February 23, 1923, and “The Eulogy”

Today, February 23rd, is a special day as it would be my father’s 88th birthday. He was 81 when he passed away on May 4, 2004. It’s a day that my family will never forget. I remember getting the dreaded phone call that dad was in the Olean General Hospital. I was in a class at Jamestown Community College in Olean not far from the hospital. I was only taking one class, Public Speaking, just to see if I could do it. My nephew picked me up at the school and took me to the hospital. I won’t give a detailed description of what transpired on that fateful evening right now. Perhaps I will at another time, on another page, but tonight I just want to remember my Father on his special day. My last speech in my Public Speaking class the week following dad’s death, turned from the topic that I had planned, to being his eulogy, something that I never had the heart to give at his funeral; None of us did, we were too heartbroken. This is the eulogy, had I the fortitude that I would have read at his funeral: The unread “Eulogy”