14 July 2012
Today is my dad's birthday.  He was born in 1905 and he would be 107 years old today.  Dad died in 1983 at the age of 78 years and 4 months.  He has been gone for 29 years and I still miss him.
Julian H. Carnes, Sr. was born on this date in Oneonta, Alabama, a small farm community north of Birmingham.  His grandfather, Green Berry Carnes, served in the Civil War and was a 1st Sergeant in an Alabama infantry regiment.  Dad was the third of 4 boys born to John Green Carnes and Donnie (Trammel) Carnes.  The oldest son, Dewey, was killed in a steel mill accident in 1915 (he was 17 years old).  The second son, Porter, died of a ruptured appendix in 1927 (he was 27 years old).  Julian and John moved, with their parents, to Florida in the great boom of the late 1920's.  They settled in the small town of Ojus, about 25 miles north of Miami where Papa Carnes tried to ply his trade as a carpenter.  Unfortunately, the boom was followed by the Great Depression and Papa was unsuccessful.  I remember him as a nursery man, raising plants and flowers for sale.  They lived in a small three room shack with no indoor plumbing or electricity.  Mama Carnes cooked with kerosene and they had a "2-holer" privy out back.  Dad had tried his hand at the steel industry prior to moving to Florida. He had traveled the "hillbilly highway" north to Pittsburgh where he found work in one of the steel mills.  He didn't stay long as he was overcome with homesickness.  When they got to Florida, dad worked in a number of jobs until he was able to get a position with the US Post Office.  He worked for the USPO for over 42 years before retiring as the Superintendent of Mails in Miami.  After he retired, he became a toll collector in the Florida Turnpike Authority and soon became a supervisor.  He worked there another 10 years retiring finally to a well-earned rest.  In the 1970's, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.  He underwent all the then-current surgeries and treatment until he finally succombed in November 1983.

Dad was a very serious, no-nonsense man. He didn't laugh much and I never remember him telling a joke or kidding around. While I know he loved me, I don't ever remember him saying it to me.  But he supported me in everything I did or tried to do.  His mantra was work and I don't know of any time he just kicked back and loafed.  He was firm but fair and he was, to me, the most important and influential male figure in my life.  He is gone and I still miss him.