wiseguy's recent thread inspired me to create one for our favorite UM dads.

-Marshall Stewart, Shane Stewart's dad. I really appreciated his combination of sensitivity ("I'm your dad and I'll help you") and pragmatism ("Don't get in a fight"). Seemed like a great man.

-Tom Campbell, father of Elizabeth Campbell. "She's our daughter, not what someone's made her."

-Curtis Henry, Don Henry's dad. I appreciated that unmistakably southern edge he had. "Would you want to give up your son and have everybody think they was smoked up and laid down, passed out? No, I don't think anyone wants to give up their kid unless that is actually proven to be the case. Then you have accept it. At this point, it has not been proved to us."

-Huey Littleton.

-Jimmy Aprille.

-Jim Fontes, Michael Fagan, and Paul Gibson. All heroes in my estimation and classic examples of why laws written in such a way to grossly favor granting child custody to the mother are, IMO, utterly ludicrous.

Bob Bean.


Just Kidding.

I was always fond of Bob Krebs, Kristi Krebs father, who quickly saw that after her car caught fire there was something wrong and rushed her to the hospital. He seemed very loving and concerned for his daughter.

I don't know if he ever had children with anyone else but I have to put in a good word for Jeff Oberholtzer. I think he and Bobbie Jo would've made great parents. It always breaks my heart when he mentions in the segment that he and Bobbie Jo had begun talking about starting a family together in the weeks prior to her murder.

I also agree on Jimmy Aprille. Just a very likeable guy who had some extremely unfortunate circumstances befall him. His only "crime" was trusting someone whom given the same circumstances he was in most people would've trusted without question. I was glad to read not only did he get his children back but also eventually rebounded from the financial losses he suffered.

Nicholas Karapalous and Leonard Schoen.

Pretty much what everyone else said and also:

Steve Sandler's father. He seemed very supportive of his son, encouraged him to follow his dream, and tried to keep him from burning himself out on the job.

I forget his last name, but Kevin, whose son Kyle was kidnapped. He was willing to give money and do whatever it took to get his son back. Tragically, he couldn't save him.

John Hanchett, the father who searched for the Sarah Jo all by himself in heavy winds.

Maurice Rosenblum, who searched high and low for his son for years on end, spending a fortune in the process with the sole care resting on his son. I should go add his mother to the Favorite Moms thread as well.

I liked David Stallings.

Bill Day

At one point in the segment, after years of being separated from his son, he tracks Christophe and Betty down to a home in Texas and literally sees him through the window. He says he wanted so badly to rush in there and take him back but he knew Betty would put up a scene and he didn't want Christophe to be traumatized after a couple years not seeing him. So he decided to wait a day or two for a better opportunity during the day, probably with a police officer on hand, to get Christophe back.

Unfortunately, Betty ended up leaving the state the next day with Christophe so Bill's plan backfired but I was always touched at his original gesture by putting the well being of his son's needs first even though he spent the last few years not knowing where he was.

Bill Day

At one point in the segment, after years of being separated from his son, he tracks Christophe and Betty down to a home in Texas and literally sees him through the window. He says he wanted so badly to rush in there and take him back but he knew Betty would put up a scene and he didn't want Christophe to be traumatized after a couple years not seeing him. So he decided to wait a day or two for a better opportunity during the day, probably with a police officer on hand, to get Christophe back.

Unfortunately, Betty ended up leaving the state the next day with Christophe so Bill's plan backfired but I was always touched at his original gesture by putting the well being of his son's needs first even though he spent the last few years not knowing where he was.

Good choice dyno, I had forgotten all about Bill Day. Very touching segment. I know there was a resolution to this case where Bill Day eventually located his ex-wife only to learn that his son had passed away. Betty Fields was never charged with kidnapping I believe due to a procedural matter but I'm trying to remember if there was a further update to this case that was posted on these forums?

Anyhow I hope Bill Day is doing well wherever he is. Again very sad and touching segment.

Gordon Page, Sr.. Undoubtedly, one of the nicest human beings ever featured on UM. Even though he didn't do anything wrong, he obviously felt terrible about leaving his son at that group home and I never wanted a missing person's family member to get closure more than him.

Definitely agree with wiseguy on Leonard Schoen. I don't see how someone like that could've given rise to kids rotten enough to force him out of the company HE built.

Also like Wishful's submission of Tom Sandlin. I love that story at the beginning about Steve as a child putting on his dad's motorcycle boots and helmet and wearing them around all day pretending to be a police officer just like him.

Michael Rosenblum's dad. He has had to bare a heavy burden with the case. But he went as far as Los Angeles to find his kid. Used his own money for investigators and fliers. I can't imagine what it would be like looking for your son and not knowing where he is or what happened to him. He could have easily just wrote Michael off with his drug problems. But he always kept looking for him.

AJ Breaux, Dale Kerstetter, and William Day. I always feel bad for the first two watching their children on the segments. You can tell how much they loved their dad.


Worst dads: Ulysses Roberson/Brad Bishop/Mark Nichols

My favorites:
Shane Stewart's father, Marshall Stewart
Huey Littleton
Duncan Gilmore
Robert Stack!

Arthur Karopoulos was mine, who went through such great lengths to get his son back, and was thankfully successful. That, and seemed like an all around good, likable man in every way too. Sad he passed away in 2005, at a fairly young age though. Bill Day, and Jim Fontes would be two other favorites of mine as well, along with Gilbert Ortiz. Feel real bad with what he went through, not just when his wife poisoned him (which left him permanently physically disfigured), but that his son Jonathan also turned on him, when he attacked his father over blaming him over his mother being rightfully imprisoned, and acting like the whole thing was Gilbert's fault, when it obviously wasn't.

I'll add Michael Fagan to the list. I loved his reaction when his wife said, "I'm jealous of the baby. Let's put him up for adoption."

"There was nothing to discuss. The answer was no."

Gordon Page, Sr.. Undoubtedly, one of the nicest human beings ever featured on UM. Even though he didn't do anything wrong, he obviously felt terrible about leaving his son at that group home and I never wanted a missing person's family member to get closure more than him.

+1

I felt so bad for him :(