We have had some wonderful entries to our contest which ends this weekend. We have posted the photos on our Facebook page and Pinterest Father’s Day Board but we haven’t been able to post some of the stories in full. Read our heartfelt entries of courgeous, brave, and wonderful fathers.
My husband has got to be the greatest Father in the world. We never thought he would become a Father …The Lord thought otherwise!! He had testicular Cancer a few months after we were married in the year 2000. When the doctor cleared him to start trying to have a child we were ecstatic when it only took us a few weeks and we were PREGNANT!! God is good and he has now been a great father to our son Cody for 10 years now!! He goes above and beyond in everything he does for his family and I could not thank him enough for everything he does!!!
I have attached our favorite family photo taken at Myrtle Beach at a conservation for animals. He donated to the conservation and we came home with the best picture ever!!! He wanted to take her home with us (the monkey!) but I told him I did not think so…isn’t he a great daddy??LOL.
He loves some SCNB and at least once a week asked me to stop on my way home from work so we can enjoy our family time without the cooking/cleaning after a long day at work!! It would mean so much to my son and I if we could win the contest for Russel Alan Clayton!!!
Thanks for taking the time to read the shortened version of why he is such a good daddy! I guess when you think you are not going to be able to have kids your view of being a father changes!!! LOVE HIM!
My dad is the total package because he has the two qualities that matter most: heart & humor. Truly, what more do you really need? He loves well & laughs often, as they say. From him, my brother & I inherited warped senses of humor that have served us well. When anything bad comes, we deal with it through humor. Other “normal” people may not get it, but it is what gets us through. My dad had been asking us when we were going to visit him. Busy lives had kept us from making the trip up to see him. Then he was diagnosed with cancer. Of course, we hurried home. When I walked in the door, the first thing he says was, “Look at the lengths I have to go to to get you to come home!” When he posted a heartfelt thank you post on Facebook for all of the support he had gotten, he had everyone laughing & crying at the same time. “When the doctor told me I had cancer, he proceeded to check my blood pressure. NASA didn’t have a system for measuring it at that point!” My dad has a big heart, loves everyone around him, and sees the funny even when no one else does. That’s the whole package!
My husband is the total package because he spends any free time he has playing with our daughter who adores him.
Tweeting for my 2 yr old. He says he has the best dad ever!
You know my husband as Mr. Collier, or Mr. C as his Henderson crew likes to call him. But to one little girl he is so much more. He is her comfort when she is sad, he is her protector when she scared and he is her favorite toy when she is happy. I am not trying to enter your contest, but I felt moved in my heart to tell you what kind of father Jeff is.
When I got pregnant in October 2010 no one was more excited than Jeff. Matter of fact, I was worried about it because we hadn’t planned the pregnancy. We had only been married 9 months. But Jeff’s smile couldn’t be contained. He knew from the beginning he wanted a little girl. Shortly after discovering that I was pregnant, I had a complication arise that required Jeff to rush me to the emergency room. We were told by the doctor’s in the ER that I was probably going to miscarry the baby. We were referred to my OB/GYN the following day. That started 3 weeks of torture for Jeff and I. I went in every 2 days to have my blood drawn for 2 of those weeks. The doctor’s told us that we weren’t going to keep the baby. They were so confident that they asked us to schedule a D&C which would have ended the baby’s life before it even began. Jeff wouldn’t hear of it. He knew his baby was going to be fine. He wouldn’t let anyone say differently around him. It was at that moment that I got a glimpse of the father he would be. On November 23, 2010, we went in for an 8 week ultrasound and the baby’s little heart was beating and the doctor said she was completely fine. Right on track and healthy. It is amazing what God’s grace and a daddy’s perseverance can accomplish. Jeff willed that baby to make it.
