Hard to believe it's been a year.  You are still with us in every thing we do. Love you daddy

My Dad...
  My Dad never stopped smiling.  He was so, so very strong and so, so very loving. He smiled and winked at us right to the very end...  I will never stop loving you Dad and so very glad that my girls have so many great memories of their Grampa, who was always there for every special occasion and event in their lives.

My Dad
My Father was more than a Father.. he was a Dad. 
My Dad was never angry.   He never showed he was frightened by anything.  He was the bravest Man I have known.
My Dad smiled so often you would have thought his face would have been etched with smile lines.  
My Dad loved to laugh and did it often.  It was music to my ears right up to the day it all stopped.    
My Dad was never too busy for his kids and their kids, even when we had grown up.  H
My Dad had the patience of a Saint.  He taught me how to shoot and hunt, how to dig for worms, how to fish, how to gut and skin a fish, how to swim, how to ride a bike, how to drive, how to skate, how to rewire a junk car I bought, how to change a tire and oil, how to play baseball, how to climb a tree, how to walk on stilts he made, how to make a whistle out of a basswood tree, how to pound a nail and hand saw a board, how to laugh whenever I want, how to love animals, how to love playing, how to love life and how to be patient (I needed to pay more attention to this one).  But, most of all, he taught me how to love all children, not just my own.    Many of these skills he taught me, he also taught my sons.   One granddaughter still has the 2 pairs of stilts he made her, one tiny and one larger, for when she grew.  
I've only seen my Dad cry when he lost members of his beloved family.   And the most heartbreaking was when he had to admit that he could no longer take care of his wife at home, the love of his life, and asked me to make arrangements for her care.   He had previously had a lung cancer removal operation and had just barely healed enough to try to care for her but her stroke left her with too many complications.  
My Dad would laugh, never believing me, when I told him what a Hero he was to me that he drove daily to visit my Mom for so very many years.  We should all have a spouse that is so devoted.   She was his soul mate through the good and the bad.  
My Dad never got mad at me, but would just slowly shake his head, and tell me I would have to do better.   I remember his reaction shaved my legs in 5th grade.  When I got home from school, after being teased about the long leg hair over my knee highs, I got his single blade shaver and removed that nasty hair, along with several layers of skin off my shins and ankles.  He arrived home from work, took one look at my legs with pieces of toilet tissue stuck by blood to the razer –scraped mistakes, and just said, “You know you'll have to shave every day now” in a very calm voice.  I was so relieved because I didn't want to ever disappoint my Dad, and I wanted to shave everyday so I wouldn't be teased. 
When I was little, I got up early every morning just so I could sit in his lap to eat breakfast with him.  Every morning, he would soak an extra shredded wheat just for me.  I only missed one morning sitting in his lap when I was young and I was so heartbroken, my Mom made sure I never overslept again.  My two sons both sat in his lap to eat when they were small.  There was just something about his lap. 
My Dad could make any baby stop crying and laugh by talking and laughing with them.  How he loved to hold them, so gentle with his rugged hands and strong arms.  I'm not sure who loved who more but suspect it was just mutual.   
I couldn't wait for him to arrive home from work.  We were poor but somehow, out of the measly allowance he had, he would manage to buy me a small present each week.  I would reach into his red and black checked hunting jacket, and there it would be.  The best presents were when he bought one of those long curly balloons.  I recall putting on his jacket, matching hat and rubber boots.  The jacket almost touched the floor and the boots were so big and heavy I could hardly move my feet forward.
We would have big family meets to go skating.  He and my Uncle Sonny would pull a long line of kids then whip us.  Nobody does that anymore.  I was small and not a very good skater so my Dad would hang onto my hands and skate backwards pulling me so fast, it was exhilarating!   Then he would put his hands under my arms and start skating forward.  Those skate meets are some of the best memories I have, with cooking marshmallows and hotdogs on a skinny branch over the large fire someone lit after all us kids skated to the edges to gather what woods we could to put on the burning tire. 
My Dad helped us build our very first house, laying, leveling, cementing, leveling, oh yes, did I mention leveling, the cement brick foundation.  Then instruction the construction of all the wood for and the walls, ceilings, rafters, roof, teaching us how to plumb, how to wire, how not to get electrocuted.  
After getting all new tires on my new used roofless 2-seater sports car, I drove home in the rain, smoke pouring out the backside of the car from an electrical fire.    My Dad took me down to the dump, showed me how to strip out the wire from the tail light to the wiring harness from some abandoned junks, later instructing me how to install it in my car.  He was a lot more patient than me.  
Some of our favorite family times were when my Dad took us fishing.  We went to a lot of brooks called “You Catch ‘Em Brook” and my Dad showed us where the trout hid.  He was right.   We went fishing at the Pond at night for horned pout.  I had this big honker weight he put on my line.  When I tossed that thing out, it created a heck of a splash with a noise that matched.  He knew what he was doing because it would wake them up and they would bite my line.  He never made me take one of those scary horned pout off my hook.  He was so brave!
There are so many happy memories that I have, these are just a few of the earliest.  I only have good memories.  
My Dad would make us go with Mom to church.  He said he didn't need to, that he was all set with God.  I believe he is with God now as there is nowhere else that he could possibly go.

I remember Mr. and Mrs. Ladd when I worked at Pleasant View. They were such a very loving couple. Now they are together again for eternity. My Deepest Sympathy to their family.

With my deepest heartfelt sympathy to all family and friends at this time, though we may be miles apart please rest assure I will always keep Uncle Buddy close to my heart.  rest in peace Uncle Buddy, I know that big beautiful smile of yours  is shining down on everyone and that you will rest easy now that you are with Aunt Jean... Love always, Jayne

We are thinking of you with heartfelt sympathy even though we may be miles away. That beautiful smile and the love he shared for all of his friends and family will not be forgotten. Rest in Peace Uncle Bud, I am sure your smile is bigger than life itself now that you are with Aunt Jean. Love, Jayne

Dear Ladd Family,
This may be a duplicate entry. My first try seems to have gone into the ether. 

My husband and I walk our dogs every morning in the woods near the Contoocook-Henniker line. We used to meet Mr. Ladd most mornings as he set off to hunt. We'd pass the time of day, enjoying our little visits. Year after year he showed up to sit daily in his blind, first in bow season, then rifle season. He'd tell us when Henry got his deer.

We never told him, but we'd see the fresh tracks in the mud or snow where the deer veered from their usual path to avoid his blind. We figured we'd leave that between him and the deer. 

We've missed seeing him the past couple of years and are thinking of you all today. He was a nice man.

OBITUARY

Robert W. Ladd Sr.

October 11, 1926 – October 7, 2013

Bennett Funeral Home

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