For For H H H H H H H I For L For Oh H Hey Brian how are you good hello good morning On H H H You Am You For Of Than You H Good morning and I know there family gathers uh and thanks you for being here this morning our service is Will Follow the program that’s printed for you and the hymns are in the burgundy colored Himel so they’ll be marked and noted uh we’ll begin in the name of the father
And of the son and of the the Holy Spirit into whom Ken was baptized as a child the Paul represents the covering of Christ’s righteousness given to him please rise in holy baptism Ken was clothed with the robe of Christ’s righteousness that covered all of his sin St Paul
Writes do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father we too might walk in newness
Of life for if we have been United with him in a death like his we shall certainly be United with him in a resurrection like his you may be seated for the Himm My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Lord and righteousness Merit of my own I claim but holy lean on Jesus name on Christ the solid rock I stand ground is sinking sand when darkness fails his Lely face I rest on his unchanging Grace in every high and
Storing Anchor Holds within the veil on Christ the solid rock I Stand All of ground is sinking sand his his cant and blood support be in the raging blood when every Earthly FR gives way and is All My Hope and stay on Christ the solid rock I stand the ground is sinking
Sand when he shall come with trumpet oh may I in him be found in his righteousness alone redeemed to stand before his throne on Christ the Rock the ground is s and let us pray the Lord be with you oh god of grace and mercy we give thanks
For your loving kindness shown to Ken and to all your servants who having finished their course in faith now rest from their labors grant that we also may be faithful unto death and receive the Crown of Life through Jesus Christ your son our Lord who lives and reigns with
You and the Holy Spirit one God now and forever amen our first scripture reading for today for Ken’s funeral is written in Isaiah 43: 1-7 it talks of life’s progression of walking through Waters and that would be kind of like mud puddles uh little disturbances that caus
Us and maybe when our car hits them they kind of jog the steering wheel and then going through a river which has a current to it and can sweep us away and then going through a fire that destroys and through it all God says I will
Preserve you I will protect you I will take care of you from Isaiah chter 43 but now thus says the Lord who created you oh Jacob who formed you oh Israel fear not for I have redeemed you I have called you by name you are mine when you
Pass through the waters I will be with you and through the rivers they shall not overwhelm you and when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned and the flame shall not consume you for I am the Lord your God the Holy One of Israel your savior I
Give Egypt as your Ransom Kush and siba in exchange for you because you are precious in my eyes and honored and I love you I give men in return for you peoples in exchange for you fear not for I am with you I will bring your Offspring from the East and from the
West I will gather you I will say to the north give them up and to the South do not withhold bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the Earth everyone who is called by my name whom I created for my glory whom I formed and
Made this is the word of the Lord thanks be to God our second reading was chosen from 1 Peter 4: 7- 11 and life is a gift from God to be used for him and his purposes Peter writes the end of all things is at hand therefore be
Self-controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers above all keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins show Hospitality to one another without grumbling as each has received the gift use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied Grace whoever
Speaks as one who speaks Oracles of God whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to him be glory and Dominion forever and ever amen this is the word of the Lord please rise now for the Gospel
Reading Our Gospel reading today is written in John 14: 1-6 and Jesus promises fellowship with God that comes through him he says let your hearts not be troubled believe in God believe also in me in my father’s house are many rooms if it were not so
Would I have told you that I am go and prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again in and take you to be with to be with myself that where I am you may be
Also and you know the way to where I am going Thomas said to him Lord we don’t know where you’re going how can we know the way Jesus said to him I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me this is the
Gospel of the Lord praise to you oh Christ you may be seated seated we’re going to sing the next hymn hym number 727 You DW the shelter of the Lord who abide in his shadow for Life say to the Lord my refug my rock in whom I trust he will ra you up on E Wings you on the Bre in the palm of his hand the snare of the father will never capture you and famine will bring you no fear under his wings your Refuge his Fess your she and he will raise you up on wings be you on the breath of make you to shine like a
Sun and hold you in the palm of his hand you need not fear the terror of the night the arrow that flies by day no thousands call about you near you which shall not come he will raise you up on E Wings you the breath of shine like the
Son and hold you in the palm of his hand or to his Angel give you a command to guide you in all of your ways upon they will bear you up Dash your foot against a stone and he will raise you up on eag Wings may God’s Great richest grace and mercy and his peace be for you and upon your heart and especially for you Judy and your family and the friends who are gathered here and the Brothers and Sisters in Christ of Mount Calvary it’s never easy to lose a loved
