The document is a tribute to the author's father who recently passed away. It summarizes that he was loved by his family as a father, grandfather, brother, and friend. It highlights some of his personality and interests including his love of travel, sports, cooking, reading and spending time with family at the shore. It shares memories and stories to illustrate what he meant to the family and the legacy he left behind.

1. On behalf of my Mom and sisters, I would first like to express our sincere
gratitude to everyone for your love, support, kind words and gestures over the
past week. We are extremely grateful and it has helped carry us through this
most difficult time.
Michael, Mickey, Mike, Dad, Pop, whatever you called him, he was your brother,
cousin, husband, father, uncle, friend, grandpop. Our Dad was amazing. He was
definitely one of a kind. He was the definition of low maintenance, which I guess
was a good thing, when you are raising 5 girls in a 3 bedroom row home with only
one bathroom for 7! But this was nothing new for Daddy, being one of 8 children,
he embraced the coziness of a big family. He always enjoyed telling people he
had 5 daughters, waiting for their reaction and then adding that he grew up with
5 sisters for shock value. My husband and brothers-in-law lovingly refer to this as
the “Tanney curse” and they were all very relieved to have boys born first. The
curse had ended. Daddy often described some of the women in his life as “being
able to talk a dog off a meat wagon.”
During his 72 years of life, he was quite the traveler. He has been to 6 of the 7
continents, no he did go to Antartica, he never made it to Australia. He has been
to all 50 of the United States, Hawaii being his favorite. Most of his travel out of
the US,was during the 4 years he served in the Air Force. The places he went,the
people he met, the things he did (whether legal or illegal), all played such an
important part of his adult life. He always talked fondly of his time spent overseas
in Turkey, England, and Copenhagen. Just 17 years old he signed up with the Air
Force and left for boot camp just after graduating high school. A world of
adventure was at his grasp and from what we know he grasped it all.
We all have such wonderful memories from our childhood of our summer
vacations down the shore in Avalon. We always felt so bad for Daddy because he
would come down Saturday, get us settled in for the week and then leave Sunday
because he had to work. Now that we are all parents, we realize this was his ideal
vacation being home alone for a week of peace and quiet. Because 5 girls can get
really loud. Our Dad’s philosophy was always work hard, he sometimes had 2,

2. even 3 jobs to make ends meet and make those summers down the shore
possible.
Luckily we didn’t get his sense of style, it was crazy, the more mismatched, the
better. The more embarrassed we were, the happier he was. Once, my family
came up to visit me at Millersville. My parents had just returned from a trip to
Disney and bought everyone the same Mickey Mouse shirt. Daddy thought it
would be a great idea for everyone to wear the Mickey Mouseshirt on this visit
just to embarrass me. So one by one they come up my apartment steps, even
down to baby Kev crawling up in one of these Mickey Mouse shirts. I was
mortified but of course in the end we were all laughing hysterically. Daddy loved
pulling these kind of silly antics. And he especially loved the end result with all of
us bent over crying with laughter.
There was no need for google or homework helpline with Daddy, he was the king
of knowledge and chief pencil sharpener. He always helped us with our
homework and projects. He especially loved 7th grade Creative Writing. I wonder
if Mrs. Dellinger at St. Matt’s ever caught on after reading for the 5th time:
The chicken ran into the coop, to avoid being made into soup, he let out a cry, the
farmer asked why, because it’s cooler in a coop than soup.
Did she really think a 12 year old from Mayfair knew anything about a coop or a
farm?
Daddy was a great cook, he figured if you want to eat, you better take control of
the kitchen. Some others say, don’t let the Tanney girls cook. He had a real
sweet tooth which he passed on to all of us, we still can’t fall asleep until we’ve
finished a bowl of Breyers ice cream. Although, we no longer feel the need to
chew one chicklet as we walk up the stairs to bed.
We all also inherited his love of reading. He taught us there’s nothing like curling
up to a good book. Daddy was an avid sports fan, he played when he was young
and was always involved in sports. He was so happy once we were married and he
had some guys in the house to watch the games with. Instead of just the girls
walking and standing in front of the TV while he tried to watch the game.

