A father’s legacy: ‘You lived your faith, your faith lives in us’

Anne Jagoda and her father, Lawrence Dennin, pose for a photo together on the day of the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2010. (Submitted photo)

(Editor’s note: The Criterion invited our readers to share their stories about how their father’s influence has shaped their life and their faith. Here are some of their stories. One in an occasional series.)
 

By John Shaughnessy

When Anne Jagoda visited her father’s gravesite at Calvary Cemetery in Indianapolis on Memorial Day weekend, she remembered how he always said, “Everyone has a story to tell, and I want to hear it!”

That cemetery visit led her to want to share stories from the life of her father, Lawrence Dennin.

“My favorite example of his listening to everyone’s story would have to be meeting a Brazilian doctor who wanted to volunteer at Community Hospital North while she and her husband lived in Indianapolis for about a year, for her husband’s work,” Jagoda recalls. “My dad was a volunteer and took her under his wing.

“He listened carefully to her, and when she found out he had travelled to São Paulo, near her home, she and her husband became good friends with my dad. They even invited him to go back to Brazil for a family member’s wedding, which he did.”

That story came from the more than 10,000 hours of volunteering that he did at the hospital during eight years—after he retired from working and “traveling all over the world” for Eli Lilly and Co. in Indianapolis for 36 years, and after “he took wonderful care of our mother until she passed,” Jagoda notes.

“Besides all the love and care my dad showed Mom, my brother and me, he extended his hand, heart or wallet to anyone or organization in need,” she says. “And his sense of humor was jaw-dropping.

“He sang songs in French that he learned in school. He bought tapes to learn Portuguese when he was in his 80s and kept up with it until he died at age 93.”

She also remembers the depth of his Catholic faith.

“He had a deep devotion to the Blessed Mother. He prayed the rosary every day. He talked about his Irish grandmother teaching him to pray. In turn, he showed my brother and me how to pray, taking us to Mass every Sunday, confession once a month and to Catholic shrines on certain summer vacations.

“He and my mother lived their faith through good times and bad. Dad’s love for his faith and family paved the way for my family and me. I have a strong devotion to Mary and try to emulate what Dad did and remind my own children of the true blessings they inherited and should pass on.”

The strong bond between dad and daughter continued in her father’s last years as she and her husband welcomed him into their Illinois home and cared for him until he died in 2019.

That bond led her and her husband to drive from their home to visit his gravesite on Memorial Day weekend.

Talking to him, she said, “You lived your faith, and your faith lives in us!”

A wonderful example to follow

Even a small story can reveal a great deal about a father. And Bill Koehne has a favorite one about his dad, Mark, who died in 1977.

“My mechanic friend, Denny, who services my car, told me that when he was 16, he bought his first car from my dad,” notes Koehne, a member of St. Louis Parish in Batesville. “It was a 1951 Chevy which needed a little work.

“Denny told me that my dad was asking $15 for the car. After giving the money to my dad, my dad said that was too much and gave him back $5. That was my dad—always giving back.

“What a wonderful example for me and everyone to follow.” †