One it’s just not it’s very hard whether that be a long illness or a sudden Twist of expectation uh that comes upon us so suddenly it’s inexplicable and death is a part of life the Old Testament King David wrote in 1 Chronicles chapter 19 we are here only
For a moment visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before for us our days on Earth are like a passing Shadow gone so soon Without a Trace and as we meet together we share a lot of deep feelings there’s feelings that are powerful and come upon us and
We may understand some of them and a lot of them we don’t understand they’re just powerful emotions and many things come on our heart and our mind and we want to acknowledge the sadness and the humanness uh that death brings to us and when it’s your husband or your
Father or grandfather someone you know and love it’s just hard and that’s hard to Define but we realize it and we know it and today it’s you’re surrounded by family and friends that say you know what it’s okay not to be okay sometimes it’s okay to cry
Because those are a mark of your love for for your family member and for Ken and today brings us all to the reality of death that someday my loved ones will pass on to another life someday it will be me and someday it will be you and it causes an uncomfortable pit
In our stomach and we might wonder what will happen next and what will be next because death is a deep mystery at one moment a person is warm and animate animated and conversant and the next minute they’re unable and death is a reality that Waits us all but there’s another word and more
Truth that needs to be spoken and that’s why we’re here in God’s house there’s the word from God from the one who un while we don’t understand death from the one who overcame death and that’s God’s son Jesus Christ the Risen savior himself and he speaks a word even more
True a word that will keep your hurt from becoming despair your pain from becoming insurmountable it’s the living presence of the Living Lord Jesus Christ who comes to you and part of this funeral service is that family and friends want you want to be with you and cry with you
And console and to put their arms around you and maybe laugh about some good memories you you share together but we also are here to point to the Eternal victory that God gives in Jesus Christ his son and I’d like to use Psalm 23 which we read at the hospital in words
That many of you know the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he maketh me to lie down in Green Pastures he leadth me in beside the Still Waters he restoreth my soul he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake y though I walk through the valley of
The shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies thou anointest my head with oil my cup runneth over surely goodness and mercy
Shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever David wrote many many centuries ago and back of over thousands of years ago and in that Psalm there’s three facets of life with God three
Scenes as it were if it were a play and the first one is the pasture isn’t it the Lord is my shepherd and he says he’s the shepherd and we’re the sheep and we’re in the pasture and really what he’s saying is God is a personal God the Lord is my
Shepherd I know him he knows me there’s one person who can call Ken my husband that’s you Judy and some of you call Ken my dad or my grandpa that’s a personal connection and God is letting you know In this passage he knows you he remembers you he knows you better than anybody
Else and he loves you and we’re his sheep and while they’re amazing animals sheep are pretty helpless they don’t have anything to defend themselves they’re they’re they don’t have uh any uh they need somebody else to take care of them and God provides for them he’s the shepherd and
That Shepherd’s job was to move them from here to there to pasture to safe place to make sure they’re fed to make sure they’re cared for and over and over God tells his people I’ll make sure you’re you’re taken care of and I know death makes me feel
Helpless I try to avoid it I try not to think about it I might even try good exercise and diet but it’s 100% we’re all that’s because we Ken I we’re all Sinners and we’ve fallen short doesn’t mean bad it means imperfect and it’s Christ who came for
Sinners for people who couldn’t take care of death themselves that Jesus overcame death for us and that’s the good news that he’d provide a savior and his death and his resurrection and that he’s bigger than death and he’s stronger than death and he knows life and life
Eternal and being raised up is like being on Eagle wings as we said it carries us and he lifts us strongly over things that uh we can’t control and maybe you felt a little sheepish the last couple days overwhelmed with a lot of things to do
And a lot of people to talk to and and to take care of God will take care of you and I see Ken was A Gifted Man right he loved to make things love engineer and I know that you will be sharing stories about your times together and there will be times when
You laugh as a family until it hurts and there will be times when you cry as a family like you’ve never cried before and they’ll all be jumbled up together and that’s called life I want you to know the Lord is my shepherd I shall not be un watch
He makes me to lie down in Green Pastures and then there’s another scene that is in this embedded in this one four verses through he does talk about the shepherd and the Sheep but then he adds thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies thou
Anointest my head with oil My Cup rth O over and here God is not a Shepherd but he’s a host and and he has uh his guests gathered together at a banquet table and the pl is his banquet table and while we see the personalness of God in the first
