Cheri,
Best of luck reconnecting with your Dad. As for B&W conversions and general fixing of my photos, I use the free tool from Shutterfly (
http://www.shutterfly.com/studio/overviews.jsp). I've also used Irfanview and Picasa (both free tools), but find that the Shutterfly app is the best for my purposes. Plus it streamlines uploading to my Shutterfly account.
Art
www.artyoungphoto.com
Nikon D70s
18-70mm f/3.5-4.5
50mm f/1.4
80-200mm f/2.8
300mm f4.5