A Tribute and View of My Father's Legacy

What follows is the text of my remarks at the Celebration of My Father's Life (March 2nd, 2009)

Deuteronomy 11: 19 & 21 – Teaching your children God’s Word.
19 “And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and then thou risest up.”
21 “That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.”

Dad had a particular way of teaching, and that was by example. In my view his teaching was very much like the teaching of Jesus. One focus of his teaching was Love. He would counsel that “You Love your spouse, your children, your grandchildren, your great grandchildren (people), and you LIKE everything else.” And he taught this by example.

Another focus of his teaching was about thinking. Here he focused on learning and teaching how to think, not what to think. He believed that if you knew how to think, and did, in-fact spend time thinking, you would come to the right conclusion for the situation. He provided us with the opportunity to make choices, and he loved us regardless of the choices we made because he knew they were our choices, and he trusted that we had thought through them.

Another focus of his teaching was honesty, integrity, truthfulness, honest work, and giving. He taught these values, and he was a living example of them. He taught us these values were of upmost importance in everything we do. He taught us that admitting mistakes and taking responsibility for our actions, while sometimes hard to do, was a way of demonstrating these values.

He also taught us about humor, fun, and enjoying life. During this past year, when asked over and over, “When is your birthday?” He once replied “Same day as it was yesterday!” and another time he replied “May 14th” and when further questioned “What year?” he smiled and replied “Every year”.

Dad and Mom taught us, about Love, Thinking, Honesty, Integrity, Truthfulness, Humor, and Life. In this way his days are truly multiplied beyond his years.