By now, most everyone has heard of the sudden and unexpected turn of events in my father's health that lead to his passing on August 16th. It's hard for me to put into words how these past days have been for myself and my family with the loss of my dad. I feel incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful father and grandfather in my life for the past 40 years. While I selfishly grieve for the time I still feel like we should have been able to have with him....he lived his 70 years of life to their fullest.
I have had several people ask that I share the tribute that I wrote to my dad which was read at his funeral this past week. I couldn't think of an easier way to publish it, so I decided to dust off this blog that hasn't been touched in months and post this tribute here. It starts just below this picture of my folks with the boys and I on a trip we took with them to Branson in June.
Over the years, I have watched my Dad share his gift with words paying tribute to those he loved most. He’s a tough act to follow. He always had just the right words. I’m not sure of any other way to do this tribute other than to pattern it after the tribute he did for his dad Sherwin. So here it goes Dad....
The ABC’s of our dad, Myron Ammeter
A- Amazing, always helping others; always on the go; animal lover, affectionate-he always made it a point to say I love you and gave us a hug and kiss good bye when we left. What a wonderful gift to know there was nothing left unsaid between us about our love for dad or his for us.
B-Big heart, bear hugs, big brother, biggest fan of his kids and grandkids, best dad, big love for mom, big appetite...he loved food! everything about his personality was big. C-Caring, Constant companion, Compassionate,Cruises (how many of those did you guys take anyway!? ....Not nearly enough in your eyes we know... you were always planning the next trip while the current trip was happening)....and you can’t stop with this letter until you include the word candid. You never had to wonder how my dad felt about......almost anything really.
D- Dad. He was dear to so many of you here today. You knew him as Ol’ Myron, Mr. Ammeter, Myron, brother, cousin, uncle, nephew or friend...But D is reserved for the 3 of us lucky enough to called him dad. Man, he was really a great dad.
E-Energy. He had a lot of it! He was always doing, planning, willing to lend a hand where it was needed. E is also for everybody. Much like his mother, he didn’t know a stranger, so.......he knew everybody!
F-Faith and Family. Always at the forefront of everything for him in life. Family was so important to him and he loved and considered so many of you here today as his family. Refer back to the letter B for big love. Flowers. He so loved his flowers and they rivaled any lawn/garden establishment in town. When Chad and I would water for them while they were out of town we'd lovingly joke to them about having to go out and water half of Riley County! Thanks for the rain yesterday Dad, I knew that was you watering your flowers one last time. And one final item under this letter....if you spent any amount of time with him you might have also heard his special knack at stringing together a few ......four letter words. Maybe not always appropriate, but usually well placed and everyone would have to admit quite memorable.
G-This one only gets one word too, and that’s Grandpa. See also P for proud and B for biggest fan and B for big love. He loved being at their events, visiting them all and spoiling them as much as possible. After any of his grand kids would thank him for coming to something big or small he would always say “I wouldn’t have missed it.”
H- Husband of 52 years to his high school sweetheart Sally. See also “b”for big love for Sally. Hugs. Aside from his niece Emily, dad gave the best hugs. I bet she was one of the first in line after his folks to greet him in Heaven and he to her with one of those hugs. I am really going to miss his big hugs. J-Jesus, dad was a man of strong faith and love for Jesus. Jokes. Dad loved to laugh, and was a gifted story teller both in person and on paper. I will miss his detailed Christmas-letter -family-brag-session. K-This one is a no-brainer. KANSAS STATE. You’d be hard pressed to find a truer wildcat fan in life. Who else could get this many Husker fans to come to Manhattan KS and also wear purple!? I think this could be his ultimate payback issued to the entire state of Nebraska for the multiple KSU mailboxes of his that were destroyed while living in the heart of Huskerland for all those years. He loved his KSU Wildcats.
L-Love. And life. Dad loved and lived as big as he could and as much as he could right up until this past Wednesday morning. He and mom went and did and didn’t hold back. He always said “don’t wait to make your memories with those who matter the most to you.” Dad was never afraid to show his love for all of us. And while he has physically left us, the love never will. Love always wins!
M-Music. From listening to country music on 8 tracks growing up or in his pickup while traveling the country roads as a feed salesman, to watching his kids and grand kids perform, music was a big part of his life. I probably better add Margaritas under this letter too. Who will I split a pitcher of margaritas with at supper now?
N-Never put off doing something tomorrow that can be done today. Dad never let too much grass grow under his feet.
O-Opinionated. See also C for candid.
P-people. Dad was a superior salesman, but what he was best at was his natural ability create and foster strong relationships with people throughout the many transitions of his life. Everywhere he lived and worked, he built connections and lasting friendships. Proud. Proud of his wife, kids, grand kids and talked about them with others every chance he got.
Q-Quiet. Wait, how did that get on here?! Dad was anything but quiet! How about...Quick witted . Quality producer, dad never did anything that wasn’t up to his high standards.
R-Relationships. See P for people. Dad loved and was loved.
S-Sally. Dad’s A-Z in life. My dad wouldn’t have been the person he was without mom. She was his beginning and his end. Few people are blessed enough to have such an
incredible example of this love and devotion like I have been fortunate enough to be impacted by for the past 40 years of my life.
The alphabet goes on....but for my dad’s story, that’s all the alphabet you need. I could just go on and on about my dad.....I guess I probably get a little of this from him?! There are so many stories, so much laughter and love from his life that all of us could share about. And it all come back to that big love he had, his faith and love of his family.
When his father died suddenly, I remember him saying that one of the highest compliments he could ever receive would be if someone compared him to the kind of man his dad was. If you knew his dad...this was a tall order. Well dad, now I say the same thing about you and all you have done to impact the lives of so many. I still can’t wrap my head and my heart around doing this life without you but I will go forward with your big love always in my heart. Until we meet again dad, we all love you so very much.
