(Walnut Creek, California)

Okay, so it's the Irishman in me that makes me procrastinate. This blog should have been posted on Father's Day, but I have been so busy trying to find full-time work, that it just got away from me.

Nonetheless, I have an AMAZING story to tell from my book tour. Last Wednesday I was the Flag Day speaker at the Rossmoor Rotary Club in Walnut Creek, California. Rossmoor is a huge, planned retirement community in the East Bay hills.Approximately 10,000 seniors live in Rossmoor.

During the introduction, it was mentioned that I grew up in Milwaukee and attended Marquette University. After my talk and book signing, an elderly man came up to me and said how much he enjoyed my stories about the 2008 presidential campaign.

Then he said, "So, you are from Milwaukee. Bill Curtis isn't your dad, is he?" I just about fainted. Here I was 2,200 miles from my home, and someone knows my dad. "I'm Dr. Fred Ackerman," he said. "I graduated from Marquette Medical School with your dad."

Sadly, Dr. Ackerman did not know that my dad had passed away in December of 2007. I had met Ackerman once before, when the Medical College of Wisconsin (the former Marquette Medical School) gave new diplomas to all the living doctors on the 50th anniversary of their graduation. That was in May of 1997. All the doctors wore their caps and gowns and paraded across the Milwaukee Auditorium stage, as they had in 1947. It was one of the most poignant moments of my adult life.

"Your father was a great man," Dr. Ackerman said. I concur!
Cheers to my dad! (He's shown in the photo above in his U.S. Navy uniform.)

There are a few good anecdotes about my dad and his role in shaping my campaign journey and book before he died. "Age of Obama: A Reporter's Journey with Clinton, McCain and Obama in the Making of the President 2008" is available by clicking on the blue book button on the right side of this screen.