I had a very difficult pregnancy with every complication you can think of. Jeff was at every appointment, heard every heartbeat and listened to every last detail of the process. I was sick for all 9 months and Jeff, bless his heart, held my hair away from my face for most of it. On June 21, 2011 I went into labor a month early at 2:45am. Jeff was by my side for 18 hours of labor. I got very sick. I had high fever and my body shook beyond my control. I can remember my sweet husband trying to hold my body still and not being able to. At 9:10pm that night I delivered Rosalie Belle Collier via c-section. I will always remember the look on his face when he brought her to me. All 5lbs and 9ozs of her. He was elated. He didn’t know that I was bleeding to death and that Rosalie was very sick. As he was holding her up so I could see her while I was still on the OR table, the nurse tapped his shoulder and said “we have to go, dad.” Jeff didn’t know that she had an infection, her body temp wasn’t high enough and her glucose levels were dangerously low. That’s the reason she didn’t cry when she was born. She just didn’t have the energy. Jeff followed her to the nursery with the expectation of seeing me in an hour. After they got to the nursery he was told about Rosalie’s condition. He made my sister promise not to take her eyes off the baby while he went to tell our families she had been born. That’s the kind of dad Jeff is. He isn’t loud or showy; but constant, dependable, and protective. Seven hours later he was brought to the recovery room. He was told I was being moved to the ICU and I needed a blood transfusion. It took my doctor an hour to stop the bleeding and sew me back up. For six hours I wasn’t stable and Jeff wasn’t told about my condition. Jeff slept in a chair beside my bed in the ICU still wearing the same clothes he had on the day before. Rosalie had been moved the NICU at that point. And Jeff’s first job as a new daddy was to run between the NICU and ICU to check on us both. And as Jeff does, he handled it. He went to the NICU to change her diapers. He had to reach inside the incubator to do it. Later he went back to feed her. He was super dad from the start. So at ease, so in control. By taking such good care of her, he allowed me to recover.
Being premature has sculpted Rosalie’s life in a difficult way. Her first year has been rife with sickness. Her daddy has walked the floors with her or sat up on the couch with her while she slept all night long and then gone into work for you guys. And every moment not spent working for you, he spends with Rosalie or worrying about Rosalie. So on this, his very first father’s day. I want you to know what an amazing man he is. You know his talents as a manager, but I wanted you to understand his capacity as a father. Like the former, it knows no limits.
Our dad Fred is the BEST! He works hard and takes care of us, especially me, my name is Nick I am 19 and my brother Alex is 13. I am a cancer survivor so my dad really had to step up and work while making sure me and the family was taken care of. He did an awesome job and still works hard helping me run my nonprofit foundation to help other families that struggle so hard with life threatening illnesses and long hospital stays. He works on cars and also is restoring an old car so I know he would love the day of racing! The massage, golf, Mudcats game and especially the dinner from Smithfields Chicken and BBQ!! He loves the BBQ and Banana pudding! We think our dad rocks and he IS the total package!
My dad worked multiple jobs and did all he could to make sure we had all we needed. He was an amazing man. He is missed
My stepdad & son when he was 18 months old! He’s 6 now & grandpas little buddy & can’t wait to be in NC in 2 weeks so he & gpa can play!
He supports my daughter & I in things we like to do (ie pageants, dance recitals, etc) as well as helping my daughter raise and show goats this year through 4-H. I could not ask for a better father for my child. Not bad as a husband either.
My Dad is the TOTAL PACKAGE!!! I am 12 years old, all my life I had wanted a horse. I asked my Dad if I saved and raised my money could I get one. He said “if you save enough money to get a horse I will build a fence and barn.” Well I saved $250 and my mom helped me buy a horse. So my Dad gave up all his garden area and worked for several days to put up a fence so I could bring my horse home. He wanted her home as soon as possible because he said she was under weight and not being taken care of. For the past 4 weeks he has worked on building her a barn, every spare minute he was he is working on it. He has taught me so much but mostly if you want something and you work hard for it you can get it. I love my Dad and would love for him to win this contest so I could give something back to him.
I’m writing about my boyfriend Doug Suddreth. When it comes to dad he is the total package. He has raised his 2 kids,(Jordan 15 boy and Morgan 17 girl) alone for 6 years.
He has supported his kids by himself long before they were teenagers. He coached little league, carpooled trips to the movies and bowling alley, trips fishing and camping. You should see him with a car full of giggling little pre-teens talking about the cute guys at the school dance.
