This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years, and now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint.
It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250.
America's Block Party is a can't-miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music performances from major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark celebration at America250.org. I turned off news altogether.
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to his father. Unfortunately, my father passed on at age 48. I was only twelve. And so it was a very you know, even talking about it now, I get somewhat emotional even though it was some sixty years ago. that my father died.
But he was He was Italian, he was happy, he loved to eat, he loved to drink, he was always telling jokes. He was always kidding around, so he was like a big, big kid. And so I enjoyed being with my father. He had tuberculosis when he was younger. he actually had a collapsed lung, so he was functioning with only one lung.
He was a heavy smoker. Uh They still remember being in the shop and him spraying the furniture with lacquer, and there's no ventilation. I'd be breathing the fumes, he would be breathing the fumes. It wasn't unusual for me to get so high and dizzy, I would actually pass out from the fumes. But we laughed about it.
You know, it's back in the days. I had no idea. that I was breathing toxic fumes. But I was, and he was kind of ignorant to it. He would grab his chest and he would, oh, that's it.
He would. grab his chest. He was in pain.
Well, he thought it was his collapsed lung. He would blame it on the adhesions. In his lung, but what he was really dealing with, and I was too young to know any better.
Now, with my medical background, he was suffering from angina. Where he had a narrowing of his coronary arteries, and that's what was causing his severe chest pain. And that's what eventually killed him. And uh it was sudden. It was on a Sunday.
I remember it. distinctly now as I did sixty years years ago. I was actually at my friend Scott Baldwin's house, and I was 12. Scott was 12. We were playing basketball in his back backyard and his His mother called and said, Bruce, there's a A call for you.
And so It was the landlady of the people that we rented from, and she just said, Bruce, you need to come home. Your mother needs you right now. And I'm like.
Well what?
Well, you know, I was right this. I didn't even perceive. My mother needs me. Why does my mother need me? And why is Edith Thompson, the old landlady, calling?
I mean, she was like my surrogate mother, so that was. And then, when I ran home and rounded the corner, I saw the ambulance sitting out in front of the house, and I immediately thought. My mother was injured or my mother died or something happened. to my mother and so I ran in the home and then my I could see my mother and she was distraught and then she announced, you know, that my father had died. And he was still up in the bedroom.
and the EMS people were still trying to revive him, but But then Now you have to mark this is 1960.
Okay, so We'll say medicine and therapeutics aren't what they are today. Maybe today he might be alive. I don't know. Uh You know, I I call it uh B D A D before dead after dead. My childhood was happy.
My parents were encouraging. I was a good student. I was somewhat athletically inclined, so I was involved in many sports. But after my father died, it became economically more difficult because he was the primary person who was bringing the money in. And emotionally it was more difficult.
And of course my mother. Was very much in love with my father, and she didn't handle it well. In fact, I remember she went into a state of depression after my father died. Rightly so. I mean losing a mate after only being married for 13, 14 years, and so you have to remember depression back in the 1960s.
We did not have the modern day serotonin reuptake inhibitors or the antidepressants.
So it was about a year, and my mother went into the hospital for depression. Of course, she was treated with electroshock therapy. And I've often thought, even when she came home, she was kind of like a zombie. She had never. You know, it She never did.
In my opinion, never did fully recover. She was somewhat. depressed and I've often said She didn't have a lot of joy in her life. And uh where before my when my father was living, she was You know, she was very upbeat, very happy, very enjoyed life, enjoyed marriage, enjoyed her family. But I think after my father died it was It was challenging for all of us.
You have to sometimes have a feeling of being alone, nobody to commiserate with. And Even back then, um I guess the story was well, That happens, that's part of life. Buck up. Handle it. And you do.
but you end up stuffing a lot of your emotions. I think, you know, even to this day, I still. Feel as though life has kind of cheated me not having a father. Although I think what I did do during high school and college, I tended to gravitate toward other male mentors. I was very involved in sports.
Lettered in basketball, football, track, and so my coaches. became my mentors. I was very involved in scouting, so my scout master I did actually attain the rank of Eagle Scout. Which isn't done by many people, but I would attribute that to my scout masters who became my mentors. They were almost like my surrogate fathers.
So there's a number of men. Who have influenced my life in a positive manner.
So, not having a father on one hand opened up the opportunity. And I also believe that many of these men knew that I did not have a father. I think many of them maybe spent a little more attention to me and gave me a little. little more guidance than they normally would.
So I think that has had a very positive effect on my life. I've opened it. told the story of uh After my father died, We were in the poor part of town. Between 26th and 36th Avenue, which was the wealthy part of town. That's where all the doctors, lawyers, business people live and I had the privilege of having paper routes for what, I think, five years from age 12 through 17.
The things I do remember is that it was a morning paper out. I was up every morning at 5:30 and I have to walk four blocks to collect my papers. Anybody who's familiar with Lake Superior and the north shore of Lake Superior understands that the weather is very changeable. and very challenging. I think the coldest temperature I've physically been in.
is forty-two below zero. And when the winds blow along Lake Superior, people don't recognize Lake Superior as the largest of the freshwater lakes. All four of the other great lakes can fit inside Lake Superior, and it's like an inland sea. and when the winds blow out of the northeast They talk about the gales of November and the winter months is is brutal and the winds can be gale force is usually 35 knots. And so I would be delivering papers, you know, during the wintertime and 10, 20 below zero.
And it was... It was challenging. I mean, you couldn't pay me enough money to do that today, but back then, As I've often said, ignorance is bliss. what you don't know. I thought everybody lived like that.
I still have very vivid memories. of working with my father. I think my father Instilled in me a work ethic, a sense of entrepreneurship. And I still I still quote him. from time to time.
Certain things are just certain memories that I have, even though it's been over 60 years since he's passed. My father, you know, he would always have a same And I still use this today, you inspect what you expect. Essentially meaning You're involved in many things during your lifetime, and you're giving people direction and order, but you always Trust people, give people guidance, but you're always inspecting. You're expecting people to perform. and you want to make sure that they are performing.
the way they're supposed to.
So it's a It's a saying you inspect what you expect. I think is uh I've carried that from my childhood from my father. beyond in business and even in my personal life. And a special thanks to Bruce Paddock for paying tribute. his dad.
You can hear it in his voice, though he lost his dad when he was merely twelve years old, and his father. left this world early at 48. His dad's still with him. My father instilled in me a work ethic that's still with me today. Then he even quoted one of his great lines, which he lives by, you inspect what you expect.
He was an Italian man, a happy man, loved telling a joke, loved eating. Also is a heavy smoker. And by the standards of today, worked in, let's just say, or created on safe workspaces. But so did everybody. A father and son's story, Bruce Paddock paying tribute to his dad, Eer.
on our American stories. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint.
It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250.
America's Block Party is a can't-miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music performances from major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark celebration at America250.org. Flowers fade.
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