I just returned home from a trip where I got to spend the final days with my Uncle who was more than a relative he was a true friend. He is in Heaven with God right now I'm sure. I would like to share with you the eulogy I delivered to give you an Idea of the kind of man I was lucky enough to have called Uncle and more importantly Friend.
I am truly humbled and honored to say a few words about a GREAT MAN
My Uncle Bob was one of those people that just made you feel GOOD! You couldn't’ be around him for five minutes without smiling from ear to ear. He had that shining light from the inside out thing down pat! He walked in a room and it lit UP! He didn’t just shine… He GLOWED! He loved to laugh and loved LIFE! He KNEW about JOY and peace… he KNEW what was important.
I once heard it said that “death begins with life’s first breath, and life begins at the touch of death.” If Uncle Bob has anything to say about it at all… He will make that true. I’m betting right now he’s up there, in heaven, looking down on us all joking and smiling, that big old warm smile of his. He loved to heckle and have fun….He’s probably up there telling the angels stories about how he and his brother, my Uncle Harold, taught us all to become excellent snipe hunters. If you don’t know about snipe hunting… it’s a long story see me after and I’ll pass on some of Uncle Bob’s best tips.
Uncle Bob wasn’t just smiles and laughs…. He had amazing character too… a heart so big there was room for all of us … He was strong… AWESOMELY so…..and he had NERVES of steel! I think he was the designated driving instructor for the whole family and then some! How many of us did he teach to drive? How many of our parents are grateful he did? After all, there aren’t too many people in this world who can toss the keys of a brand new car to a kid who doesn’t even know how to drive. That’s a man with an incredible ability to trust, an incomprehensible level of patience, and a real capacity to love. That was my UNCLE BOB! He was the first to come running when you needed help. He didn’t just share this with the family…. He was a non-preferential helper. He’d help ANYONE he crossed paths with! If someone needed help he was Johnny on the spot…. It didn’t matter if you were family or a total stranger. He’d do what was needed and then some. And MAN oh MAN was he a great listener! If you needed someone to let it all hang out with… or you needed some wise counseling and good advice.. He was it. He never judged you…. And always had the right words to say to make you feel better. His “can do” positive attitude was a true inspiration. He wasn’t just my Uncle… He was my friend.
In the last few days I have looked back on all the times I got to share with him….. I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to have know him and have him be a part of my life… to call him Uncle Bob. The passion he had for life is a great example for us all to follow. That IS his legacy and it will live on forever. He set a great example as a husband, father, brother, grandfather, uncle and friend. His life’s greatest work was in us, the people who he touched, and that will pass down … generation after generation. From snipe hunting to living life out loud every day…. His light will live every time we use what he taught us through his life.
To honor that light… the life that Uncle Bob REALLY LIVED….. We should be celebrating… of course there is sadness, our loss was so great… my heart aches…. But my soul rejoices…. Because I KNOW he is in a place where there is no pain… no disease…. Uncle Bob doesn’t have to fight or endure anymore… not one more second. My Pastor says that he lives his life hoping one day to hear God say to him “well done, my good and faithful servant, well done” I’m betting that when Uncle Bob arrived at the pearly gates he heard those very words and heaven threw him one heck of a welcome home party!
Today we have a chance to give back to Uncle Bob…. He wanted his life to be celebrated….. So let’s wipe away our tears and give him the kind of celebration his life deserves!
And to Uncle Bob, …. It’s not Goodbye but I‘ll see you later… Thanks for being YOU! We Love you we miss you.
