Two exemplary fathers are this week's Dashes

I recently had the privilege of writing feature obituaries for two exemplary fathers: Bernie O'Donnell and Tommie Lee Jackson Sr. Their stories ran earlier this week in the Elyria Chronicle and Medina County Gazette, respectively.

Bernie O'Donnell, a retired Elyria carpet salesman who died December 6, 2009, at age 91, shared hands-on parenting chores with his wife back in the 1950s and '60s, when changing diapers and making breakfast for seven kids was considered "women's work."

Tommie Jackson Sr., 65, a retired foundry worker who also died in December, and his wife considered themselves the parents of 18 children. They never distinguished between those who were born to them, adopted by them or placed with them through family services.

Read "The Dash Between" for Bernie O'Donnell in the Elyria Chronicle of December 27, 2009, link to Tommie Jackson's "Dash" ran in the Medina County Gazette on December 28, 2009.

To recommend people for “The Dash Between” obit features for the Chronicle, Gazette, ObitsOhio.com or other print or online publications, contact Alana Baranick at abaranick@gmail.com or 216-862-2617.

This "Dash Between" column was originally posted on ObitsOhio.com on Jan. 1, 2010.