Danny

Dan was a beautiful infant who looked like a Gerbers advertisement for baby food. He walked and talked at an earlier age than most babes. His grandfather held him in his lap and read picture stories with him. His sister Julie, three years older, played the teacher and helped teach Danny to read and write his name. She played arithmetic games with him. His brother, two years older, acted like Danny’s boss. Barry is gifted mentally and physically, and he likes to be the leader. All the Barbara Browne children were supervised and not allowed to play outside the large back yard. We had a German shepherd dog to play with and and he protected the children. Danny was allowed to climb trees. I had a special sidewalk built in the back yard for tricycles, wagons, skates, etc.

By age four Danny was interested in wearing cowboy clothes and practiced the fast draw with his toy pistol. As his father I did not permit him to shoot directly at people. He did not need punishment often, but I whipped him with my belt on occasions when I felt it would help him remember to behave. He was shy. He was less shy after attending Sunday school and nursery school at age four. Like many fathers, I taught my children to obey me and to believe me. I did not ask them what to eat. If Danny did not like a food I put on his plate he was allowed to go without it. I often forced him to take one bite of food he had refused. There was always enough variety on his plate so he didn’t suffer. When I said no, I meant it, and Danny never learned to argue with me. Later, all my children learned to argue with me and are now skilled in debate.

I taught Dan to be athletic by teaching him to run, roll, fall, catch and throw a ball, ride a tricycle and a bike by the age of six. I helped teach him to read, write, add and subtract. He learned the basics in these things before he started school. My hobby was skin diving, and I went diving several afternoons every week. It helped put food on our table. I took turns taking one or two of our four children with me. I always carried my equipment and the youngest child on my shoulders as I ran over the uneven granite rocks that make the Newport jetty. If I had slipped or miscalculated when jumping from one granite rock to the next, we might have been injured. When Danny grew big enough to climb over the rocks alone, I let him. Danny was allowed to try things without being overprotected. If I perceived him crying without good cause, I waited until he stopped, then picked him up as a reward. He didn’t cry much as a youngster and acts cheerful as an adult.

We bought a beautiful white pony for the kids and moved from the city of Garden Grove to a five acre country home in Vista. Misty was a spunky little horse who enjoyed bucking. She looked around and pretended she would bite. Danny loved her and she learned to trust him. He would crawl under her without being kicked or stepped on. Dan did not enjoy riding our larger horses. At age eight Danny decided to make a home movie. He dressed up like an Indian with bow, arrows, and war paint and went galloping down the hill behind our house. The camera shows a cowboy (our gardener] with a big yellow handlebar mustache take aim with his pistol and fire. Dan falls off the speeding pony and gets knocked out. Little sister Jennifer dressed in a long prairie dress is walking. We see Dan the Indian creeping after the young lady. He grabs her and ties her hands, lifts her onto the pony's back, and leads the girl away. Then we see Danny confront a neighbor boy who is dressed as a cowboy too. They have a fight rolling on the grass and the cowboy gets stabbed by the Indian knife, Dan gets shot by the cowboy and both die at the end.

Barry always knew he would be a physician. Dan was not sure what he wanted to do. I was a little league manager with both my sons on the same team one year. Dan worked hard, was able to play almost as well as Barry ,and Barry was one of the best players. Each of them played second base or catcher. They played second base because they were excellent fielders but too small to throw long distances to first base. The catcher on our team was always the leader. He reminded the pitcher and other players what was going on all the time. He signaled how many outs there were, who or where the runners were, moved the fielders around depending on who was batting, and since the catcher faced his team, he was the cheerleader. I was not a good player myself, so I trusted my sons to make decisions during the games. If I had not been the manager the boys may not have been given as many opportunities to lead the team. Life is not fair. I took advantage but tried to be fair to the other players. We won the championship of our league in Vista, California.

Dan continued to show leadership skills all through grade and high school. He was not built heavy enough for Vista High basketball or football teams. However, he was able to play one on one with the biggest and best basketball players, learned to throw and kick the football, and he was an excellent athlete. He was on the varsity wrestling team and was the champion for his weight at a high school with three thousand students. He was excellent at tennis, golf and pole vaulting. Barbara and I were among the parents who took off from work to watch the kids perform. It was fun watching Dan pole vault. He stood poised with his long pole waiting to begin the run to the cross bar. He waited until he was sure Mom was watching before he ran toward the jump pit. Some kids would have been embarrassed to have their parents watching them, but Dan liked having us watch. He still enjoys having us watch as he plays adult games like slow pitch softball.

