this is the tribute from my mom and her siblings for my grandfather on the day of his funeral. ran across this today while searching through old emails.

my grandfather was amazing. not a perfect man, but a great man. he loved his family. he loved God. he was an example of faith in action and living what you believe in practice and in theory. he was kind and wise.

i miss him. i think everyone does. i wish i could have spend more time with him at the end, but i was in the last stage of my pregnancy, forbidden from getting up to do anything other than go to the bathroom. i wanted to be at his service more than anything, but my son was born at 4:30 am on the day of his memorial. the delivery was complicated, scary, and botched.

but in the midst of grief came hope. as we celebrated my grandfather’s life and grieved his death we also celebrated the new life of a child. my son almost died on the day of my grandpa’s funeral, but instead new life was born - a testament of the legacy of faith and hope of my grandfather.

Tribute to Dad from all six of us kids 07/17/04

Dad was many things to each of us children. First and most important he was our Dad. He was loving, yet firm and a man of his word. When Dad said something, it was not questioned. We knew Dad would not ask any of us to do something that was not right. This was re-enforced by his example. Dad was a man of prayer. Sometimes he would reveal something in a prayer that was new to us. We learned to listen, and we learned to pray. We were all fortunate to be led to the Lord at a young age. Then as each was ready, Dad baptized us. As a pastor, dad required us to attend church on Sundays, both morning and evening and again on Wednesday night. Dad loved music and had certain records he would plan on Sunday morning to wake us up so we would be on time. Sometimes we were the larger part of the congregation. Because of Dad, we now all attend church on a regular basis as do our children. Dad had a way of telling stories to get a point across in his sermons. A favorite was on called “the baloney sandwich.” We all knew we could go to Dad and talk to him. He would give advice and leave it up to us if we took it or not. Dad would sometimes tell us “when in doubt, don’t.” Dad gave to us the gift of unconditional love. Dad may not of always approved of our actions, but his love never wavered.

Dad and Mom had a special relationship. As children, we never saw or heard them argue or fight. When there was a disagreement they went to their room and discussed it behind closed doors. Sometimes they went for a drive. As we each grew and married, Dad walked each of us girls down the aile and then walked up front and performed the ceremony. Dad did the ceremony for the boys as well. We learned from Dad and Mom’s example the guidelines of marriage. As each of us became parents, we might find ourselves in a particular situation and we would think back and say, “what would Dad do in this situation?” We could be confident in the answer we came up with. Dad would have us write out the pros and cons in a situation and then encourage us to come up with the decision on our own. Many of us have used the same guidelines with our children. Dad and Mom would set aside family time. Time together was always important. We had a “game” night set aside and we would go on mystery trips. On a mystery trip we would all get in our station wagon and Dad would drive to some unknown destination. Many times we would end up in Hood River to look at the apple trees in bloom. We usually had a picnic packed and Dad would pull over in a field and we would have a tailgate picnic. Dad taught us to love nature. He took us hunting and fishing. We even slept out under the stars. Dad taught us to marvel in the wonderful world the Lord created for us. Dad’s parenting example continued into his role as a grandfather. He always, with mom’s help called each grandchild and great-grandchild on their birthday and sang happy birthday to them. Many times he would end the song with a silly ending. Dad had a great sense of humor. He loved a good joke. Even as he lay in his bed at Hopewell Hospice House, he would say something that would bring laughter to all that were near. Dad was a great encourager. Dad brought encouragement to us all in the way he; fought a good fight, finished the course strong, and kept his faith. We all miss Dad and know we will see him again when our work here on earth is done.

Lovingly, Lynnie, Kimmy, Kareny, Lori, Billy, and Howie