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It's amazing to see so many people here today. I am sure you all have your own memories of this wonderful man as a husband, brother grandad or friend. To Jason and I he was simply our Dad. A Dad who was always there for us.
For a while he was a single parent to us, and true to form he faced each task with confidence even though we were never quite sure what colour our laundry would be or what experimental concoction we would eat for dinner that night, and as soon as he learnt how to plait my hair there was no stopping him expressing his creativity as he turned my hair into his very own work of art every day.
Nothing ever intimidated him, I maybe shattering some of your illusions with this but he always said "It doesn't matter if you can do something or not, as long as you convince otheres you can, once everyone believes in you, you'll work it out." I never did quite pull it off, but Dad could always turn his hand to anything.
From my earliest memory Dad was always trying something new, whether it be jewellery making, model building, or carpentryto name a few. But, photography was his long term passion. As a child I remember sitting with him in his make-shift darkroom, being kind of scared of the dark, but fascinated with the processes he went through to make a picture appear as if by magic. We never used to beable to walk through our house without having to carefully pass by long ribbons of negatives hanging up to dry.
His love of learning and creating new things influenced Jason and me not to be afraid of trying anything new. He often told me how proud he was that Jason had the courage to move to Germany, not even knowing the language, and that he stuck with it to make a good life with his wife and child.
I also like to think that he was proud of the strong father daughter bond we shared. He was the first perso I turned to when upset or worried, he was also the first person I turned to when I wanted to share good times. I could talk to him about anything, sometimes I know it made him uncomfortable but he did a great job of hiding it.
He was also a fantastic Grandad and his Grandchildren meant the world to him. He was always looking for ways to entertain them. Adam still has alot of the things they made together, and Disneyland will always be associated with their Grandad and the love they share.
Although we can't see him Dad will always be here and always be loved because there is so much of him in us.
We have come here to mourn the loss of a Husband, Dad, Grandad, Brother and Friend, but mourning is for us, I know he would prefer that we celebrate his life and all he was by moving forward, living our lives to the fullest and remembering him with love and a smile.
Written and read by my sister Colette at our Fathers funeral.
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