Sunday, March 12, 2017
Personal Stories about Robert Cecil from Bret Cecil
I. Metric 500
During my time at Herndon Intermediate (middle) school in seventh grade, there was a one semester elective we could take called shop. The students had to design and build a car using wood and equipment provided by the school. We had the option to work on our designs at home assuming we had the right equipment. We had two competitions, one to evaluate the best design and other to race the vehicles. These two competitions would be come to known as “Metric 500”
My father was very good in the craft of woodworking. He had amassed a lot of knowledge by reading different publications and working on his own projects. I ran into an issue with my design where the car was lopsided due to improper sanding techniques. As it turns out, I had to scrap the design and start over. He took the time to show me proper techniques on cutting, using the band saw and sanding using an automated belt sander. He provided suggestions to improve the overall aesthetics by painting (used to paint models) and using water based decals.
As it turns out, with his help, placed second in both competitions (race and design). Even though we didn’t win 1st in any one competition, I was still very happy with the result and more important, got to spend some time with my father and learn important facts about wood working.
II. First Research project
My first research project during 4th grade at Herndon Elementary school was in the sciences. Some of the students chose different planets in the solar system, I choose Mars. At the time in the mid 1970’s, there was not a lot of information about this planet and was more difficult to find. It made the project more challenging than some of the other submissions.
My father spent a lot of time in libraries for the various reading interests he had. He showed me the intricacies of research (e.g. card catalog, microfilm searches for newspaper and magazine articles, encyclopedias, etc..) to get the required information. He spent time with me putting structure around the project like putting key topics together and writing a concise summary for these topics.
Being a 4th grade student he was very patient with me and made sure the final presentation was done correctly. He taught me the value of using a library and the current technology to retrieve information on a subject. He stressed good writing skills to communicate ideas effectively while using as few words as possible. These were good lessons and help set a good foundation for working on more complicated projects in the higher grades.
III. World’s Greatest Dad
I have many fond experiences with my father and feel, in my opinion, is the world’s greatest Dad. If I had a problem his door was always open. He was nurturing in my early years, in elementary school, checking my homework and pointing out any mistakes I had made so I could learn from them.
When a job was lost during turbulent economic times, he made sure he provided for us by accepting temporary work until a permanent job was found. This took us from our home in Pennsylvania to our new home in Virginia.
As a growing child, he supported us on weekends by cheering myself and Bart in soccer matches with the Herndon Optimist league. These days were very happy times for the Cecil family. In my early teenage years, he would take an interest in the TV programs we liked and would share these experiences.
He would offer his cultural experiences in music and shared this with the entire family. Our home would be filled with sounds from classical and jazz music which helped enrich my personal life. Due to his strong work ethic, he financed our education to the point where we didn’t have to work to support ourselves. From his point of view, it was more important to focus on studies than worry about finances.
During his later years, he embraced the technological revolution with PC’s and internet. He loved going to the Apple store on the weekends after a movie with my mother looking at getting a new IPOD or IPAD. I spent time with him to show how to convert music from his vast CD collection to MP3 format and store on the IPOD Nano. In time he set up a twitter account and would comment on different writer’s works he was interested in.
My experiences with my father I’ll cherish for the rest of my life and was proud to be his son. I couldn’t ask anything more that he didn’t give to our family. I believe he is the world’s greatest Dad and will have a special place in my heart. He will be truly missed and our family’s love for him will be eternal.
