A tribute to Fathers: History in action

Submitted by
Rebekah Sheats

A little over ninety years ago, in 1931, the Monticello News published a front-page article of particular interest to local families. The article featured comments and advice from Judge F. B. Allegretti, a man who had served for several years in the juvenile court of Chicago. After sitting as judge over the cases of more than 25,000 boys “charged with misdemeanors and crimes ranging from smashing street lights to murder,” Judge Allegretti realized that the common element in most of these boys' lives was the lack of a father in the home.
Had fatherlessness encouraged these boys to begin a life of crime? Judge Allegretti seemed to believe this to be the case. He saw a father's involvement in a son's life as one of the greatest deterrents to juvenile delinquency. “'Dad and Son' is the most effective combination against crime,” the judge noted.
Allegretti published his findings and encouraged fathers across the nation to become more involved in the lives and upbringing of their sons. Allegretti drew up a set of “working rules” for fathers. These rules appeared in the Monticello News. As Allegretti noted, they could be called the “Ten Commandments” of fatherhood. They are:
1. Love your boy with all your heart.
2. Make his care, education, and training one of the major purposes of your life. Choose his schools by the character they build.
3. Keep the family and home life attractive and wholesome.
4. Train him to keep his body clean and healthy.
5. Remember your son learns by example; therefore be exemplary in conduct and speech before him.
6. Protect him with your life if necessary.
7. Enforce obedience, but let your rules be reasonable and helpful.
8. Know the company he keeps and remember that one bad apple soon spoils the barrel.
9. Teach him love of country and respect for law.
10. Teach him religion, reverence and love of God, and to be of kindly service to his neighbor.

Bilinski: father, farmer, everyday hero
For more than one hundred years, the United States has celebrated Father's Day, a holiday dedicated to honoring fathers and fatherhood. This is a day set aside to commemorate the importance of a father's role in the life of his children. It's a time to honor one's own father and thank him for the selfless service that fatherhood entails. No father is perfect (and we won't find any perfect children either), but Father's Day offers us an opportunity to stop and reflect on all the blessings we've received from our fathers.
There are thousands of fathers in Jefferson County, but for the sake of space, we'll only look at one. His name is Leo Bilinski. An army captain during WWII, Leo lived most of his life on the family farm outside Monticello. He had a son named Max.
When Max was five years old, his father would pick him up from kindergarten every afternoon, and the two would spend the rest of the day together. “If I wasn't in school, I was doing something with Leo,” Max recalled. “We worked all summer long, either in the watermelon field, the tobacco field, the tobacco barn or somewhere on the farm. We also had to feed livestock every single day including Saturdays and Sundays.”
Father and son enjoyed a lasting bond forged over hours, days, and years spent working together. Max explained, “I knew Leo well. I could almost tell what he was going to say before he said it. I guess he knew me well also. We just had an understanding.”
That understanding would continue throughout Max's life. In 1966, Max shipped out to Vietnam. His experiences there are recorded in his book “A Reflection on Vietnam: 1966.” While serving overseas, Max received a letter from his father. Leo sadly informed his son that one of Max's friends in Monticello had committed suicide. The event had shaken Leo, and he took the opportunity to assure his son that he was proud of him and was looking forward to his return.
“I looked forward to my return also,” Max noted. Leo had taught Max many important things over the years. One of them was a reverence and love for the Lord who had created them. The Bilinski family were active members in St. Margaret's, the local Catholic church. While in Vietnam, Max realized that he might never see his home or family again. “I wasn't in control of what might happen,” he noted. But he knew who was in control. In his book, Max includes the words of Psalm 91: “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.'”
After serving in Vietnam, Max was transferred to the States. When his term of service with the Army ended, he happily returned to his family and the Bilinski homestead in Jefferson County, where he remains to this day. His father Leo is buried in Roseland Cemetery, but the memories and lessons Max learned from him live on to this day.
Fatherhood is not a glamorous job. Ordinary, routine, and mundane are all words associated with the daily labors required of fathers. These unremarkable, ordinary labors often go unnoticed and unacknowledged. Let's take some time today to thank our fathers—not for the super, world-changing events they may or may not have taken part in, but for the simple, everyday things they have done to make us what we are today. They are the “ordinary heroes” in our lives.