During his last two years in high school, Danny organized two barbershop quartets who became popular at school, and each year they won the High School Quartet Contest. Danny sang baritone, the most difficult part [of course]. Once, they sang the national anthem for more than thirty thousand football fans. The song was arranged in four part harmony by the bass singer, Alan Thomas, dressed in a tuxedo. The boy singing lead had his football uniform on and played in the game after the song. Danny and the tenor were wearing band costumes. Dan learned to talk to audiences and to make them laugh and pay attention. He sang in a quartet with me the summer after his graduation and was a leader within the group. I was proud to perform with him. We had fun singing at the local shopping center for free ice cream, cokes, and pizza. We performed at social events like birthday parties and were paid to sing.

During his teen years I helped Dan learn to do some fancy dives in our swimming pool. He learned to do front flips, back flips, and the full gainer. This is a dive that few people learn because you run forward, spring into the air and do a summersault backward and land in the water facing forward. Danny learned to tap-dance and to jitterbug. Danny loves to perform. He was the type who might step up on a dance bandstand and do a back flip onto the dance floor. Then he and his friends looked around to see who was the most beautiful unobtainable woman there. Danny tried to get a dance with her and often succeeded. If he failed his friends patted him on the back for trying.

Dan came home from college at age twenty to visit and to give the pony, Misty, a bath. After Misty was clean, brushed, and looking pretty he led her up the porch steps and knocked on the kitchen door. His mother Barbara opened the door and laughed when Danny insisted Misty wanted to come in.

After UCSD Dan decided to become a salesman. We encouraged him. He studied books and learning tapes, got a job starting at the bottom and worked his way up to salesman with a commission within a year. He put pressure on himself to succeed. He looked and seemed like a boy but was dealing with men. He earned more and more money. His boss liked him and wanted Dan to be like a son who would take over the business. Making money became less important to Dan. He saved money and invested in an expensive new home with a view overlooking Guajome Park in Vista. He rented it to a friend.

Danny always surrounded himself with beautiful girls and he had close boy friends. Some of his former girlfriends are still his friends. His four best male friends are musicians. They have jam sessions together at parties. Dan plays drums or guitar. The friends are married and Dan was the best man at all their weddings. Chris is working on his doctorate in physics. He is brilliant and his father is a retired Marine Colonel. At Chris's wedding it seemed to me that Dan was running everything to make the wedding nice for everyone. I was surprised when the Colonel asked Dan for instructions. Without hesitation Danny ordered the Colonel to make a toast.

There is something special about Danny. I know several mothers and grandmothers who would like to claim Dan as their own boy. He goes to Temple and on a high holy day, he is often chosen by the Rabbi to play the ram's horn. This is an honor and not an easy feat to do well.

Before starting college Danny helped me break and train a high strung Arabian horse. Danny fell in love with the beautiful gilding, so I gave the horse to him. When the horse learned to trust him, Danny rode him backwards, and rode standing on his head on the saddle. Dan sometimes used the horse’s back for a bed resting his head on the horses rump. Dan helped me break several horses. One was a wild mustang stallion captured in the wild and adopted by a man who was not able to handle him. He fed and watered the horse but would not get in the pen for fear of being bitten or kicked. When I climbed through the fence with a rope, I was almost kicked in the head. The next day we roped and put a halter on him and managed to lead the pretty black stallion across the street to my ranch. Using a long rope and whip, we taught the horse to go around us in a circle.

At first Dan leaned his weight on the horses back to get him accustomed to it. Later we put a saddle on him and let him try to buck it off. Then Dan put one foot in the stirrup hopping along as the horse circled dancing and bucking while I held the rope tied to the halter. After a few minutes Dan threw his leg over the saddle and was able to stay on until the horse calmed down. We put on a bridle and Dan was able to ride free without me holding the horse with the rope. When I got on, the wild stallion didn't even buck, but he acted up a lot if we went close to our other horses. He was in the mood to fight them but we had taught him not to fight us.

When Dan was twelve he joined the Boy Scouts. He learned to be a good scout and to follow the rules. After four years of college Danny learned to earn money as a salesman and he earned a Masters degree in business in his spare time. Then he decided to become a physical therapist. Three years later Dan was twenty seven and he graduated from Children's Hospital School of Physical Therapy. After years of self imposed hardship he reached the goal preparing him for his life of service to others. Barbara and I hired him to help us run our businesses. He does a super job treating patients, helping us manage our money, and he participates in management.

Shortly after becoming a physical therapist, Dan searched for and found a lovely girl to marry. Her name is Helene. As I write this, she is expecting her second child. Their son, Alec, is beautiful like his father was. I am proud of Dan and his new family.