He died almost 5 years ago. On this day especially, I prayerfully thank God that he made this man to be my mom’s husband, my father, and the father of my sister and brother.

I share with you the words I shared at his Memorial Service on June 1, 2000:

When Mom told me that Dad was sick, I had two concerns:

My dad’s soul; and
My dad’s pain and suffering.

Now it is time to be concerned with mourning the loss of my father.

I have suffered one of the greatest losses by losing Tom. As most know, when he and Mom married, I was five years old. I was the child of another man. But this made absolutely no difference to Tom. He adopted me into his family. I do not mean by the laws of any state, but rather, he took me as his own child. He loved me, and then loving me, he provided for me, gave me security, encouraged me, disciplined me, and all the other things a father does for his child. Being his, he taught me to have his attributes, such as appropriate respect for others, working diligently for your wages, being a good steward of what is yours, providing for your loved ones, and helping those around you. And in doing all these things, he taught me to be prepared, knowledgeable and smart.

There are thousands of acts of kindness, small and great, that he bestowed upon me freely and with great love, but the one act that shows that I was truly his daughter was when my dad, the most important man in my life, gave my hand in marriage to my husband, thereby providing his blessing to my husband’s becoming the one to care for me for all the days thereafter – to do the things that only Dad once did for me.

I thank my Heavenly Father for providing to me my earthly father, for I take great comfort and encouragement knowing that if my dad, a sinner, loved me as much as he did, and gave to me all that he could – Me! A sinner and a child who had no right to make any claims to his love – how much more God the Father may provide for us an everlasting hope of glory, by the forgiveness of our sins, through the sacrifice of his son, Jesus Christ, our Dear Lord and Savior. Amen.