Throughout my many years of being single, I had the opportunity to have many different roommates (some much more different than others).
Two of the most decent human beings I was fortunate enough to call roommates are Alex and Dan Schleper. The first time I was invited to their parents’ home for dinner I found out why. When people talk about small-town values, they are talking about Alex and Dan’s parents, both of whom grew up in small towns in the central Minnesota area before moving to the bigger city of St. Cloud.
When their dad died, Dan gave the eulogy at the funeral and, I must say, it was the best eulogy I have ever heard. With Father’s Day in mind, I would like to share a slightly shortened version of the eulogy with you today.
If I KNEW I would live to be 90, I would want it to be at a time of great world events and at the beginning of an era of great innovations and wondrous advancements in all areas.
I would want to live in a time of great baseball players in their prime like Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Harmon Killebrew, and Kirby Puckett.
I would like to live in a time of Woodrow Wilson, FDR, JFK, Martin Luther King, and John the XXIII.
If I KNEW I would live to be 90, I would expect times of great sorrow to test my faith and character but which would also make me appreciate the joyful times.
I would like to come from modest beginnings to teach me how to make do, but also help me appreciate bountiful times.
If I KNEW I would live to be 90, I would like to grow up with a large family that has Christian values which would provide a moral compass and purpose to my life that would stand the test of time, rather than that of dissipation and aimlessness.
I would like to play baseball with my brothers.
I would like to learn an instrument… maybe an accordion.
I would like to help create something enduring, like a baseball field, or a baseball team.
If I KNEW I would live to be 90, I would thank God every day for the opportunity to do so.
I would carry a rosary.
I would like to serve my country and see some of the world.
I would like to be married by about 30 to a more worldly woman from a much larger metropolitan area… like Richmond.
Waiting till my later 30’s would be ok but it would have to be someone 9 or 10 years younger than me, smart, good looking, a card player and an award winning baker that makes the best pies in the world. Ok, maybe, that’s asking too much. Who could be that lucky?
If I KNEW I would live to be 90, I would like to have 4, or maybe 5, kids. It would be nice if at least one was a boy. I would make the commitment to send them to catholic schools no matter what. We would get on our knees and pray every night, and if the neighbor kids were still around, they would be welcome to join us.
I would want the respect of my coworkers and good friends.
I would want to dance with my daughter and play golf with my sons, brothers, nephews and nieces.
I would like to have a hole in one.
I would like to watch my sons, grandsons and nephews play baseball. Who am I kidding? I would like to watch ANY local high school, college or amateur team play ANY sport.
If I KNEW I would live to be 90, I would like to go to Casinos every once in a while with my wife and maybe some family or friends just for the fun of it.
I would like to bowl until I can’t break 150. I would like to golf until I can’t hit it 150.
I would like 8 grandkids to be proud of and to visit me often.
Yea, that would be a pretty good life.
If I live to be 90, I would love it if someone said at my funeral “He was a lot like his father.”
I would say I had lived a good life if the same could be said about me at my funeral. More importantly, I hope the same can be said of my two sons when they pass. I can think of no better testament to my job as a father.
I know the reality is not always as positive. There are many men who would consider it an insult, and rightly so, to be compared to their fathers.
Still, though the specifics of the eulogy would be different, the character, integrity and goodness Alex and Dan’s father displayed throughout his life should be emulated by all men, whether they are fathers or not.
beinghumandoinghuman 
Phil,
Wonderful blog. Very powerful and inspirational. I did a lot of self reflection after reading it. It’s nice to read something that slows everything down and makes you reflect on your own life. It’s too easy to get lost in the Facebook, Twitter, and social media shuffle these days and never actually slow down to evaluate the big picture.
Thanks for blogging, your passion, motivation and committment are obvious in your writing.
Thanks, Chris. Though I like FB and other social media, my hope is to provide some food for thought beyond sound bites.
Phil, This brought a tear to my eye as our family faces the 1st Father’s Day with my dad!. He sound like he would have been good friends with Mr. Schelper. God Bless!
Hope you all are hanging in there, Lori.
Wow Phil. That was very eloquent and touching. Thank you. I passed it along to mom and I am sure you will have a new follower. There wasn’t much that was remarkable about dad’s day to day life but taken overall his experiences, character, and the period his life spanned (the greatest generation) just seemed epic to me. That was why I based the eulogy loosely on my favorite poem IF by Rudyard Kipling. Phil, if you live to be 90 I will be happy to write a eulogy for you. I think the sum total of your life will be epic as well. http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_if.htm.
And thank you for letting me use the eulogy. Your mom and dad are great examples of one of my main philosophies. Our culture tends to put role model status on celebrities while I would rather look to the people in our lives who do not necessarily do anything remarkable other than living their best day to day, which to me makes them extra-ordinary. By the way, you read poetry?! I thought you only read Westerns.
I’m like Joe turner. I just read books. I have read 3 poems. One other is The Lanyard by Michael Collins which you might turn into a good Mothers Day blog. The third is something about a guy from Nantuckett. I agree with your take on celebrities though I do recall you glued to the TV for 4 days when Princess Diana died. LOL jk
I have grown since Princess Di times.
As Gagliardi would say, “Do the ordinary things extraordinarily well.” Phil, you’re a pretty good writer for being a Tommie. Actually, I’m highly impressed. And highly thankful to you for your wonderful words. It was a great Father’s Day gift! Alex
You are welcome, Alex. We Tommies feel compelled to reach down a lift up a Johnnie every so often. It was an easy write, though, with such a good subject.
By the way, Alex, who is this Gagliardi guy you keep quoting?
Great blog…..and I didn’t know your connection with Alex and Dan. It was a great reminder of some great guys.
Was a great time in my life.