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| Inside of Program; Sealing Date and Surviving Family |
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| Memorial Service Agenda |
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| Back of Program; We put the lyrics to Over the Rainbow and song those at the balloon release |
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| One of Dad's Favorite Songs |
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| I could not say good bye but God Be With You Till We Meet Again |
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| Arrangement Julie and I did; Julie the Vocalist and I on the Flute |
Here is my Eulogy that I gave:
My Dad was born July 1, 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio. He had three older sisters and they all babied him.
Even at a very early age my Dad was very independent. He taught himself how to hunt and fish. He liked hunting so much that he use raise
beagles.
He would always take off from school the first day of
hunting season. In high school he earned a black belt in karate. He also enjoyed shop class, which is no surprise
because he became an exceptional craftsman!
After high school he took off the first semester of
college only to regret that he got drafted to the Vietnam War. Due to his status, he chose to join the Navy
as an instant petty officer rather than going into the army at a lower rank. While waiting to leave for Vietnam, he was stationed in Coronado,
California. He only had 24 hrs left before
he was going to be shipped to Vietnam, but something happened for the very first
time in US history. There were too many SeaB’s, so he got stationed to Adak
Alaska.
Two weeks after he came home he met my mother. Upon their first meeting, he told his sister
that he was going to marry her. They were married 1 ½ years later and soon after, they
started a custom home building business together.
Later Mom joined the church in 1980 and dad joined in
1982.
Under the dismay of my Mother, they moved 13 times within
the first ten years of their marriage. In fact my first words were dada and ba-bye. To this day, I don’t like to stay in one spot that long.
Obviously, my Dad had three daughters.
One memory I have of Him was when I was almost five years
old. My Dad loved to fish. He went on a fishing trip for a week to Canada. I remember I was so excited to see Him, I ran up to Him
to give him a big kiss, but when I saw Him, he had his full fledged beard going
on. It scared the heck out of me, I took off to my room and hid
under the bed until he literally had to shave it all off. I didn't care how
many times he told me it was him, Dad. I didn't believe him.
We were sealed as a family in the Washington D.C. Temple
in 1983.
When I was younger, I have to admit I wasn't always keen
on singing sacrament hymns. I still can remember my dad nudging me to sing. He loved listening and singing hymn music. Who would have
thought when I went inactive many years ago. What I missed most were the hymns.
It’s funny how Dad knew way back then.
Our family moved to Texas in 1982 from Ohio. Once my Dad set foot in Texas, he never wanted to leave
and go back to shoveling snow. And He also loved the people in Texas.
My Dad loved to garden. We always ate vegetables from His
garden. He loved his flowers too, especially his roses.
My Dad was better than mcguiver, (he had no writer’s writing
for him) he was always rigging something up.
He was a perfectionist, his workmanship was impeccable. He
made beautiful wood furniture; everything he worked on became a masterpiece for
him.
Earlier this year we took a trip back to his Home town, we
visited a restaurant where he managed and he told me how on break they would go
out back and shoot guns illegally. He loved shooting. My Dad took me shooting when I was 7, since then we
always tried to go shooting whenever we could.
His kind of Family Home Evening consisted of a very short
lesson and either balloon or water volleyball.
When the Houston, Texas Temple opened, he was a temple
worker. Prior to that, Mom and Dad were excursion workers.
My Dad was not a man of many words, He wished he could
just hold us and our worries would just fade away.
On February 8, 2007, my Dad was blessed with his very
first granddaughter, Sasha Lee.
Whenever He was with Sasha he would light up. He said she
was her princess. He taught her how to play ball. You should see the way she
keeps her eye on the ball. He even got her interested in football, Now at five years
old she is a huge Texan fan, she watches the whole game. She is better than me,
I can’t even watch the whole thing.
On September 2011, dad was diagnosed with renal cancer
and was given 2 months to live. Soon after, He was given 3 hours to live just before
Thanksgiving 2011.
When my Mom told him his blood pressure was dropping, he
fell asleep for about 20 minutes and then woke up and said, “Dad’s bucket list!
- I’m going to sit up and raise my blood pressure.”
That statement alone tells you about my Dad’s drive.
Before we brought Him home from the hospital he would
always look out the window and welcome the sunshine. He missed being able to
walk outside and wish the sunshine a good morning.
He gave me some advice in the hospital, he told me to pay
attention to the simple things in life because those are things that really mattered. So I would like to share His message with you all.
Stop and enjoy the
simple things in life
Another bucket list item for Him was to take Sasha to
Disney World, which we were able to make happen this past summer. He loved watching
Sash’s excitement as she was able to visit with the different princesses. There
was nothing that would have stoped him from taking her. No matter how he felt.
During this past year, my Dad became very interested in doing
our family genealogy and we were able to take a trip to Ohio to do more family research
and submit more names for temple work. He loved remembering stories from his
childhood.
Another momentous moment for my Father this year was
being able to go back to the temple. He
loved being in the temple and was usually speechless when he talked about his
feelings regarding going back to the temple.
Those who have spent time with him this year especially,
were able to witness his fight, his determination, and his will to live. An example of his will power, was when He lost the use of
his dominate arm back in November of last year. He learned to not only use his
other arm but he also learned to paint. We have his paintings displayed so you
can see what he accomplished.
My Dad valiantly battled cancer. Even in the midst of
unbelievable pain, he was still so polite saying please and thank you to those
around him.
He was a doer- He
hated not supporting his family and to this day. He has still supported his
family.
What I will remember most about Him were his manners,
his humbleness,
His kind heart,
his ability to forgive easily
and his unconditional love.
