I asked Mary to write something about her dad for our reunion blog. Below are the photos and essay she sent me.
Doug Pinter
So what can I tell you about Doug Pinter? Well, after high school, he married Cheryl Greene, and they had two daughters, myself (Mary) and Rachel. He worked for many years as a Cat Scan Technician for Henry Ford Hospitals, but found his true passion in computers. He received a CNE certification and worked as a “computer guy” at Chrysler. In 2004 he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS), and he passed away from complications of that disease in May of 2007. I guess that covers the basics.
To say that he was a great man wouldn’t be saying enough. He meant, and still means everything to me. He instilled in me the drive and faith to follow my passion. He told me once that if you follow your passion, you will never have just a “job”, because you will love what you are doing. My dad truly cared about people. It’s really a hard thing to find these days. I have heard so many stories in the past few years of how my dad has touched other people. He reminded people of their love for life and for their families. He loved HIS family. He meant so much to so many people, and still does. All he ever wanted to do was to touch other people, to make their day a little bit brighter. I know that even with that disease he felt certain people on his heart. He remembered that there were people who NEEDED his love and concern, and maybe through his example they would understand. He was my biggest fan. He drove me to every little activity in my life (and boy I had a lot of them growing up). He was always present at every concert, football game, tennis game……anything I had going on. He was a great example to me. He treated people with love and compassion. He always cared about every other person more than himself. He made other people want to do their best. He led by example. He wouldn’t tell others how to act or how to be, but he would show them. He was a man of great faith. He discovered great faith through the apostolic church. He believed it was his responsibility to show his family that God was very important, and being involved in church was as well. He wanted to win souls, and he strived to help the backslider. He was in the church Easter play for years and loved reaching out to people through it. He is someone to be looked up to. I have been blessed with a wonderful man to have called my father. He was there when no one else was. He made sure I knew that God could do miracles. Through his example I know what love is, I know what courage is, I know what passion is, and I know what it means to have faith. I’ve realized that he had the greatest faith of any man I’ve ever known. Even staring down the barrel of an incurable disease he had faith that it was for a reason. He pushed through with a smile on his face even in the hardest days. I know every day I will strive to follow in those footsteps. There is so much more I could say about him, so many stories I could tell. But in the end nothing will ever fully capture what an amazing person he was. And nothing will fill the void he left when he had to leave us.
Please, if you look back into your high school photos and find one where he is even standing in the background, or if you have a story to share about him, email them to lucky.lady01@yahoo.com . I am working on a scrapbook of pictures and stories of his life so that one day I will be able to show my children or grandchildren the man who taught me so much in such a short amount of time.