Editor’s Note: In honor of Father’s Day, we reprise a story we first brought you in 2019. We opened up the phone lines for California Report Magazine listeners to call in and share stories about the sounds that remind them of their fathers and grandfathers. Here, we explore their messages and listen to some of those sounds: foghorns, Giants baseball on TV, an impact wrench, and even Kai Ryssdal’s voice. These touching memories are certain to get you thinking about the sounds that remind you of your father.
Original story from June 14, 2019:
“I used to drive around Cleveland, Ohio with my dad during the summertime with AM radio on, always listening to the baseball game — windows down, windy and warm. Every time I have AM radio on and there’s a baseball game on, I think about my dad.”
– Michelle Deely
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“Growing up in San Rafael, my family lived less than a mile from the Bay. I remember feeling very frightened by the eery moaning noise of the fog horns out in the darkness when I was falling asleep at night. One evening, as my dad was getting me ready for bed—I was probably about three or four—the fog horns started, and I remember feeling just stricken with fear. And my dad went and got some paper and a pencil, and he sketched out this cute little drawing of a fog horn. He made it look so tiny and innocent on paper, and he completely diffused the situation. That was almost 40 years ago, and still every time I hear a fog horn I think of my dad and I remember how gentle and caring he was.”
– Kristine Kenefick