Scene here we see the provision of God for you he makes he makes uh he gives us in life what we need and he takes care of us and I see in the in Judy’s notes that she wrote about Ken’s life that he I found it interesting that as a young
Man he moved around a bit and uh one of his decisions was I want to make a home to stay here right I want to provide a stable secure place for my family God provided for you through him and God provides for us too in the midst of our emotions and
Circumstances of life God provides that he will in his economy take care he will supply all your needs according to his glorious provision which is yours in Christ Jesus St Paul would write he will provide all your needs and When God says all he means 100% therefore we don’t have to worry
Although we do sometimes worry we don’t have to manipulate or control or use negative means to try to make things work but we can live as God’s people as that first Peter passage talked about the newness of life and I think probably at your home you have a kitchen table I would assume
Where a lot of family meals were uh held together maybe even pizza from Eddies right because that’s our last scene where God is our father and we’re at home and he prepares it table and in a home a family is always welcomed in a home children are encouraged to be part of
It and a home is where we can be ourselves and be honest and this is where God says trust me trust me with your whole life with your whole heart cuz I’m not a God who who is out to get you I’m a God to receive you and to bless you surely
Goodness thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies thou anointest my head with oil my cup runneth over and then the last verse says surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell where in the house of the Lord forever
That’s the home that we’re talking about and he’s talking about his unchanging and unending love his goodness and his Mercy for you and for me and that’s important to remember on a day like this when we think when we see ending God says there’s so much more
There’s goodness and mercy that he will bring to you and to me therefore we live with a confidence in the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ that’s why our closing hymn will say Jesus is our confidence we’re going to trust in him when days are happy when days are tough we’re
Going to trust in Jesus Christ and goodness and mercy will follow us not like a puppy dog but it’s it’s like a galloping horse it’s coming after you he’s chasing you down not to harm you but to bless you and to bring his presence it’s like your
Home and that’s what Jesus Jesus talked about what heaven is it’s our Heavenly home today we weep and we mourn but we also trust we trust the goodness and the word and the living presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in his name we pray amen would you take out your Himel and join
Me in confessing our Christian faith together it’s on the inside back cover of the Himel uh the very back inside side cover let’s rise we’ll confess our faith and then we’ll continue with the prayers as they’re printed in the bulletin we confess our faith together I believe in God the Father Almighty maker
Of heaven and Earth and in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary suffered under pontious pilot was crucified died and was buried he descended into hell the third day he rose again from the dead he ascended
Into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty from then he will come to judge the living and the dead I believe in the Holy Spirit the holy Christian Church the communion of saints the Forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life
Everlasting amen and then if you would follow along in the program for the prayer of the church let us pray to the Lord our God who raised Jesus from the dead almighty God you have knit your chosen people together into one communion in the mystical body of your son Jesus Christ
Our Lord give to your whole church in heaven and on Earth your light and your peace Lord in your mercy grant that all who have been baptized into Christ’s death and Resurrection May die to sin and rise to newness of life and so pass with him
Through the gate of death and the grave to our joy ful Resurrection Lord in your mercy our pray give to the family of Ken and to all who mourn comfort in their grief and assure confidence in your loving care that trust that casting their sorrow on you give courage and
Faith to the bereaved that they may know the consolation of Your Love Lord in your mercy here our pray help us we pray in the midst of the things we cannot understand to believe and find comfort in the things we can understand the communion of saints the Forgiveness of
Sins the resurrection of the body and the life Everlasting Lord in your mercy our pray receive our thanks for Ken gra gager and for all the blessings you bestowed on his life in this Earthly life bring us at last to our Heavenly home that that we may see you face to face in
The joys of paradise Lord in your mercy our pray and taught by our Lord and in and trusting his promises we are bold to pray Our Father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as it is in
Heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from Evil for thine is the kingdom Kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever amen Lord God Our Shepherd you gather
The Lambs of your flock into the arms of your mercy and bring them home Comfort us with the certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life and a joyful reunion with those we love who have died in the faith through Jesus Christ your son our Lord who lives and
Reigns with you and the Holy Spirit one God now and forever amen please be seated and on the third page we’ll continue with the Benedictus that just means blessed so let us bless the Lord thanks be to God the Lord bless you and keep you the Lord make his face to shine
