The White House: In Loving Memory of My Dad

Recently I have been avoiding blogging because I wanted to write something in memory of my dad and I just haven't had the ability to do it yet. I want to honor his life with a written eulogy here on my blog.

On Saturday morning June 27, 2009 a piece of my heart was torn out when my mom called to tell me that my dad had died suddenly of a heart attack while undergoing treatment for multiple myeloma (cancer). I cannot tell you how great of a loss his death is to our family. He was an amazing, godly man who lived the fruit of the spirit every single day of his life -- he was the epitome of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I know that we will join him in heaven some day, but today I miss him terribly.

Now, a little about my dad:

Not only was my Dad’s college degree in teaching but teaching was his passion. Unfortunately, after I was born he realized he couldn't afford to raise a family on a teacher's salary so he had to find another career. But the love of teaching never left him.

As children he made us do things we didn’t really want to do, all in the name of "educating" us:

We had to go to the Cincinnati art museum and the conservatory. We had to see a movie about Amadeus Mozart that none of the three of us kids wanted to see. We even had to learn to ride a city bus downtown just in case we ever needed that later in life.

Even with his grandchildren, he was always teaching. Each grandchild caught their first fish with Grandpa; they learned how to drive his John Deere lawn mower and how to shoot a B.B. gun (my boys thought it was so much fun to shoot Grandma’s flowers in the backyard).

He taught them things they didn’t really need to know…like he was the first person to introduce them to video games! And Grandpa actually got pretty good at the Scooby-Doo game!

He even taught them how to Monopoly. My dad and mom spent two days playing one game of Monopoly with my boys. Oh the patience he had! (The picture below is of my dad wearing a Native American headband Joel made for Thanksgiving one year -- Joel named Grandpa "Patience Chief" because of his great patience.)

Another passion of my dad’s was missions. When we were children Dad’s mission field was right at home – his three children were his mission. His mission was to teach us to love and serve Jesus.

When we were grown, his mission field became the world – traveling to many countries using his talents to help others and to teach them about Jesus.

His mission started at home, then went out into the world, and finally when his children grew up and had children, his mission field became his grandchildren. His mission was to show through love and by example what Christ’s love is like.

He left a legacy as a Christian father and Grandpa by teaching us and, more importantly, by demonstrating to us what it meant to be a man of God. I want you to know what a great man my dad was, but he would want you to know what a great God our God is. He lived the scripture: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind and all your soul.”

Now, about those grandchildren...

This past December my dad was diagnosed with cancer and although that's not what took his life, he did struggle with the effects of the disease. He was tired most of the time and seemed to keep to himself much more than normal. But, as my mom has told me many times, the thing that made him smile most were stories about the grandchildren. Anything they said or did made him smile -- the more ornery the child, the bigger my dad's smile.

Here are a few more pictures of Grandpa.

Teaching Joel how to bake

(here they are baking cookies,

but cracked wheat bread was his specialty).