I also began getting calls from people who had known Dad through the lumber plant.

Most said they’d heard about the studio and were proud of him.

At first, that praise made me tense.

I knew they were speaking about the man who fixed their tools and took extra shifts when colleagues were sick.

They had not lived with the version who wouldn’t look up when his son asked about school.

Eventually I learned to say, “He did something generous for me near the end.