Graveside 11/17/2008
We all learned a great deal from Dad by simply observing his life. While many people have great advice in life it is of the ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ variety. To follow Dad’s best advice all you needed to do is live your life by his example.
I learned from Dad that we are not so much defined by our successes in life as by the adversity we face. As a young man he suffered a very severe injury during WWII but it never really slowed him down physically. Oh sure he had a ‘bad back day’ every now and then when Mom would firmly but politely insist that one of his 4 strong sons do the lifting necessary that day. He managed, however, to try and exercise almost every day of his life on earth including his last.
At the not so young age of 61 we all know The Mart ceased operations. He could have withdrawn into himself and quit. Many do, Dad did not. He in fact went on to be a very successful business broker right up until his disease made that impossible. I still remember the largest deal he ever brokered. He assisted in the creation of a significant sized regional trucking company by putting a single buyer together with three sellers. Not bad for an old guy!
Finally, he faced his disease like everything else in life; with courage, discipline and a will to succeed. In this case success was simply defined by surviving with a quality of life sufficient to make going on worth it. Last Friday he and God decided that was no longer the case.
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