My Dad's Eulogy

I wrote this and then read it at my Dad's funeral.  I felt that someone from our family should speak and I knew that my mom was going to be unable to do so.  My dad passed away on June 3, 2010.

First of all, my mom and I would like to offer our sincerest Thank you to all of you here today. We would also like to say thank you to all of the people who have helped make this last two weeks just a little easier.

I’ve been trying to figure out what I was going to say today and it’s really tough. How do you wrap up everything you want to say about your dad into one talk?

I know this - We are here to celebrate my father’s life. And my father’s life was about taking care of his family.

I know that, without a doubt, I am who I am today because of my father.

Those of you who knew my father well, knew he was a man of few words, unless he was in an entertaining mood. He always said that he didn’t talk much because he couldn’t get a word in edgewise between my mom and I. I have to admit that he’s probably right about that.

So when my dad talked, you listened. Here are a few things that I learned from listening to my dad:

The joy of reading - my mom used to say that a bomb could go off in our house and my dad and I would say, “ let me finish this chapter first”

How to order lobster - steamed with drawn butter

The value of money - My dad always believed in saving your money. One day, tired of my mom and I arguing about the cleanliness of my bedroom, he offered me $400 to clean my room. I agree of course and began cleaning my room. As I cleaned I envisioned all the ways I would spend that $400. Little did I realize that Dad had already deposited the money in my college savings account and it would be years before I was able to spend it.

That anything could be accomplished with hard work and dedication

That the sales were going to kill him - he always said this when we came back from shopping and told him “But Dad, everything was on sale”

That a college education was the key to success - when I was little his words were always “When you go to college” never “if you go to college”

That he loved his grandchildren with all of his heart

Meagan - you made him so proud with all of your accomplishments and

Garrett - he thought you were so smart and he couldn’t wait to hear the next funny thing that you were going to come up with.

I could go on forever up here but dad wouldn’t have wanted me to so I’ll end with this:

Dad,

Mom doesn’t want me to say goodbye so all I’m going to say is

See you later alligator.

And I know that up in heaven you are saying

After while crocodile