Father's Day ... tied into my late Dad's love for Hats ...as well as to a Hat given to me by a fellow Social Worker from her late Dad, who had been my Hospice Patient ....
I was really touched in the past while attending a Social Work Continuing Education Unit function at the Baton Rouge Rehab when Joel, an LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker) Colleague, gave me a cool debonair "Dobbs" Fifth Avenue New York Fedora, since she knew I like to wear toppers!
And to really "top it off," the hat had belonged to her late dad, whom I had helped when he was one of my hospice patients from many years ago when I had worked as a Hospice Social Worker; she gave me permission to share about this.
So now I get to wear it in his honor ... thanks to all that he had taught me - and continues to teach me - about life and death, hospice and breath ...
Many people who see me wearing this hat tell me that they love the style, and it gives me an opportunity to share the story.
When I recently retired from the local VA, my colleagues gave me over 20 hats, since they knew I loved fedoras!
In the past, after a Dermatologist had to freeze of some benign spots on my arms due to my not using sunscreen, it was recommended that I wear hats.
My daddy used to always wear a hat and I had always thought I didn't like anything on my head ... and now, I love to wear hats in his honor also.
So let me send an eternal "Father's Day Blessings" prayer for Joel's Daddy as we come to recognize all Dads this Sunday!
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Reviewed by Ronald Hull
7/6/2026
That's an interesting story about how your family and you have gotten into hats.
Generally, once we reached the 1950s, most of my family never wore hats, even in the sun. But the sun was much weaker in Wisconsin and there was no known cases of skin cancer back then in our extended family.
I never wore a hat until I reached my late 70s. My partner caregiver tends to cut my hair very short and I found that the sun bears down on my head much more than it ever did. She bought me a straw Fedora when we were on a cruise and I like it because it's light and gives me the shade that I desire.
My mother had any number of skin cancers because she and dad spend a lot of time on the golf course. I remember her wearing a straw hat to golf in McAllen and when she was out in summer in Wisconsin.
I've had only two moles removed because they looked pre-cancerous.
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I was really touched in the past while attending a Social Work Continuing Education Unit function at the Baton Rouge Rehab when Joel, an LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker) Colleague, gave me a cool debonair "Dobbs" Fifth Avenue New York Fedora, since she knew I like to wear toppers!
