"O mine Papa"

The night of Jane's Wedding Reception

50th Wedding Anniverary

"Sweethearts Forever"

My ASU Graduation May 1991

Close to the end of his life.

Here is a small tribute to a special man, father, dad, friend.....

It is June 6th, 2009 and it is 95 years since the birth of my father Friedrich Wilhelm Haase.
Again I want to acknowledge a great man in my life. He will always be admired and loved by me. Although he is not here in person I want him to know that I love him and I will always remember the things he taught me in my youth and how he stood by me in my life as an adult in the good times and the sad times of my life. My dad was always a spiritual giant to me and he was always devoted to the Lord and his family. I remember my home was a place to come to to get away from the turmoil of the world and there was peace and love abiding in my home. He always supported my efforts in my schooling, in sports, in my music and especially my spiritual development. He made sure that I got a Patriarchal blessing at the age of twelve so that I could always know of the love of my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ throughout my whole life and know of the things that I was and would be blessed with and what I was privileged to do throughout my life.
I loved the way my dad loved my mom and how he called her "Frauchen," which showed how much he loved her. (He explained to me once that putting the "en" after the "Frau" which means wife or Mrs. that it meant that he loved her very much and that it made the word or name endearing to him.) He helped around the house and loved to have a garden. He took pride in his citrus trees and the yard was always kept up. He sacrificed many things to provide for our family, yet to me as a child I never knew we were financially poor, because it was never a sore topic.
As my father aged I saw him struggle not being able to be on top of things around the house but his abiding love for mom was always there and he struggled to try to keep a happy disposition in the home.
I loved to watch my dad get ready to go the temple. He actually worked there for many years at the end of his working days. At one point he was over the temple laundry and had many friends there and was very creative in running a smooth ship. He also worked in other areas with the Temple presidency but one incident that he always loved to tell was painting the floor around the baptismal font in the temple under the feet of the oxen and how he almost painted himself into a corner. I don't know if he was just joking but during the re dedication of the Mesa Temple he made sure that we knew he painted that floor and had to look at his wonderful job. Many times after that time when I attend a baptism sessions I catch myself look down there on that shiny floor and can remember his sweet smile telling in pride this story.
I Love you Dad and remember calling you Papa more than Dad.
Well, that is all for today.....
Friedrich Wilhelm Haase (June 6, 1914-January 3, 1996)