He has done it all without any support from the other parent. He has worked 2 sometimes 3 jobs to pay for braces, dance lessons, Christmas etc. While his kids had the clothes and other things they needed he was finding yet another way to use duct tape to hold his workboots together..
Any lesser man would have hit the road, but he has been the one consistent thing those kids have had most of their life. If you can image how some men would have clammed up when it came to dealing with a teenage girl and their “issues” he was right there, not missing a beat. Including dress shopping and giving his option on how something looks.
For all of these reasons and more Doug Suddreth deserves to be recognized for the Ultimate Dad that he is. Doug has and will continue to support his kids. He loves his children unconditionally and do anything in his power to provide for them. Whether he wins the contest or not, Doug will always be the Ultimate Dad in my book.
Although there are many reasons my daddy (or as my sisters and I say it, “Diddy”) is the most amazing dad ever, one of the reasons that stands out is that for more than seven years, he has worn a pink breast cancer awareness bracelet in my honor. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2005, he put that bracelet on and not once has he taken it off. He is in the construction business and doesn’t mind telling the guys who tease him about it exactly why he wears it and for whom (me, his baby girl) he wears it. Takes a special man to do that and trust me, my dad is as special as they come! The attached picture is of my mom and dad; they will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary later this year. WOW!
Why I think he’s the total package ?
He has shown so much strength , courage , and determination since his son, my AWESOME LITTLE BROTHER was diagnosed with MD six years ago. He makes me very proud to call him my dad, a real total package
I would like to tell you about the Greatest Father that I have ever known. His name is Johnny McCalom and he is an Iraq marine corps. war vet. He has served several deployments to Desert Storm and many other war zones. On his last deployment, he was met with an explosive that threw him out of a second story window. He is now a 100% disabled vet that suffers from severe PTSD, back and knee injuries and severe chronic pain. He was medically retired from the Corps. in 2007. What makes him so very special is that even though he was already dealing with catastrophic issues in his life, on October 16,2010 he chose to take on our family which consisted of then my two younger sons aged 4 and 7 , myself and my 18 year old son. He had taken a family that was in desperate need of a father figure and put aside his own needs and pain. Since that day, he has taken all three boys as his own and taught them how to make candles, garden, raise animals, play various games, many valuable life lesson and most importantly the importance of family and respect. Not a day goes by that he is not in severe pain, but he is always smiling and cracking jokes to put smiles on others. He always puts his needs to the wayside to make sure that we attend all of the boy’s functions, and needs. He is everything that a man should be that so many today are not, gentle, kind-hearted, sensitive, strong, brave, loyal real and honest to a fault. Our youngest has turned into what we refer to as mini Johnny and they are inseparable from each other. Our middle son suffers from a mental disability that they are treating as a brain injury. Johnny also suffers from a brain injury and can relate to him in a way that is only what you would see in movies. He can understand and explain things to him and I that use to baffle me. I truly believe that Johnny was sent to us as a miracle and a Hero angel to look after us. He is not only amazing to us, by letting us move into his home to make it our home, but also volunteers at NC Onlsow Outreach for the past two years as Santa Clause at Christmas time. Last year he was feeling so bad that we suggested that we find another option but his response was that he did not want to let the children down. He never misses an opportunity to help others by either chatting with them, feeding those that our hungry with our food, helping others by giving those that do not have clothing by giving them clothes or any way that he can. I am entering him into this concert to try and give him back a little of the joy that he has shared with every one he meets. He is not only our hero but a pure inspiration to everyone around him. He has a die hard spirit that will not give up despite his medical condition and pushes himself to be the best father he can to these boys. This is the most selfless and bravest man that I know. Thank you for letting me tell you about our Dad, and my love of my life, Johnny McCalom.
Smithfield’s Chicken ‘N Bar-B-Q has entered into the Social Madness contest, presented by Capital One Spark Business. It is a competition that measures the growth of a company’s social media presence as it competes in a tournament-type challenge.
#BBQ4Mom is Dena McDonald
