In Memory of Uncle Eddie, given at the funeral.

To begin, I’d like to read a portion of the Gospel according to Matthew.


“When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.” But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” He said, “Bring them here to Me.” Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children. Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on a mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” And Peter answered Him and said, “lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came and worshipped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.” When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick, And begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well (KJV, Matthew 14.15-36).

To those of you who knew Eddie much longer than I have, remember you are doubly blessed. Eddie was a man of yester years but he was also a man of today. True, there were many a weekend I sacrificed to go down with Nan and Pop so I could fix his printer – when it just wasn’t plugged in – or try to install a new program – the newest software onto the oldest computer – but I never minded. We got to go see Uncle Eddie. You have been blessed with being near to him for your whole lives and I had been blessed with an hour and a half drive. Every visit was that much more special, though for the record, now that I do a lot of the driving it only takes about an hour, maybe an hour and ten minutes to get down here to Easton.

Uncle Eddie had this thing about laughing and fun. ‘Always have fun with what you do,’ that is the message I take from him. He never was the perfect man and he never tried to be. He did what he did and had fun with it. He smiled, even when Zachary and I were posing him for pictures with three gift bows on top of his head and the sign that you stick in the cake placed in his mouth. Though he had his mouth full, he smiled big smiles but as time pressed on his fun slowed down.

His illness was a blessing disguised as a curse. We saw him even more I was able to repay all the good he’d down for me with some good of my own. I’ve grown even closer to my grandparents and to my mother. I firmly believe there’s a reason Eddie chose to leave us on Christmas Eve. For a man who always gave – to his country, to his borough, and to his family – what better day to go to heaven? He went to a party celebrating the best gift ever given, and invited us to party with him in our lives, even in the face of death.

We are here today not to mourn Eddie’s death but to rejoice in the knowledge that he lived, and continues living the eternal life. We will all have one thing that we remember. I will remember my uncle as a Chief Master Sergeant in the United States military. In this, I am comforted; for “blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”