3. Up until the week he died he still enjoyed watching MASH reruns, it was his all-
time favorite show.
We believe Daddy may have been the brainchild of the concept of wholesale
shopping…when he used to bargain with the Acme manager to buy toilet paper,
hi-c and other things in bulk. How ironic, that BJ’s in Warrington may suffer losses
in the upcoming year due to Daddy’s passing, certainly their tissues and cases of
water sales will be way down. We hope Haband clothing catalogue doesn’t go
out of business, he definitely was one of their best customers.
One of the greatest lessons my Dad learned from his own father, he passed on to
us:
Listen, learn, question and believe in yourself, and don’t fear life. Go out and grab
hold of it, enjoy it, challenge it and don’t fear failure, because it’s life’s greatest
lesson. All anyone can ask is for you to do your best.
Our Dad was a lesson in loyalty, devotion and commitment. He was generous to a
fault, he was the best listener, always without judgement. He had an amazing
way of making each one of us girls feel like we were his favorite. He was a
calming presence to all of us, one of his famous quotes, “Don’t get your bowels in
an uproar.”
And he had many words wisdom, such as:
Don’t eat yellow snow.
Don’t take wooden nickels.
Life isn’t fair.
Don’t dish it out if you can’t take it.
Don’t worry about what other people think.
Keep your chin up.
Hang in there, kid.

4. Pull my finger…not really words of wisdom, but it always got a chuckle and it was
definitely one of his favorites.
And one of our favorites: “Sim pi su di ni, oct ta maga hog adue” Which means:
Don’t worry about it or your hair will fall out…a Japenese saying he learned
Okinawa.
Our Dad was infamous throughout his life for the many poems he wrote. We’d
like to share with you one of our favorites, because it’s about us! It’s his version
of the Night Before Christmas:
Twas the day of Christmas, and all through the condominium
All the kids were a stir wondering who had a present to givum.
The coats were all hung in the closet with care
With hopes that their new clothes wouldn’t make others stare
The kids were all settled in front of the TV
Hoping nothing was on the adults wanted to see.
And Granny in her new dress and Gramps in his hat
Had just settled down for an afternoon’s chat.
When out in the parking lot, there arose such a clatter
They arose from the chair, to see what was the matter
Away to the window they flew like a flash,
Tore open the window and threw up the sash.
The sun shone bright on the new fallen snow,
Giving a beautiful luster to objects below.

5. When what to their wondering eyes should appear
But a Ford wagon bearing seven souls full of cheer.
With a little old driver so lively and quick,
They knew in a moment it must be old Mick.
More rapid than eagles his kids they did run
He whistled and shouted and yelled at each one.
Hey Kathy, Hey Karen, Yo Beth, please don’t run.
Ho Missy, Ho Marge let’s go or we’ll miss all the fun.
To the top of the stairs and into the hall
Now dash on in, dash on in, dash on in all
So into the room the kids they did fly
Knocking over drinks and hot apple pie.
The kids were all dressed in their new Christmas clothes
Bearing bags full of presents all covered with bows.
Their eyes were a twinkle, their dimples how merry
Their cheeks were like roses, their noses like cherry.
Mom and Dad stood behind them and smiled with delight
As uncles and aunts grabbed their kids out of fright.
Grandma and Grandpa were smiling with joy.
But thinking: Thank God, they didn’t have a boy.
They tore open presents and knocked over the tree,
They were here, they were there, even where they shouldn’t be

6. They ate a big meal, mostly jello and sweets,
Ignoring the turkey and snubbing the beets.
With a wink of his eye and twist of his head,
Dad gave the signal that it was time for bed.
They said not a word but went right to work
Donning hats and gloves they turned with a jerk.
They sprang to the wagon and old Mick gave a whistle,
And away they all went like the down of a thistle.
But all heard them exclaim as they drove out of sight,
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
We loved our Dad so much. He was the rock of our family. In September we
celebrated Mommy and Daddy’s 50th wedding anniversary and he said, this is
what it’s all about: family, love and laughter. We and our Mom will miss him
dearly. We feel so blessed to have been able to share a part of his life and to call
him Daddy. We will miss his smile and his laughter but have all the great
memories to keep in our hearts. He has left a legacy in his daughters and
grandchildren that will continue on.
See you around the campus, Dad.