Dad's Eulogy
Hi, I'm Ed
Jr, and I have the privilege of closing these remembrances. It seems like a very short time ago that I
was standing in front of many of you for my Dad's 70th birthday party,
preparing and executing his roast. And I
remember at that time that he was very focused on making sure that I sat down
so that he could have the last word.
Well, Dad, it looks like I get the last word.
I am, and
just speaking for the family, humbled by this, and by the words, and support
and prayers that we've received over the past week. I cannot tell you how many people upon
hearing of my father's passing, have said to me, “you know what, Ed, your
father and I, we had this unique thing, he just understood me the way no one
else did. And he was a really special guy.”
And he was that for a lot of people, and I think just the number of
people here, and the number of calls, and the way that we've heard you all
speak of him is a testimony to that. And
I am convinced that is because he loved people on their terms. So often, you know, people's relationships
are based on this weird, if I do it for you and you do it for me then we'll be
friends. But with my Dad it was, where are you at, and
how can I serve you and love you where you are.
And I can't tell you that I have ever seen a better picture of
godliness, in so far as godliness is loving one
another.
There's
this great interaction between Christ and one of the teachers of the day, I
think it's in all three of the synoptic gospels but it's sure in Mark. And its one of the few positive interactions
that Christ has with a pharisee, a teacher. And the teacher comes up to Christ and says,
“Rabbi, what is the greatest commandment?” And Christ says, “the
greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and the
second is to love your neighbor as yourself.”
The pharisee says, “you've
answered wisely.” And Christ, sort of
seeing that the man got it, in a way that many of the people of the day didn't,
said to him, “Truly, truly I say to you, you are not far from the
And yet I
am struck with the question of why did it have to happen now, why not 20 or 30
years from now? And he was such a
healthy man, he was running around kicking the pants
off his paddle tennis opponents. And you
know in one way, that's how Dad woulda wanted
it. He would have wanted to go out in
the classy way he lived his life. Giving
110 percent doing what he loved with the people he loved. And that's the way it was. But Dad, why did it have to happen now? There is so much of my life, of my brother's
life, of my sister's life, of her family's life that we want to share with
you.
And what
many of you know and has come to me as I was reflecting and praying on this this week is, my Dad was traveling with a number of folks
in 1979 and the reason that we are down in LA is that there was a horrible
plane crash in 79 outside of Chicago.
And he was traveling with four companions that he worked with, and those
four guys made up the LA office of Hamilton Standard, he was the sole person
outside of LA. They were in Chicago and
he was about to get on this airplane, this American Airlines DC10, and he
changed his flight at the very very last minute and
decided to come straight to San Francisco instead of going home through LA and
come home and spend a little more time with his family. And of course that's the flight that crashed,
and his four co-workers were killed and he kinda came
down to LA, and started up the office.
But as I was praying and thinking about why did it have to happen so
soon, it occurred to me that maybe God looked down on a ten y ear old boy and
his five year old brother and their mom and said “I think I am going to give
them 25 more years with one of my beloved, and he is going to love them well,
and he is going to love my family well and his neighbors well and the people in
his church well.” And so it came to
pass. And I can only say that I am
thankful, so thankful, for the grace of God to have known my father. And known what it means to love well and to
serve well. Truly, truly I say to you,
Dad, you were not far from the
Thank you
everyone for coming.