Getting started, and finding Dad on the Web

I started a blog is to commemorate my father, Theodore Jameson Todd, better known as Ted Todd. Later I felt that it made more sense to merge the material and other family stuff in with my personal blog. Dad lived a long and active life. When he died, I told the family I'd put together a notebook about him. I bought ten white transparent-cover notebooks, and a few people sent thoughtful remembrances, but I did nothing aside from saving them. Time went on, I got busier, I grew my businss, my nonprofit, and my web site . . . and I started blogging. I thought, "Why not start a blog for Dad?" Since almost EVERYTHING seems to be online these days, I checked to see what I could find in a search for his name. The answer was, precious little. You can see those links below. For the most part, this blog will be filled with scanned and typed memorabilia from his life. In no particular order. That's the beauty of blogs. You add what you have or what strikes you as important on any particular day. If you find you need to reorganize the posts by date, you can do that, too (I just bumped this post to the top because I think the links are interesting). You can also find common threads in the "labels" list lower down on the right.

Here are the links to a few things I found on the Web:

1970, August 3: This is about the early days of drip irrigation. Scroll down on this page to find his name under Background of the Invention under Description.

1976: From the California Avocado Society 1976 Yearbook 60: 97-105: FRUIT REMOVAL FROM STEEP HILLSIDE AVOCADO ORCHARDS PROGRESS REPORT. (Once again, use Edit, Find to search for Ted Todd.)

1983: Avocado Society Yearbook, regarding advertising budgets.

1987: Meeting minutes with Dad as moderator. He would lead with humor whenever possible. This last bit was probably typical: "Todd: Al, I'm glad you added that comment, because I would have hated to adjourn this portion of the meeting on a happy note. (Laughter.)"

1992: "The 'Award of Honor' bestowed in most years by the California Avocado Society is given in recognition of outstanding contributions by individuals to the industry." California Avocado Society 1992 Yearbook 76:77-83: "Recollections of Avocado History at U.C.L.A." (Use Edit, Find on your browser to find Ted Todd on page 6.) There's some interesting history here about agriculture and education in California. And, Crawford Teague, a relative by marriage, was also among the few honored with this award.

Here is Dad listed with his Skinner ancestors (on his mother's side of the family) in the Skinner Kinsmen Update by Greg Legutki. I contributed some material during my genealogy days. Scroll down on the right to see the excerpt with his name in it.

And then this page is just some interesting stuff about the name. It also came up in my search.