Eulogy for a Father

I wasn't sure I wanted to post this or not. But, after watching the the DVD for the second time, I've decided that I want to share the eulogy I wrote for my Dad with the world.

"My Dad, Richard Mistron, was a handsome, New York City boy, who spent many days playing with fire hydrants and running through the streets with his friends. One day, during one of his many adventures, he was walking along the top of a fence and fell from it. On his way home, he found a Bazooka Joe bubblegum wrapper on the ground. Instead of continuing on his way to report the fall to his parents; he stopped to read the comic strip printed on the wrapper. That was how Dad was; he always had a sense of humor no matter how grave the situation.

Dad got his sense of humor from his Father, Charles. As a child, when he would get mad at his Dad, he would lock himself in the bathroom. His Father would draw little cartoons of Dad in the bathroom and slip them under the door to make Dad laugh. It always worked and they would resolve whatever the problem was.

Dad grew into a man, and like many men, he signed up for the military. Dad’s enlistment came at an interesting time in military history. The Army and the Air Force split, and when Dad was given a choice as to where to attend basic training, his choice of a Texas boot camp led him down the path of the Air Force. Dad proudly served in the Air Force for almost 27 years, many of those as an aircraft mechanic and foreman.

Dad traveled the world during his time in the Air Force, but it was when he was stationed in Wiesbaden, Germany with his friend Bill, that his life would change forever. Bill was going out with a young lady who had a couple friends. Bill told Dad that both were available and Dad said he would “take the short one.” And that’s how Dad met Mom in July of 1959. Everyone knew when Dad was coming to pick up Mom because he had a pink Oldsmobile. The Oldsmobile was pink due to a misunderstanding about the color he selected when he bought the car. So Dad stood out wherever he drove.

It was a short courtship. Dad was heading back stateside soon and he knew Mom was the gal for him, so in September of that same year, they were married. For the remainder of his time in the service, they moved across the US, calling home to Nebraska and Maine before settling in Tacoma, WA, where Dad was stationed at McChord AFB. Less then two years before he retired from active duty, they had their only child, Richard Charles.

After a year stationed in Alaska, Dad retired from the Air Force in 1974 and worked a few odd jobs here and there, including a job at a garden center near home. During my childhood, Dad would take me everywhere on the weekends. He reasoned that Mom had me during the week, so the weekends were his. He would take me on the ferry to Vashon Island where I learned what a tourist trap was, we would go for walks in the woods in our neighborhood where houses now stand, and I would always go garbage dump with Dad to help him get rid of yard waste. On the way home from some of these trips to the dump, we would stop by Mike’s Burgers for an ice cream cone. The only condition was that I wasn’t to tell Mom. It was to be our little secret. There were a couple times I let it slip, but nothing ever came of it.

In 1976, Dad started his second career at Ft. Lewis in Billeting and eventually became the Housing Manager. He retired from civil service with the Army in 1992. One of Dad’s favorite stories from when he worked for the Army was about the time a couple of young soldiers didn’t show up on base until a day after they were supposed to. They presented Dad with a bill from a hotel somewhere in Tacoma for the previous night. When asked why they didn’t just report to base housing, they replied, “We drove up and down I-5 from Tacoma to Seattle and couldn’t find Ft. Lewis.” Dad didn’t buy it, since Ft. Lewis is rather hard to miss of the interstate, so he gave the bill back to them.

Once retired, Mom and Dad traveled together to various spots around the world including Maui, the Grand Canyon, Mexico, Canada, and Germany. Unfortunately, the trips started to slow down in 1998 when Dad’s health began to decline. Eventually, Dad became dependant on a walker and wheelchair to get around. But, he never complained. He said that it is what it is. Dad bounced back from some serious health scares in the past, so when he fell last month, we hoped he would do the same again. For a while, Dad seemed like he would beat this latest episode. Regrettably, this time, Dad faced a series of health challenges that he just could not overcome. When he passed, Dad was surrounded by those who loved him and his presence will remain with us all for the rest of our days."