Charles Crane/MDN Roy Sayler, left, Leo Ringoen and Dave Pottinger reflect on Father’s Day and how the joys of fatherhood exist beyond the holiday.

For those observing Father’s Day weekend, the holiday will likely be filled with leisure, special activities with loved ones or just some special time with the grill. For three fathers in Minot, the real joys of fatherhood are found every other day of the year.

Roy Sayler, 95, Dave Pottinger, 73, and Leo Ringoen, 90, friends and residents at Somerset Court in Minot, said in their experience, Father’s Day didn’t come with the bells and whistles reserved for Mother’s Day or other holidays. Rather, it was represented as an opportunity for them to enjoy time with their families.

“There was always a good meal. What I enjoy about Father’s Day is I could celebrate the fact that I was a father. Because the kids would be a little bit nicer. They wouldn’t have games or something like that they wanted to do. They actually wanted to give you attention,” Pottinger said.

The trio reflected that life is full of discrete moments that elevate a regular day into something truly special, from experiencing their children’s births to the various milestones in their lives over the years.

“When they graduate, that’s another Father’s Day. When they get married, that’s another Father’s Day. If you have a daughter and you get to walk them down the aisle, that’s another Father’s Day,” Pottinger said. “When they ask you for advice. My son is always asking for advice because he’s in construction and I was a shop teacher. When he turns out right I tell him I’m damn proud of him.”

Sayler echoed this sentiment, saying seeing his children succeed academically and professionally made him proud to be a father, especially when he had the privilege of handing them their high school diplomas when he was on the school board.

“When you get to brag to people about what your kid did or your grandchild did, that’s a good feeling. When my son went into the Navy, the first time he came home on leave, he didn’t call me, ‘hey dude,’ he said ‘yes sir.’ I should have sent him to the Navy when he was three years old,” Pottinger said. “When our kids do something that we can be proud of or an accomplishment, it’s not our glory to claim but it’s ours to hold inside.”

Ringoen said that those moments with your children can come later in life, saying his son’s decision to build a house on his farmstead and pursue dairy farming after being disinterested in his youth meant a lot to him.

“I got to know him a lot better now. Roy and I used to milk cows, and that’s something he never wanted to do. Ever since then, it’s a different story and now we’re a lot closer,” Ringoen said. “The most important thing is that you can set an example for them. When they live up to it, there might not be words said, but you’re proud of them.”