Eulogy for Father in Law

David was a man of many words, full of life and love. His death came as a surprise to all of us, including me. I’ll never forget that day. We were on the phone hours before the car accident. I called him to ask his opinion on an anniversary present for John, my husband and David’s son. I always loved to ask his opinion on certain things because he would put thought into the answer he gave me, and he often thought of things that I did not. After we discussed the anniversary present, we spent another hour on the phone talking about various things, like how the kids were doing and how Margaret, his wife, was. I could always talk to David for hours.

Anyone could call David and talk for hours. He loved people, as you can tell by the cramped seating in here today. Everyone David went, he could strike up a conversation with a stranger, and before you knew it they were invited to Thanksgiving dinner.

Today, it seems like everyone is always in a hurry. You wind up having short, rushed phone conversations and hurried visits. Not David though. It was as if he had no concept of time. That’s because the conversation or the visit was more important to him than being on time to something else, provided it wasn’t an important doctor appointment or school play.

David came to all of the kid’s school plays. He was a family man, and you could tell the he was committed to being there as much as he possibly could by the way he always made time for everyone. Like that day, we got off the phone when I heard that he had dinner in the oven. I said, “Well, I guess I’ll let you go so you can cook.” His reply was that dinner would be fine, and we were on the phone for another ten minutes. He then left to go to the grocery.

I never realized that day that I would never get to have another phone conversation with David, or that it was the last time I would tell him goodbye, but it was. David knew that life was short, and that’s why he took the time to celebrate life, spending every minute that he could with people that he loved. He was a wonderful man with a gentle spirit, and he will be missed.