"Only He Spelled It 'Dam'"
My great-grandfather was a circuit-riding preacher and held revival meetings in the
Dakotas in the late 1800s and early 1900s. My grandparents were teetotalers and would
not even allow any kind of card playing in the house. As a result, Dad adhered to the
moral tenants practiced by his family. He had his first taste of alcohol when he was in his
40's on a consulting job and had to cross a river in the cold driving rain. Being thoroughly
frozen upon his return to town, he went to the bar with the rest of his colleagues - a
first! As most people knew, Dad favored the occasional Canadian Club and ginger ale in
his later years.
Dad was never known to swear - at work, on the job, or at home. Only once I heard Dad
come close to using an expletive deleted. Several years ago, I became severaly stressed
out by a mutual acquaintance. At one particularly trying time, Dad stated, "___________
can go to hell." I was quite startled, to put it mildly, and knew Dad was really distressed
about the situation.
I was relating this particular instance to a colleague of Dad's who had called to express
his condolences after Dad died. He said, "Oh, but I have heard your father use a swear
word a lot. He was always saying damn - only he spelled it DAM." That is about as close
as Dad ever got to swearing.
Nancy Peck Young
This letter is an excerpt from the Geo-Strata Feature on Professor Peck, Geo-Strata September/October 2008.
