My misunderstanding (alternate meaning) of Reba McEntire’s ”The Greatest Man I Never Knew.”

I misunderstood this song when I first heard it way back when. I thought it was about a working woman – perhaps a single mother (“everything he gave to US”) – with a neighbor who perhaps somewhat secretly helped her financially and such. He cared about her deeply, but never felt the place to say it. It was only when it was recited in that TV movie based on “Is there life out there?” that I realized it was about her father.