Here are a few of my thoughts about Dad, because not everyone was able to hear them when I spoke. Dad, we love you, and we always will! How can you sum up someone’s life in a few words? I am so shocked and sad right now, I hardly know where to start. Dad taught us all so much. He loved the outdoors, and on weekends, he would take us for walks in the woods. He enjoyed watching birds and animals – chipmunks were always “Oscar”, after a chipmunk his family had as a pet when he was a boy. When I was a little girl, he and mom showed us all an indigo bunting nesting in a bush by the stream, and, later on, he delighted in seeing the bluebirds and tree swallows raising their families. Dad never lost that love of nature. Just a few years ago, Hilary called out that a painted turtle was laying her eggs. Dad came out and watched in fascination as she dropped a perfect, white egg into a hole and kicked dirt over it. “I’ve lived 82 years, and I’ve never seen that before!” he marveled. Dad read to us, too, every night when we were in elementary school. That’s why Deirdre and I are lifelong fans of Lewis and Tolkien. Later on, he introduced us to the poetry of Yeats and Hopkins. But, if there is one memory I’d like to relive, it’s this one. When we were little girls in Redding road, our bedroom was just above the living room. Dad used to practice the piano every evening. That beautiful music – Chopin, Schubert, Bach – used to carry us to sleep. Though their lives, Mom and Dad both taught us what love was. Like faith, love isn’t something you have. It’s something you do, and, when you love, you create beauty. Mom and Dad weren’t perfect – no one is – but they were both very loving people, and their lives were full of beauty and adventure and joy. I know the love they had for each other, and for all their family and friends, will endure.