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he still had died. While Wayne and Alice grieved, their other son’s


condition remained so tenuous that they had no idea if he would be alive when they visited the hospital the next morning. Weighing less than 2 pounds, he had open heart surgery just 12 days after the funeral. Once more, people prayed. The operation marked a turning point. There were still ups and downs, but their son’s condition improved steadily during the next two months. During one hospital visit, the marks of fatherhood


were difficult to see. Wayne, in scrubs, had forgotten to put on his mask. Some medical students assumed he was a doctor and began asking questions about the child’s condition. Wayne answered in such detail that they con- tinued to mistake him for a doctor until their supervisor told them: “Wayne’s not one of the doctors. He’s one of the daddies.”


Just before Christmas, the hospital allowed Wayne


and Alice to bring their baby home even though he was a pound under the weight requirement for release. Four years later, Wayne and Alice had another child,


Andrew. The family lived next door to Alice’s parents, and


Wayne’s father-in-law taught him how to run the combine that harvested the corn, oats and milo they would grind into hog feed. He showed him how to butcher those hogs when the weather turned cold, so Wayne literally helped put meat on the family table. In time Wayne became an active


member of the family’s church, St. Paul. He joined the choir, led worship as a cantor and taught Sunday school. He brought his two sons along to the Lutheran men’s group’s suppers and lake outings. The boys sometimes played beneath the pews while Wayne was at choir practice. Wayne spent countless hours with his boys. Either he or his wife read to them every night. They attended par- ent-teacher conferences and dealt with the occasional fistfight. Wayne helped his sons learn to ride bikes and water- ski. He taught both of them about gun safety and respect for wildlife when they hunted rabbits and deer. Alice and Wayne dealt with first crushes, parties, girlfriends, fender- benders and all that went along with raising teenage sons. Wayne did his best to be fair, to be consistent and


June 2011 15


to treat each son equally. He helped with trigonometry homework, trombone lessons, singing and building props for the high school band. During those years, Wayne received advice from other parents who often stayed after choir practice to chat about their children. He shared what he could with the other choir members too. Then, on days that came faster than he thought possible, Wayne helped each of his sons move away to college. Today, his boys are grown men. Wayne has moved into a new phase of fatherhood—one with a daughter-in-law (Andrew’s wife, Lindsay) and a grandchild on the way. The father Wayne became shows how “blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord” (Jeremiah 17:7). This Father’s Day, Wayne will celebrate being a daddy for more than 32 years. Andrew and Lind- say will visit and give him a gift with a Father’s Day card attached.


The other envelope he’ll open will contain a plain, white card with one sentence written inside. The card will be from his older son, whose chances of survival were only 3 percent and whose odds of being able to write a sentence were closer to 1 percent. And the card will read: “Happy Father’s Day, Daddy. Love, Kevin”


Fatherhood came early to Wayne Boozer when his wife, Alice, gave birth to premature twins.


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