Upon you and be gracious unto you the Lord look upon lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace amen let us go forth in peace am we’ll continue with the hymn 490 Jesus Lives the victories one death no longer can appall me Jesus lives that rain is done from the grave Christ will recall me brighter seen shall then commence this shall be my confidence Jesus to the all things is GI I shall go where he is gone r with him in
Heaven God is faithful doubting hands this shall be my confidence Jesus lives for me he died and to Jesus living p in heart and AC praise to him and Glory giving all I need God will dispense this shall be my confidence Jesus Lives I know from him shall s
Nether death nor power of Hell me now from Christ forever Christ will be my sure defense this shall be my confidence Jesus lives and now is dead king of Life immortal shall call my trembling breath pass it gloomy portal F shall cry each feels each sense this shall be my
Confence not commit Ken’s body to the ground and to the care of his creator and his Redeemer and the the sanctifier we read passages regarding the resurrection that Christ promises Jesus said the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified truly I say to
You unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it remains alone but if it dies it Bears much fruit whoever loses his life whoever loves his life loses it and whoever hates his life in this world will keep will keep it for light
Eternal life if anyone serves me he must follow me and where I am there will my servant be also if anyone serves me the father will honor him and Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15 concerning the resurrection so it is with the resurrection of the Dead what is sown as
Perishable what is raised is imperishable it is sown in dishonor it is raised in Glory it is sown in weakness it is raised in power it is sown a natural body it is raised a spiritual body if there is a natural body there’s also a spiritual body thus
It is written the first man Adam became a living being the last Adam Christ became the life-giving spirit but it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural and then the spiritual the first man was from the earth a man of dust the
Second man is from Heaven as was the man of dust so also those who are of the dust and as the man of heaven so also are those who are of Heaven just as we have borne the image of the man of dust we shall also bear the image of the man of
Heaven and one more reading from 1 Thessalonians CH 4 13-1 17 Paul writes we grieve with a hope he says we do not want you to the uninformed Brothers about those who are asleep or who have died that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope for
Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so through Jesus God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep for this we declare to you by a word from the Lord that we who are alive who are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede those precede
Those who have fallen asleep for the Lord himself will descend from from heaven with a cry of command with the voice of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet and the dead in Christ will rise first then we who are alive who are left will be caught up together
With them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord and now we commit the body of Ken our brother to the ground Earth to Earth ashes to ashes and dust to dust in the sure and certain
Hope of the Resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ who will change our loly bodies so that we will be like his glorious Body by the power that enables him to subdue all things unto himself may God the Father who created this body may God the son who by
His blood redeemed this body may God the Holy Spirit who by holy baptism Sanctified this body to be his Temple keep these remains to the day of the resurrection of All Flesh amen almighty God by the death of your son Jesus Christ you destroyed death and
By his rest in the Tomb you Sanctified the graves of your Saints and by his bodily Resurrection you brought life and immortality to light so that all who die in him abide in peace and hope receive our thanks for the victory over death and the grave that he won for us keep us
In Everlasting in communion with all who have waited for him on Earth and with all that in heaven who are with him for he is the resurrection and the life even Jesus Christ Our Lord amen on the back cover is a hymn abide with me we’ll sing verses 1 and five Together Abide with me fast Falls The Tide The Darkness Lord with me abide when other helpers fail and come forts flee help of the helpless oh abide with me Swift to its close abs out life’s little day Earth Joys grow it glories pass away change and decay in all around I
See oh thou who changes not abide with me and the last verse is a comforting one also hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes shine through the Gloom and point me to the skies Heaven’s mour breaks and Earth’s vain Shadows flee in life in death O Lord abide with
Me Allelujah Christ is risen he is risen indeed let us go forth in peace in the name of our Lord amen and I know the gager family thanks you for being here with them we’re going to have a prayer and I know Ken uh Steve wants to say a
Few words to the gathered people here so let’s uh let’s uh thank God uh for the meal that’s going to be prepared before us and it’s Pizza what all kinds or just pepperoni or all kinds of different kinds well it’s a gift from God to us so Heavenly
Father every good and perfect gifts comes from your hand and you do provide for us because you’re a personal God you know us and you know our needs and thanks be to you you call us your sons and daughters through faith in Jesus Christ we celebrate what you’re doing in
