Anthony J. Machcinski

amachcinski@ydr.com

Carrie McLean is a “daddy’s girl,” and she’s not afraid to admit it.

As a child growing up in Glen Rock, she was always around her father, Robin Matthews. She might as well have been his tail – she still has a scar on her knee when she tried to follow him down a hill.

“He was your typical dad,” McLean said. “He would have your typical dad jokes. He could be very serious and stern if he needed to be, but he would make a joke here and there.”

Matthews was born and raised in Glen Rock. He worked for decades at AMP Corporation before holding jobs with Crescent Industries in New Freedom and with Harley-Davidson.

McLean and her dad were very close, often taking trips together to a local Lowe’s, picking up tools and parts to support his construction hobby. Even when McLean was in college, she’d often come back, jump in his truck and make the same trip.

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“Going to Lowe’s — that was our activity,” McLean said. “I could spend hours in Lowe’s.”

Her dad died of a heart attack in September 2012, and it’s the little things — like listening to a southern rock song — that make McLean feel closer to him.

“There’s a point in (Bob Seger’s) ‘Turn the Page’ where (Seger) belts out at the end and every time I hear it, I can hear my father,” McLean said of Matthews, an avid singer. “You could see him outside working in the yard, pulling weeds, weed wacking and he always had his music blaring.”

One of those little things includes making homemade fastnachts on Fastnacht Day. Matthews acquired the family recipe in 1993 and made them every year up until his death.

"That's what he grew up on," McLean said. "We're all Pennsylvania Dutch. I grew up with the smell of lard in your house for two days (after Fastnacht Day)."

To no surprise, McLean was her father’s assistant.

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“He would save some at home for me, and I would get to powder them and sugar them,” McLean remembered. "I remember being by the counter and he had his hands in this big bowl — it's massive. I remember his bands being in there and kneading the dough."

He often spent hours in the kitchen on Fastnacht Day making over 10 dozen fastnachts. Despite the sheer volume, he only kept about a dozen or so. The rest were delivered to friends, family and co-workers.

“He would spend that much time to make fastnachts to just give them away,” McLean said. “It was a very proud moment to be his daughter.”

Read about fastnachts:

-Sweat your fastnachts off

-Fastnacht facts

-Learn about the PA Dutch treat

On the first Fastnacht Day after her father's death, McLean’s mother wondered about continuing the tradition.

“(My mother) asked me if I was going to make them, but I don’t think she expected a different answer out of me,” McLean said. “I couldn’t do it by myself. I would’ve been a mess.”

And there the pair were, 5:30 a.m. on Fastnacht Day 2013, in the kitchen making the Pennsylvania Dutch delicacy, just like Matthews used to.

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“I felt like a kid again,” McLean said. “And that was one of my closest moments I’ve felt to someone — doing something that they loved to do.”

McLean has kept her father’s tradition — making about 10 dozen every year and delivering most of them to friends and family.

“If I’m going to keep the tradition, I have to be selfless too," McLean said.

Even with a newborn daughter and a husband, McLean will be in the kitchen of her York Township home on Tuesday, Fastnacht Day. There, she’ll feel her father’s presence again.

McLean said. “I think he’d be very proud," McLean said. "I don’t know what he’d say, but I know he’d be pretty proud."

Anthony J. Machcinski is the food reporter for the York Daily Record. Follow him on Facebook, @ChinskiTweets on Twitter or email him at amachcinski@ydr.com.