Listening to My Father's Voice

My father's voice is pressed onto a little disc recorded about 70 years ago when he was stationed at Camp Cooke. He had gone into Lompoc to book railroad tickets.

"This message will announce my homecoming verbally," he says. "I will be home around January 5. Until that date, I can hardly wait."

He goes on to make jokes about KP duty, sends his love, and adds, "We're having a heck of a time trying to get tickets for a steam liner. By ten o'clock we will know whether we have succeeded..."

When he discovers he has more time on the record, he sings:[audio m4a="http://www.cynthiacarbone.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/01-Cyns-Father-Lompoc-Recording.m4a"][/audio] 

The actual record requires a phonograph that can be played at 78 rpm, and I didn't have access to one, but my dear friend and colleague Treebeard did. Several years ago he played it for me on his old-fashioned Victrola,  and there I am, listening for the first time. Now that was a happy moment!

Then he made me a CD of it, which I downloaded onto my computer. Now any time I have the whim to hear my dad singing across the decades, all I have to do is hit that play button.