PAPAOF3: Dad's Retirement Party

So after 30 years as the elected Treasurer-Tax Collector of Yuba County, Calif (total of 42 years service in local county governments across Northern California) my old man finally decide to hang it up and retire! A long and distinguished career of public service at the local level, including dealing with effects of California's Prop 13 in the early 80s, and the near meltdown of the local gov't financial markets in the wake of the Orange County fiasco. He was President of the California Association of Treasurer-Tax Collectors, voted as the Outstanding County Treasurer of the United States in 1996, and the list of local accolades is far too long to list (moving all of the plaques out of the office made my back sore).

But my old man can be a stubborn S.O.B. at times, and for years threatened he would not show to any retirement ceremony if one was put together. "I don't want any f***ing speeches, any plaques, any damned proclamations, or other B.S. I'll skip the whole damn thing!" But the man deserves to have something after 42 years of service, right. So his wife and good friends finally cajoled him into an "open house" event at the local Peachtree Country Club. Accordingly, this invitation went out, a parody on the property tax bill that has come from local county courthouse under his name for the past three decades.

And the old man had no idea I was coming. So after some collusion with his best friend (Dave Brown, Yuba County Assessor) and former assistant (now succeeding him in the job), I flew out to Sacramento on Friday morning, and managed to catch him and Dave at the China Moon in Marysville. Completely surprised, he was weeping in chow mein when I plopped down next to him in the restaurant. After holding an initial coordination for my 20-year high school reunion that evening, I crashed down after 22 hours on the move!

But a great party on Saturday afternoon: no speeches, no plagues, no proclamations, just 250+ dropping by a nice location to shake hands, chat a while, eat some food and drink some booze. Even our local Congressman, Wally Herger (the guy who nominated me for USMA 20 years ago), came by for about 90min to 'be among the people'. A great afternoon for my Dad. Many photos were taken, these are among my favorites: my Dad is in the blue-checked shirt, the gentleman in the tie/blazer is the Honorable Wally Herger of Calif's 2d Congressional District, and the woman is my Dad's wife, Wendy.