From the Team: What We Learned from Dad
As we look ahead to Father’s Day, the Story Warren team wanted to pause for a minute to appreciate dads. Here are a few snippets of things we learned from ours.
Josiah Smith: One of the things I admired most about my dad was that he never hesitated to do what needed to be done, no matter how small or unglamorous the task. He had a strong sense of responsibility and developed the habit to act rather than simply talk about what was right. Whether he was leading, helping, or serving behind the scenes, no job was ever beneath him.
S. D. Smith: My dad taught me to live with conviction and extend with generosity. That is, he had a firm foundation of belief, but was open to trying to understand where someone else was coming from. He would often try to articulate the perspective an opponent had and have a gracious disposition toward them. He loved grace and truth, and that’s one of the many ways I have hoped and aimed to imitate him in my life.
Natalie Morell: My step-dad taught me how to use four-wheel drive in the snowy Midwest winters and would always say, “It’s just for goin’, not for stoppin’.”
Coralie Terry: My grandfather taught me to mean what I say and say what I mean, that my actions should line up with my words. My word is my bond.
Jaclyn Rader: Generosity. I don’t remember him ever explicitly encouraging me in this, but he was one of the most generous people I’ve ever met. It was almost impossible to not imitate when I saw it modeled so well for so long.
Kelly Keller: My dad had a wicked sense of humor, and he didn’t miss a chance to recognize the absurdity of life at times. He was always careful to poke fun at himself first, which modeled humility for us. He is also the reason why I cannot talk without waving my arms around.
Zach Franzen: My Dad taught me to work hard. He went to school while working midnights, fixed our broken cars on the weekends, and made it to my baseball games. What an example!
Andrew Mackay: My dad taught me that it’s okay for a grown man to be silly. My dad was deaf from a very young age, and sometimes that presented challenges in being understood. But it didn’t keep him from singing around the house as he moved from chore to chore, or from engaging in a bit of light hazing with new friends who weren’t sure exactly how to engage this goofy deaf man. He used his sense of humor to help set people at ease, a generous and kind act from a generous and kind man.
When she’s not behind her laptop, Kelly enjoys live music, baseball, reading great books, and traveling with her husband, David. Kelly hails from beautiful snowy New England, but after two decades in North Carolina, she feels right at home.
She invites you to subscribe to her newsletter, On the Common, or to follow her on Instagram.
- Story Warren Weekend, Vol. 14, Issue 25 - July 11, 2026
- Pearls Before Breakfast - July 6, 2026
- The Stories We Hear - July 6, 2026
We love American Revolution books! We are kneed deep in all our favorites in anticipation of the 4th. Does anyone else have a boy who wanted a Sam The Minuteman birthday when he was 4? We would love to learn more about Thomas Paine.