Our lives right now and we receive with Thanksgiving the spiritual food we need but also the physical food of the pizza before us we ask you to be a part of it and we’ll pray if you know this part of the prayer pray with me come Lord Jesus
Be Our Guest and let these gifts to us be blessed amen that should be the church doing that a long time since I stood up here probably uh for choir church choir be about the last time um and even though I’m much older now Mom still doesn’t hesitate to give
Me a list a to-do list for the first thing I get up here so uh the pastor already said it but thanks for everybody for coming um and paying their respects to Dad we appreciate it um he’s already talked about the pizza the Edie’s Pizza
Um that was kind of like a I think everybody shouted at the same time we’re have Ed’s Pizza for his funeral so um going to tell you a little bit more about my dad my mom’s right up uh in the uh thank you in the
Folder um said a lot and it was amazing as uh the day passed I went home and I started writing and a lot of the stuff that I came up with a lot of the same stuff she came up with I got a few more from the from the child’s perspective um
A lot of good times a lot of bad times but um I me my mom wrote you know my dad grew up in a tough time he grew up the year before World War II broke out um his mother was divorced at that time that was uh not something that people
Took kindly to um she spent you know the day’s working and the night’s taking classes so she could make a better life for herself My dad became independent as a fairly young age because he had to he constantly changed schools um a lot of that due to the postwar baby boom and
School lines changing and just the fact that you know he stayed with his mother his stepfather and his brother in Grand Rapids and then also hitchhiked to uh uh South Ben to stay with his grandparents changing schools he constantly was meeting and then losing friends uh his biological father was an
Alcoholic and when staying with his grandfather he spent a lot of the time sobering his grandfather up so his grandfather could go to work this all had a profound impact on my father that would influence how he would b as a father so it was at a roller rink where
Mom and Dad met uh I’m sure his perfect little hair flip in two-tone blue Ford didn’t hurt but they shared a passion for rer skating and they did that for as long as they physically could uh when we were kids we would go skating together and I they were like
Magic on Skates um usually uh either during or at the end of the skating time all of a sudden the floor would clear and there was my mom and dad out there Waltzing or two- stepping on roller skates and everybody was absolutely in awe um and then they would do the same
Thing at uh wedding receptions all of a sudden they’re out there just Jitter bugging and not skates but not on skates no uh it was like Fred and ginger my father was a husband 65 years in May as they started a family my father told my mother that once the kids are in
School we’re staying put he was not going to subject us to what he went through as a child he strove for stability and for 37 years dad drove 30 miles one way to work every day came home sat in his chair drank one paps Blue Ribbon beer and read the
Paper like clockwork he did that we sat down to dinner occasionally to an edes uh but usually to whatever cassero surprise my mom came up with that day on Sundays we would go to church uh as many of you are longtime members of Mount Calvary here my father did not go
To church every Sunday his faith in God was defined not by him his presence in the Pew but by his unwavering support of M Sunday school teacher Church secretary choir director youth group coordinator Bible study leader and her work with the Lutheran women’s missionary League I think my niece said it best she
Remembered and appreciated how Mom and Dad supported each other’s interests and passions no matter what howad encouraged her support in the church and school and historical endeavors and now she went on the train Focus vacations that’s what a good marriage is is Right compromise putting your interest before your own choosing to
Love and to like I’d be remissed if I didn’t bring up the fact that my dad could have been the poster boy for abom salts he loved to play softball and he loved to play volleyball in fact they played volleyball darn near every day at
Lunch at work I think rain or shine SLE or snow my dad had an Iron Wheel but un fortunately he had rubber ankles many of those days that you saw him sitting reading his paper drinking his paps Blue Ribbon beer he also had a foot stuck in a pan of hot epom
Salts and I’m pretty sure he always carried a bandage in his lunch box going to work my father was a pattern maker like his grandfather and as a proud father to also seee his son Mike Carri that profession on in the late 80s and ’90s my father understood that that
Technology uh that technology was going to OBS his profession and I don’t know how he did it my father would embraced this he learned how to program computers and equipment was not afraid to ask Wendy or scour through her calculus books the formulas to find the distance
Between two curves given three points on each curve and he’ put those calculations into a program and to the point where the company worked for sold that program to other compan companies programming LED them to CAD in computers and design um and that’s uh that’s I think where my dad shown he
Take all that knowledge of pattern making um to design parts that frankly most people could not my dad could design a part that could be manufactured and I can tell you today that the AO molded world could use a thousand of my fathers right now uh the skill he learned also allowed
Him to retire when he wanted to even though many tried to bring him back in and on occasion they did but they always did it on Dad’s terms as I started my career in the early 90s I spent a lot of time dealing with the same tool shops my father had
