[A short eulogy for my father-in-law, read at his memorial service in Rochester, Michigan, on March 22, 2010.]
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
Woody’s life was a song. He came in singing. He left us singing. He filled his days—and our world—with song: a song that never ends. And believe me, it was a love song. Even when you faced him on the tennis court, there was no escaping LOVE.
I found boundless love in his family thirty years ago. My life with his daughter, Libby, began as a Spring Sing fairy tale, blessed by Woody, his beloved Grunyons, and a chorus of 500 Spring Singers joining together in “I Found Love.” We have been riding that wave ever since.
Woody learned from those who came before him. The profound influence of Rosemary’s father, Dr. Robert Frehse, a Congregational minister, can be seen across generations—and especially within this family. His favorite Bible passage, the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, is quietly revealed in the lives of his children and grandchildren.
Love is patient, love is kind. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Like so many others, I learned a great deal from Woody. I would like to share one of the lessons I value most.
Three hundred months—and twenty-five annual storage binders—later, I still use a Franklin Day Planner. Woody gave me my first one and, more importantly, taught me how to use it.
For Woody, the planner was not simply a way to organize dates, times, and events. It was a way to keep track of the most important thing in his life: people.
Perhaps he knew, even then, that he needed a way to keep his ever-expanding circle of friends at his fingertips, anticipating the day when his memory might begin to fail him. In business and in his personal life, Woody was the consummate matchmaker. He was always bringing together people with common interests or backgrounds—people who could help, encourage, and support one another.
To Woody, there were no competitors. A rising tide lifts all ships.
That spirit—his spirit—fundamentally changed the way I see the world.
First Corinthians reminds us that childhood eventually gives way to maturity, that our understanding in this life is incomplete, and that one day we shall know fully and see clearly.
And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
It is a song that never ends.
Thank you, Woody, for teaching us the refrain.
[Click to hear Woody’s solo in Shooby Doin’ performed with The Grunyons.]
Read more about Woody, his music, and his battle with Alzheimers in the wonderful book, Measures of the Heart, written by his daughter, Mary Ellen Geist.
