Tribute to my Dad...

I wrote and read a tribute to my father at his funeral. It was by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do but I felt strongly that someone who knew him well needed to speak. I miss him so much!!! I felt I captured some of my father. No matter how much time you have it is short... I know he is with me when he was dying in the hospital I asked God to have Dad be Ava Kate's guardian Angel. I know he is watching her sleep now..

There are many things my father loved. He loved chocolate, candy, his wife, grandchildren, cousin Sherry’s potato soup, George Bush, and Auburn Football. Tim and I, his children, we have always known that we fall somewhere in between candy and George Bush. We are still not sure where.

Daddy loved many things you might not know about he loved saving money, starting fires, fishing, moving , and the Republican Party. My dad’s motto through life has always been “it is not how much you make it is how much you save”. He reminded us of this every time we discussed spending money on anything whether it be a car, groceries, gas, or stopping at the store to buy a coke for $1.25..because we have coke at the house and if we don’t you are not going to die of thirst anyway. Dad certainly reminded me of this statement anytime I would call and ask for a “loan”.After he would state his motto to me, “it is not how much you make it is how much you save “he would then work out a payment plan and tell me how lucky I am he is not charging me interest. He would also say where is the other money you owe me. The $97.92 you borrowed on July 17,2003 when are you going to give me the money you owe me. He kept excellent records. Any bank would love to have him in charge of their loan department. My dad could tell Dave Ramsey a thing or two about saving money.
Dad also had a strong desire to be a fireman or so rethink by how often he started fires. He loved hardwork and even on the weekends he worked in the yard or in the house. He is truly the hardest working man I knew. He mowed, burned brush, planted and harvested the garden and completed many more chores. He and his brother “Hood” would gather up the brush and set a small fire to burn the brush. The small brush fire turned into a big woods fire and a call being placed to 911. This occurred over the course of several years and became the prime entertainment of our sleepy neighborhood.

Dad also loved fishing. To be honest he did not like fishing with me. But I loved fishing with him. I would beg and beg him to take me fishing. Being the good father that he was he finally took my mom, my brother, and myself fishing. We had a wonderful family day out on the boat until he said it was time to clean the fish. I being young and not knowing what “cleaning the fish” was about I excitedly volunteered to give them a bath. He told me that I misunderstood what “cleaning the fish” meant and he started chopping the

fish heads off of their bodies. I started screaming and crying and he never took me fishing again, ever not even as an adult.

Dad also threaten to disown me once only once to my knowledge. My dad loves Politics, Fox News, and he is extremely loyal to the Republican Party. I made the decision as an 18 year to cast my vote for Bill Clinton. I proudly told dad who I voted for and he quickly replied that he didn’t know where he went wrong as a parent, he has been a card carrying Republican all of his life and he somehow managed to raise not one but two liberal democrats, I knew then that my brother had made the same mistake I made. But the funny thing is that my brother and I are far from liberal democrats but in our dad’s eye one vote cast for democrat makes us one.

Dad has always been extremely supportive of any ideas my brother and I came up with. When I went to interview for a teaching job in Georgia dad drove me there. But it could have meant that he wanted me out of his house that bad he was willing to drive me wherever I wanted to go no matter how far. I cant count the times he helped me move. My big move to Florida ten years ago was the last big move he assisted me with. My mom and I could tell the move was hard on him. As I was moving he pointed to a moving truck passing by and said the next time you move “Two Men and a Truck “ will move you and I wont be one of the two men.

Those of you that knew my dad well knew how tough he was on the outside but how sweet and kind he was on the inside. He was a homebody that is for sure but he loved people and his pets. Dad loved his grandchildren and truly wanted to provide them with absolutely everything on earth. I remember when my brother came home with his children to visit and there was a shiny go cart in the drive way. I will never forget one time when he called me and told me he was going to buy my one year old daughter a cell phone. I asked him why would a one year old need a cell phone, he replied because “She will have a direct phone line to me when she wants something”. Dad always enjoyed phone calls from people checking on him and people dropping by to visit him. He went through a rough battle but he never complained. We always told him he had nine lives, he fought so hard to the end but he never gave up and would always come back fighting harder than before. Dad was willing to take whatever pain he had to to get well. Dad did not attend church but he lived it through his actions. To this day I have never heard him say an unkind word about others well except for Politicians but that is

for another day. We will truly miss our dad, husband,granddad,brother,cousin, uncle, and friend. But we have certainly learned a lot from him even when you are facing the toughest battle do so with grace and pride. We already miss our dad so much. I have already thought about calling him to ask him something at least a thousand times a day since he has passed. We his family have been truly over whelmed by the kind words and actions of our friends and family. We greatly appreciate everyone’s support.