Eulogy For Dad — 2nd November 1936–5th December 2018

Unfortunately, my Father passed away a couple of weeks ago and yesterday was the funeral. I thought it was worth sharing the eulogy that I wrote for this here.

“Obviously, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about Dad over the past couple of weeks. I’d forgotten just how much of an impact that he’d always had on me until I started thinking about it properly. While growing up, he constantly inspired me, taught me, and instilled in me the great values that I now live my life by.

He taught me that nothing is impossible. You just need to spend time learning, usually by simply having a go at something, to push yourself out of your comfort zone, and put in the hard work to make a success of something. Dad’s work ethic and ability to create things from nothing was amazing, and something I aspire to every single day. He didn’t just work hard though. He had fun, enjoyed himself, and always had a smile on his face at the same time, in absolutely everything he did.

The skills he taught me have been invaluable. We worked on and built a variety of cars together. We even rebuilt a whole house from top to bottom, doing every single thing ourselves. As someone with limited DIY skills at the time, there were times I was ready to give up. Dad persevered though, probably with me more than some of the jobs, and we completed everything together. Perseverance was yet another great lesson from him. He even continued to support both Sue (my sister)and I with things like this well into his 70’s. He was often given lists of little jobs when he dropped us off at the airport when going on holiday!

It wasn’t just Sue and I he helped though. Dad was always someone who could be relied on to help anyone and everyone. He was constantly doing things for others with no expectation of anything in return. He was the epitome of selflessness.

Of course, the reason Dad was able to do this was that he was one half of a partnership. The other half was Mum and they did everything together and always supported each other. They really were the perfect partnership. When Mum passed away 4 years ago Dad really struggled. I know how hard this hit us all as a family, so I can’t imagine what it must have been like for him. He never really recovered from this. Dad wouldn’t have wanted today to be about sadness though, but happiness that they’re now reunited again.

Right up to the last time I saw him, Dad had a cheeky smile on his face. My memories of him will always be what a brilliant Father, Grandfather, and friend he was to so many people. Someone who fully lived and made the most of every minute of every day, and did so smiling, while making the people around him do the same.“