-picture business, traded horses and cattle, shod horses, ran a jackpot ropin' and was very resourceful in making money any way he could. We had a milk cow, butchered a beef and raised chickens and did whatever it took to put food on the table. Us kids did the chores around the place of feeding steers and horses, chickens, a milk cow, goats, cleaning corrals and then doing yard work for my mom when she could grab us by the ear. We hated doing yard work because we lived in an olive grove; and if you don't keep it cleaned up, ripe olives get pretty nasty but make great weapons in kid fights.

My stepdad, Gene O, had a thousand sayings or one-liners that were intertwined with wisdom, humor and life lessons. Though he was a stern disciplinarian, we were also rewarded with freedom and fun along the way. Gene O was a great provider and teacher of life; and for that, I am truly grateful that God gave me Gene O as a role model of a father.

I remember Gene O and his friends sitting around visiting, talking about old cowboy ranching stories, politics, religion and what was going on in the world. He always had an opinion of the state of our country and economy and where we were headed as a nation with each of our President's Administrations. Even back then when I was a kid, I understood from listening to grown men talk that our nation was headed away from our conservative values and moral standards.

When I was a young man, I was proud when Ronald Reagan was elected. He brought our country back to a sense of pride, military superiority and free-enterprise values that made our nation thrive. I think that integrity, moral values and being proud of our American heritage are what we need in our leaders in the future. One Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all!

God bless you,

Clay O'Brien Cooper