Dear E-Flash Friends;
One of the most important persons in my life passed away, last evening, my father, Luther Marler. My dad was, sort of, a Character in many ways. (You’ll notice I spelled “character” with a capital “C”…that was intentional.) If you knew him, you know what I mean. If you didn’t know him, it would be hard for me to explain it. To some of my family and close friends, he seemed a little larger than life and, he even seemed…indestructible. One of our family’s friends even referred to him as a “legend” in a comment posted on-line. He was definitely a legend to me.
He cheated death a number of times—including on the front lines of battle in WWII—and he squeezed a tremendous amount of LIFE into his 89 years. It’s possible that he may have gotten 109 or 110 years worth of actual living into his 89 chronological years of life. I think part of me wanted to believe that nothing would really ever stop him. Of course, we know that cannot be the case.
It feels weird to think that he’s not here in this world anymore. I guess my mind is still trying to process the reality that he’s gone. I’d prefer not to process it, but when we don’t acknowledge reality it tends to work against us.
This is a note that I posted on Facebook and on my blog today…
Luther J. Marler, incredible father, story-teller, WWII hero, the most RESPONSIBLE person I’ve ever known, humorist, man of integrity, able to fix or repair anything, possessor of wisdom, dependable, optimist, wise-cracker, a man who spent his whole life taking care of others, follower of Christ. My world will never quite be the same without him in it. 1920-2010.
A Facebook status report only allows so many characters of text, so, I left out two other qualities that I wanted to include in that post: “ironman” and “lover of music”.
My dad was a product of the WWII generation and when I was younger he was not inclined toward tender, affectionate words. It seems like “real men” from that era were not comfortable communicating that way. However, as my dad got older he became much more tender and he would frequently tell me how much he loved me—especially in the past couple of years. In fact, I was surprised how expressive he was about it.
The last conversation I had with my dad ended with he and I expressing our love for each other. As I think about that, now, I am so thankful to God that that’s how it happened. That parting conversation is another gift to me from my Father in Heaven.
The wake for my dad will be Thursday, March 11th, from 3 to 9pm at the First Church of God, 4600 W. 111th St. Oak Lawn . The funeral services will be Friday, March 12th, at 10am, at the church.
We have received many expressions of love and sympathy and I am so grateful. Your words have been tremendously comforting to me—more than you will ever know. Thank you, your support during this time is an invaluable blessing to all of my family and to myself.
I love you all!
Oh, by the way, if your dad is still around, I’ve got a great idea…tell him that you love him.
Blessings,
Dan
Here's Luther with his daughter-in-
law Candi, and three of his grand-
daughters, Erin, Lindsey, & Carly.
No comments:
Post a Comment