Truly a SUPER Man

(The following was written for my hometown newspaper in 2011 for their "Nifty at Ninety" series.)

My father, V.U. “Pete” Megnin, turned 90 on January 2.  In honor of his life, family, friends, neighbors and former employees of Dad were asked to send memories.

After the family read them aloud, his grandkids said in amazement, they didn't know they actually KNEW Superman! Among the memories shared:

As a young teen, he had the presence of mind to direct his younger brother out of harm’s way when a bull charged the two of them on the family farm.

Having graduated from Syracuse University at the age of 20 in 1941, he was too young to be commissioned as a 2d lieutenant in the Army despite completing 4 years of ROTC. He went back to work the family farm for the next 1½ years. During that time, he threw a drunken neighbor (his father's age) off the property when the man attempted to assault his sister.

In the early 1950s Dad became a partner in a barrel stave mill. One time a tree fell on one of his employees on a logging job out in the woods. Dad lifted the log off the man and freed him. Later on, two other guys tried to move the log and were unable to even budge it.

Once in the mill, a white oak bolt fell off the conveyor belt. Dad easily hoisted it back onto the belt, a feat no other man could manage.

There were many written tributes from former employees, thanking Dad for giving them the opportunity to provide good lives for their families.

Driving the curvy, hilly Pennsylvania roads to Kittanning was arduous. For the approximately 5 miles of the trip on I-80 Dad would "put the pedal to the metal" and occasionally was stopped for speeding. One day on that stretch of I-80, Dad saw a cop being assaulted by a guy he'd pulled over. Dad stopped, got out, and without giving it a second thought, slugged the assailant and effectively broke up the altercation. Sometime later he received an official commendation for his actions from the State Police. From then on, if he was stopped for speeding, he somehow was never issued another ticket.

In the mid-1960s we were visiting my grandparents on the farm in upstate NY. Sitting at the dinner table, we heard a loud crash outside when a car full of teenagers plowed into the row of trees across from the house. My dad rushed out and began pulling kids out of the wreck and administering first aid. My uncle remonstrated with him, saying that it was against the law in New York to do that [Good Samaritan laws are now in effect.]  My father said the heck with that, he wasn't a citizen of New York, the kids needed immediate attention, and he was going to take care of them, which he did.

In these and so many other ways, my father truly is a SUPER man. Taking care of people has been his way of life.