With Father’s Day coming up June 21, there are plenty of Help a Reporter Out and PR Leads media queries asking for perfect gifts of every type and scope for dad. It’s also a timely opportunity to submit articles to the internet article directories that are relevant to this holiday.
To that end, today I am sharing an article I wrote about my dad not long after he passed away in 2002. Since “Star Trek” has been in the news quite a bit lately with the May 8, 2009 release of the blockbuster film, would it surprise you to learn that my dad Ron Soble was an actor who played Wyatt Earp in the age-old episode from the TV series called “Spectre of the Gun?” It’s true. You can “Google” his name to see his screen credits. He was quite a character, and not necessarily a Hallmark card kind of dad. Nevertheless, he taught me some valuable lessons about life and work, and I hope you enjoy reading about them.
DIY Publicity Tip: Frame your product, service, idea, or experience in the context of how it fits into the Father’s Day holiday. And start pitching and sharing your stories now. You just might score the perfect media placement to bring your offering to a higher level of awareness in perfect timing.
A Different Kind of Dad
by Nancy Juetten
My father died in 2002 at age 74, and ours was not an easy relationship. Despite our differences, the way he lived his life left a lasting impression and many lessons from which others can benefit.
When choosing your mate, make sure you get it right. My dad was fortunate to meet my mom early in life, and she stuck by him in good and bad times, in sickness and health, though career highs and lows, and for everything in between. Dad and Mom got it right.
Make good friends and keep them. Dad made friends from grade school, high school, college, and throughout his life. And he kept them. That’s richness beyond measure.
Choose work you love, and don’t look back. There’s nothing worse than going to the coal mine every day to do work you loathe. Dad made a career choice that spoke to his passion, and he stuck with it. There was never a question about doing something else to make ends meet. Doing what he loved was the only option. There is wisdom in that.
Believe what you believe, and defend what you value. My dad’s commitment to the rights of the working actor kept him fighting for the cause for years, and thousands of artists now benefit from his efforts. That is a lasting legacy.
Find your voice and use it. Dad was one to tell it like it is in language that would make a sailor blush. But he got his message across. You always knew where you stood with him. There’s something to be said for that.
It’s never too late to do something really wonderful. Dad gave my mom a simple wedding band when they married. Not too long before his passing, he ventured out to a jeweler friend and purchased a wedding set and diamond for my mom, after 48 years of marriage. He also started wearing his wedding ring. It’s never too late to get things right. In his final months, he sat alongside the bathtub to watch my toddler son take a bath. There’s nothing better than a little splish-splash in the bath to bring grins all around and create an abiding memory.
If you’ve got things to resolve with folks, find a way to make that happen. In his own way, he told me he was sorry for what had gone wrong with our relationship. That was a treasured, healing moment for us both.
As parents, we all hope that we are going to get that right, too. You hope your babies will be born healthy. You hope that you will be able to give them every opportunity. You hope they will do well in school, graduate from college, and create lives that make them happy.
My parents had two daughters. They gave us every opportunity to find our unique strengths and talents. We ventured into the world to choose wonderful husbands who are involved, supportive fathers to our children. We have both selected careers that allow us to express our unique talents and abilities and live lives that are consistent with our values.
It’s a wonderful thing to look back on my father’s life and see that – despite the differences we shared — good things are still unfolding for our own children as a result of the lessons we learned from Dad along the way.
Nancy S. Juetten’s father, Ron Soble, was a Screen Actors Guild union activist and an actor in television and films. Nancy owns a public relations and marketing communications agency that offers DIY publicity training and tools to empower business owners to get seen, heard, and celebrated in the their own backyards and beyond through the power of publicity. She learned far more about PR by watching her Dad in action than anything she learned in business school and considers those early years of training the best PR bootcamp on Earth. She blogs about do-it-yourself publicity at authenticvisibility.com and offers popular Publici-Tea™ workshops that help others look big in the media on a DIY basis. She can be reached at 425-641-5214 or via e-mail at nancy@nsjmktg.com.
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