For the last 30 years um and I can’t tell you how many times I heard the question hey are you kage your son I know dad got a kick of that and I could tell by the smirk on his his face those that uh he had a good relationship
With and those that he had pissed off through the years we all know my dad had a low tolerance for stupidity and wasn’t afraid to tell you that there’s one way to do it and it’s the right way and that’s also dad’s way I also know that as time went on my
Dad would get asked a similar question hey are you stepen mik gager father this was just the reinforcement to Dad that his job was done he would smile he would say yes he was a father a grandfather and a great-grandfather I do want to take this opportunity to
Thank my brother and sister I was the baby of the family I got away with a lot more so thanks for making all those poor choices bending the rules as far as you did and easing the burden for me I really appreciate it Dad had an interesting way of
Communication as we got older you know in the high school years that delayed response waiting for him to say something sometimes was worse than what he said dad knew as we got older we would make mistakes or as he would say we would do stupid stuff that’s part of being a teen
And a part of learning I remember a time when dad picked me up from a party on a Saturday night before I could drive you know and I’m a confident 15-year-old walking out to the car thinking he’ll never know that I had anything to drink at this
Party uh my dad told me later that he knew the minute he saw me walking out of the door he cranked up the heat in the car made me miserable we lived about 15 to 20 miles outside of town and I can tell you I asked my dad to pull over three
Times on the way home so I could throw up Sunday morning wakeup call get ready for church and yes you will go to church not another word for at least a week or two and when he finally says something he just said listen son you’re going to make
Mistakes I figured this one you were feeling it and I wanted you to feel it you’ll make other poor choices too but just always know that no matter what you can call your mom or me and we’ll come and get you my dad always said if we wanted a
Car well then you know get a job and buy one yet there was always there always seemed to be a good deal ready to be had through a grandparent or a neighbor dad supported our interest whether they be sports clubs music or Hobbies let’s be honest what father really wants to sit
Through a sixth grade Orchestra recital he paid for our college and gave us the tools to make her own way he honored the vow to Mom and himself to provide his family with the Positive lessons he learned growing up as well as make sure the mistakes that made the profound
Effect on him were not repeated in our own way Mike Wendy and myself have softened him up because the grandkids and great kids uh were spoiled I know dad never handed us the keys to his new car and said floor see how fast this sucker
Goes as a kid it was okay to have a distant appreciation of his hobbies and trains and models there was an Unwritten rule about touching not so with grandkids turn the knobs make the train whistle let’s add some more cars and I nod to Caitlyn turn around go back
Upstairs I got it all under control he bought his grandkid cell phones he were a cool kid in school if he had a cell phone once again Dad never bought us cell phones he used his knowledge of CAD to design a 3D CAD model of Britney and Noah’s house before they even started
Building it so they could see what it would look like he took JoJo on a grandpa granddaughter day to experience his passion for trains to see the great Pier Marquette steam engine and I know that day they will both cherish so as you’ve all gathered by now my father was a Model
Railroader every house I grew up with or I knew him to live in had a model railroad layout never finished always under construction at their first apartment when Mike was just a toddler mom said she lost count of how many tablecloths dad had glued together working on
Models thankfully at the time she found Mike sitting on Dad’s lap as he worked on models she had never glued Mike together over the years that hobby grew into a preservation of an important piece of American history with the work he did on this CN Railroad Society over a year ago he ordered
12 two train engines from Ryder’s hobby shop a year ago they were a very special order and they finally arrived last month and because of his health issues uh I offered to pick them up and my wife Janice and I took him out to deliver them and man he’s like a 10-year-old at
Christmas when he hand him a bag with two shiny engines in them now keep in mind my interior motive was just to get in Ed’s Pizza but after after quite a few hours there uh Janice and I both drove away and talked about how much my mom and dad
Talked and shared many things Janice had never heard and and quite a few things that I had not heard either if I think about my father’s passion for trains it still always struck me odd that he never really finished a layout but now I understand dad’s
Job was to lay the foundation for the railroad to make sure that all the important pieces were existed train depot so that his family could get on and off when they wanted turntables for times are rough and we needed to get on A New Path plenty of Spurs and yards so you always
Had a safe place to park and plenty of cool lights and sounds so the grandkids were mesmerized it was never his intent to finish it thatty left up to us to lay our own track to add our own cars and continue to make our own adventure knowing that we had what it
Needed and all the tracks would lead back to family thank you Dad h H
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