Eulogy for Dad – the daughter’s perspective

My dad passed away last week after a brief illness. With Mom’s permission, I am posting the eulogy I wrote for him. I miss you and love you, Dad!

H was a quiet and private man. Actually, he probably would not want us to make a fuss over him today, except that he would have wanted this outpouring of support not for his own sake, but for MaryRob.

Over the past few days, his family has been remembering H with fondness for his  intelligence and caring and forthright personality. He was an avid reader (his favorite book was “Pride and Prejudice,” and he tried to get everyone around him to read it, too!), nature enthusiast, and student of famous quotations, such as “beauty is only skin-deep, but ugly goes straight to the bone.” He set an example by admitting to his own weaknesses, and pointedly taught his children to embrace their weaknesses, too, believing it to be one of the most important aspects of human nature. H always insisted his children be their best and most unique selves, and he supported their choices fiercely. Most important of all, he loved his family, and always made choices to put them ahead of everything else in life.

H delighted in surprising those around him with his sense of humor. He loved watching Bugs Bunny cartoons with his grandchildren, and often got to laughing just as hard as they did. He kept a file of hard copy “funnies” he had clipped over the years and would often duck out in the middle of a conversation, only to reappear with a “Garfield” or “Family Circle” or “Far Side” cartoon that perfectly punctuated the humor of a situation. In fact, upon discovering he was out of clean white t-shirts on the day of a particular wedding, he instead wore a Far Side t-shirt under his dress shirt!

H and MaryRob built two houses together and raised four wonderful kids.  He was a sweet man who loved to surprise MaryRob with gifts that required a lot of thought – a locket for their 30th anniversary, and on later anniversaries, a “grandchildren” charm bracelet to add the names of their five grandkids as they came along and then two more charm bracelets, as well. One bracelet reflected memories of the kids and the other remembered their lives together. One of the charms on that bracelet was a wheelbarrow charm, selected to represent the day early in their marriage when H accidentally dumped a load of cement on MaryRob, burying her up to her knees in concrete!

MaryRob says H would have asked for nothing more out of life than the great love he gave and received from his immediate and extended family.

Posted by Kay.