As a young boy, my Dad broke a grocery store window, scattered hay on the floor of the neighbors barn and stole a crescent wrench. Years later, my Dad was known far and wide as a man of great integrity. How did this happen?
In my Dad's history he recorded the three instances: "The owner informed that the cost of the plate glass window in the Depression was about ten dollars. Prior to this time I had never even had fifty cents to my name. I could hardly hold my head up from crying as my father asked me to come and give him the details concerning this unfortunate event and accident. At the end, he said, 'Tom, we must do the right thing' and he located ten dollars for me to take to this store owner the next morning. ...you will never know how hard it was to take my father's last ten dollars at the bottom of the Depression to pay for a plate glass window that had been caused by my unfortunate negligence and caper."
After my Dad and his cousins pushed the towers of hay over, he says, "My father then instructed that I must ask Bishop Beardahl for forgiveness and promise never to do it again. Again the lessons of life, especially responsibility were beginning at an early age and were developing in my mind."
When the wrench was discovered, “[My dad] instructed me that I must go back and knock on the door, return the wrench and ask for her forgiveness for my stealing of the wrench... This was a terrifying experience to go this 70 or 80 year old stern, eccentric lady, admit that I had done wrong, stole her wrench, and ask for her forgiveness. I can remember riding my bike up and down Wilson Avenue..at least five or six times...." Then he wrote: "Oh, how thankful I am for my father's principles and teachings..."
