Dysfunctional Dad

My Father — “Tally-ho!”

My dad, Larry, is a nickname taken from his middle name “Arthur.” He did not go by his birth name “Cleo.” Who on Earth would name a boy Cleo and keep a straight face? He grew up poor in rural Wisconsin. The story goes his father impregnated his disabled, maid mother and in the middle of the night ran off on his 5 half-brothers and sisters and 2 full brothers, never to be seen again? Cleo was left to fend for himself. He sold newspapers as a boy in Chicago…