America celebrated Father’s Day on Sunday. We celebrated all that fathers do to raise honest, hardworking and responsible children. It’s not easy to be a father, and yet their role has become ever important. We need fathers to guide us, teach us, and love us.

As a woman, I know that my father played an important role in my relationships today with men. In all honesty, I was much closer to my father than to my mother. Mom had four kids running around under her feet all the time as she busied about feeding us, wiping our noses and getting us off to school. Dad always made sure our bicycles were in working order, that we got up on time, and that we did our homework. He also vetted our boyfriends, waited up until we got home from a date — even flicking the outdoor lights on and off if my boyfriend and I lingered too long in the driveway, and he took us to church on Sundays.

I have some great memories of my dad. He died in 1983 when my daughter was only two years old. I so wish he could have watched his red-headed granddaughter grow up and to meet his two great grandkids. They would have loved his humor, his patience and his kindness.

My dad grew up on a farm in Missouri; but he longed to fly airplanes. The US Navy eventually gave him that chance. When he retired to Jacksonville, Florida, after 30 years in the military, he became a schoolteacher sharing his own experiences in his history and geography classes – the life he had led in the Navy. He had survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and 14 hours in the water off the coast of Japan when his plane went down during World War II. My dad was a strong man.

When I was in 5th grade, I remember my dad playing nursemaid to our dog Lady who was struggling with delivering her puppies. Sadly, every one of those ten puppies died that day. My dad ceremoniously buried the ten lifeless pups as we kids grieved along with Lady. Dad was gentle in that way.

I also remember the day when Lady had puppies that did survive their birth. Cute, little blond cocker spaniels squirming and yelping in their cardboard box. When the puppies were only a few days old, Dad arrived with a large butcher knife in his hand, and we were horrified as to what he was about to do. One by one, he chopped off the puppies’ tails. Cocker spaniels, as you know, have cropped tails.

One of my best memories of dad was the day I wed in 1972. I was decked out in the white satin wedding dress I had made, my left arm resting on my dad’s strong forearm. I looked up at him – he was quite tall and handsome — just before we were to walk down the long aisle of the church. He turned to whisper something in my ear. “You don’t have to go through with this if you don’t want to,” he said. At that moment, I loved him even more. Ever the protector, my dad was there for me that day. Of course, I did go through with that wedding and dad celebrated along with everyone else.

After I had been married a few years, my parents and my younger brother came to visit us one weekend. My younger sister was living with us temporarily, having moved to South Florida to start her life post-divorce. We all had dinner together at home. My sister had a date later that night, so she left the dinner table early to get ready. When my dad learned his youngest daughter was abandoning us for some fellow, he became upset and demanded that she not go out, but instead stay home with the family. He spoke as though my sister were 14 years old.

At that moment, I reprimanded my father. I reminded him that he was in my house now. His rules did not apply. After all, I was 30 years old, and my sister was 28. It took a lot of guts for me to speak so firmly to my father as I had a healthy respect for him.

What surprised me that evening was that my dad later apologized. “You’re right,” he said. “You’re both grown adults and can make your own decisions. I was wrong to suggest otherwise.”

Those words have never left me. My father’s unexpected apology recognized me as an adult, and yes, always his daughter, but an adult. It also reminded me what a great dad he was.

It’s tough for parents to transition from changing their babies’ diapers to having a beer together with their grown kids. We need our dads at all stages of life.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there.