In honor of father’s retirement A group of siblings work together to plan a surprise event reminiscent of their most treasured childhood memories.
Matt Houlihan of San Jose, California, came up with the idea to celebrate his father’s 41 years of service at St. Francis High School in Mountain View, California, the same school he and his brother and His younger sister is studying.
A TikTok trend inspired Matt Houlihan to do something special for his dad. It comes with the Houlihan family’s perks, he said.
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“I was scrolling through TikTok last week (and) I saw a video of a group of grandkids. Show up and surprise their grandparents for a sleepover. That kind of made me change my mind. And my dad’s retirement was approaching and I wanted to do something special for him,” Matt Houlihan told Fox News Digital.
Matthew Houlihan (right) joins siblings Kelsey Houlihan (center) and Brian Houlihan (back right) and surprises their father Tim Houlihan (left) with a final ride on his last day as a school teacher. (Matt Houlihan)
Matt Houlihan’s idea was for his two older brothers, Brian Houlihan and Kelsey Houlihan, to wake up early with him and show up at their parents’ house. The idea was to ride with Dad one last time. Just like I used to do when I was a kid.
The three siblings decide to go all out, looking back at some of the “rituals” they’ve developed over the years of going to school in the car with their father.
“For about eight years my dad drove all of us to high school,” Matt Houlihan shared.
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“And at that time You have obviously developed some kind of routine and ritual.”
Matt Houlihan recalled all the time he spent in the car with his brothers and father. And thought it would be a good idea to pay homage to those memories. (Matt Houlihan)
After arranging the logistics for the surprise, like finding out how their kids will get to school, The siblings eventually worked with their mother, Stephanie Houlihan, to make the surprise a success.
The Houlihan children showed up at the family’s home at 6:00 a.m. and were met by their father with backpacks. Ready to go on a journey full of memories
They create playlists. Including the songs they wanted to listen to with their dad on the ride to school when they were kids. , the first No. 1 song was Outkast’s “Hey Ya,” which hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts in the early 2000s.
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“At one point My dad had a CD that played ‘Hey Ya’ by Outkast on repeat, so it was actually 21 songs of Outkast’s ‘Hey Ya’ that were burned onto the CD. And we listened for, I think, maybe six months, that was the only thing we listened to in the car,” Matt Houlihan said.
“He always just wanted to help everyone around him.”
The family’s next stop was their favorite bagel shop, House of Bagels, before heading to school and parking in the same parking lot they had throughout high school.
When the three kids were in school, Tim Houlihan would send them to class reciting lines from the classic movie “The Princess Bride.”
“He always sends us off saying, ‘Have fun storming the castle,’” Matt Houlihan said, adding that he and his siblings repeated that before their father walked into his final day on the job.
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Tim Houlihan spent 41 years at Saint Francis High School in various roles, starting as a math teacher and bus driver. and promotions to positions such as football team office coordinator and athletic director.
Tim Houlihan retired after 41 years at Saint Francis High School and found himself wearing all kinds of hats and stepping into various roles. all the time at school (Matt Houlihan)
He serves as Dean of Students and is a Gold Level Coach. Before taking on the responsibility of managing construction for new projects on the school campus eventually
“We had to walk past the last building they had just completed. Which is really cool to see the final crown jewel of the university that he coordinated and helped build,” Matt Houlihan said.
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“And obviously (we) saw everyone coming in to congratulate him. And we got to see their working relationship like we did when we were (students) there.”
The Houlihan siblings took a video of their father’s last day at school and shared it on TikTok. (Matt Houlihan)
Matt Houlihan said he and his brother and sister love celebrating their father. The person they always thought they were “Servant Leader”
“He just always wanted to help everyone around him,” he said, adding that his father would thank his co-workers every year by bringing plates of food to the school security guards who worked the night shift on their days off.
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He always looked up to both of his parents about how they looked after others. And he saw the response of those at school who said goodbye to his father on his final day by expressing gratitude for all he had done. Some were even moved to say how much he had affected them.
“He used to send us off to school saying, ‘Have fun storming the castle’”
Now Matt Houlihan is grateful for the special ride with his dad. Especially now that he’s a parent to two young daughters.
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“Being a parent and taking your children Going to school or taking them to a sporting event, you know, those[moments]come up a lot from those conversations in the drive. because as a child Sometimes you take it away” because you can spend that time with your parents.”
Tim Houlihan drives into retirement with kids stay by his side Just like they did when they were kids. (Matt Houlihan)
While Tim Houlihan may not use the words “The Princess Bride” with his kids anymore, his youngest son, Matt, is passing on that tradition to his little daughter.
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“I always tell them, ‘Have fun storming the castle,’ and then I drop them off at school so (the tradition) stays,” Matt Houlihan said.
