U-talk: How has your father influenced your life?
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- Alejandro Santana.
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- Camilla Stark.
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- Beth Williams.
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- Jessica Gorver.
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- Justin Baker.
Brigham Tomco, Special to the Daily Herald
Alejandro Santana.
Editor’s note: The Daily Herald is launching a new community question series. Every week, we’ll ask five local residents to tell us their thoughts about a particular issue and then publish their responses and a photo of each
“So my dad actually didn’t spend a lot of time with me when I was younger because he used to travel a bunch. But even despite all of that I always looked up to him. He always motivated me when I was younger, because I played basketball and like he always pushed me to go as hard as I can with everything I do. He’s from the Dominican Republic so he doesn’t really speak the language but he still sacrificed himself to come here to a new country and learn the language. So that really made me look up to him a lot. He’s one of the hardest workers I know, if not the hardest.” — Alejandro Santana, Orem
“He has worked super hard my whole life to provide for my family and help me get a good education. He really stressed the importance of a good education. And he’s just always been there for me. I’m a little emotional talking about it. He’s great.” — Camilla Stark, Provo
“My father has a disability. He’s blind. And so growing up with a blind dad was kind of a singular experience. And so he influenced me to be aware of disabilities — and so I became a special ed teacher and worked as a special ed teacher for a really long time. And I think he showed me that the limitations we have are in our mind and nowhere else. So he showed that he was blind, but he also worked for 40 years at BYU as a car mechanic.” — Beth Williams, Provo
“He’s very unique to us. We love that he takes care of us. He just makes the biggest difference in our lives. He’s just taught me how to do so much. Where if my husband’s not around, or whatnot, I can always run on him or the things he’s taught me.” — Jessica Gorver, Spanish Fork
Brigham Tomco, Special to the Daily Herald
Camilla Stark.
“He had a plan that was 20 or 30 years down the road for me. That’s something you can’t see until you are walking down that specific stretch. That’s wisdom. To love somebody enough to look into the future 20 or 30 years down the road and try to lay something out for them, you know.” — Justin Baker, Orem
Photos and interviews by Brigham Tomco, Special to the Daily Herald.
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Beth Williams.
