Looking out I see many family and friends… It is such a healing gift to be surrounded by your love for my father. Thank you for coming and showing my family and me that my father holds a special place in your heart.
Your friendship allows us to know that my father will be nearby because of the memories stored within you. Please share them with us…never hold back, not now or in the years to come.
After 90 days at the hospital my mind’s eye and heart were full of my dad’s journey that he bear-ed with such grace.… My dad showed me courage, he showed me that he could endure much pain; he showed me dignity is his suffering.
My father’s death was beautiful… my family gathered around his bedside, prayed, saw him gaze lovingly into our eyes, knowing- trusting he was going to the heart of God, that his family on the other side was waiting for him with arms wide open.
It was a long and brave journey made whole.
I have struggled to find the right words, the right stories, the right note that would speak truly of my father…
But there are simply too many….. Family, faith, Ferndale, farming, fiesta, Westport, motorcycles …..
Single words that hold a lifetime connecting you, my family… to my dad. He had a rich life… a giving life and life that I admired even to his last breath…
I only hope I can be so strong…that I can be as generous in my love as he was in his abundant love for life and family.
He was a man of faith, and the rosary was never far from his lips.
Our family is the way it is because of my father’s and mother’s faith, their faith in God. It is a legacy of love that cannot be taken even in death. It lends us grace and gives us courage.
My Mother and Father shared a special love story, one that was real, honest, and paved the way for us their children to follow: Before my father died my mother told him: That out of all the beautiful women she was luckiest because he choose her, and that she was so happy to be his wife, and the mother of his children.
Listening to my Mother in that moment sharing with my dad her love… oh how he beamed, his face lit up full of love before starting his journey home.
My mother’s love was sacred to him.
This is what I know to be true….
My father loved unconditionally, it didn’t matter what you did or didn’t do, and it didn’t matter if you where his color or how old you were…. it didn’t matter what opinion you held, or if you rode a motorcycle or not….My dad loved and was loved. Who could ask for anything more? What a valuable gift I saw in my father’s attitude.
My brother Marty said, “That dad stopped aging at 60 or maybe 40….he simply did not grow old.” Life was something he enjoyed. And he lived it everyday to the fullest, in style and young at heart.
Every child should have a Father who shows them what love is all about. I could tell you over 81 reasons in a blink of an eye, why my Dad was a gem. How he was a generous man, how he would give you the shirt off his back, his wrangler jeans, boots and helmet too….even if he was standing, stranded outside, in a snowstorm, and you had a snowsuit on. He was loving down to the bare bone.
Every child should have a Father who tells them that the world is a beautiful place, and that they are worthy of it..
Oh Dad how you were so strong, so beautiful so extra cool!
We will see you Dad, yes we will see you in the rice fields as they flood and take root. We will see you in the eyes of your grandchildren and in all those that loved you. We will hear you in the memories that are stored in our hearts and that will be told and retold and remain vibrate for eternity. We will hear you with each Ninety, Harley, Honda and skid of the bicycle wheel. We will hear you when we turn on the radio and see Mom grabbing one of the grandchildren to teach them to jitterbug in the kitchen. Oh yes Dad you are here I see you in the eyes of those gathered here, of the many familiar faces, I see you greeting them with your sideways smile and easy laugh.
We will see you as the seasons turn, unfold and render… We have an abundant harvest in your love and you will be missed…
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