I want to thank everyone for being here today. The whole Smith family is grateful for your thoughts and prayers. I have been preparing for this day for about 20 years. I thought my father was going to die 20 years ago. He had a heart attack. His brother had died in his 60’s of a heart attack and his father had died of a heart attack in his 60’s. My father was 61, not a good record. So I cherished every day I had with him these last twenty years.

To make it another 20 years is truly remarkable. We owe that mostly to two things: my mother and his grandchildren. My mom and dad were married almost 49 years, another pretty remarkable thing. I will never, ever forget how well my mother took care of my father. As with everything in our house, she was in charge of his health, thank god. Thank you mom for all you did.

My father loved his grandchildren. Every single time I spoke to him he would say, how’s the baby. In the last couple of years I would say what baby? He would say you know who I’m talking about. I would say dad she’s ten. I said to him one day you treat your grandchildren better than your own children, he said that‘s because I had to raise you! My father could be brutally honest. My father’s happiest days were having everyone at his house, all his children and grand children. Many a birthday or anniversary we were all in my parent’s backyard having a great time. One of the great memories I have is being at my cousin Michele’s wedding last summer. We were all there. And if we were at a wedding and there was a microphone he was going to use it. Of course he sang My Way by Frank Sinatra. He was weak then so he sat at the table and sang. We were all at his side including all his grandchildren watching. He belted that thing out really well. I will never forget the smiles and tears on everyone’s face.
My father was an old school guy. Work all day, come home, have supper and watch TV. He was proudly a Sergeant Major. I remember a few years ago him telling me he was in WWII. I was floored! I didn’t believe him. I said, “Dad you were in the Korean War not WWII”. He said no I lied about my age and went in at 17. That was 1944 which made sense. He was a proud military man. He never talked about either war even when we tried to push him to talk. Pretty remarkable.
My father was one of the funniest people I ever met, usually not intentionally. He had these great sayings. One of his favorites was “there’s no anchor in your ass”, meaning if you don’t like it get out. I heard that one a lot growing up. Another was “I like jelly”. One day out of the blue he just said I like jelly for no apparent reason. Those two sayings are still used in my house and I imagine always will.
My father was a huge sports fan, Celtics, Patriots and Red Sox. Earlier in his life a big NY Giants fan. There were so many games when I would be watching, yelling at the TV, that my wife would say CALL TOM. I would call him and talk about the game; no matter what the score he would always say they STINK. I think the Red Sox were his favorite, maybe because they hadn’t won in 86 years, his whole life. I will never forget the 2004 World Series. The way the Red Sox came back against the Yankees, something of course my father never believed would happen. I remember when the Red Sox finally won the World Series. I was sitting all alone with a tear running down my face and all I could think about was my father. He had watched them for 77 years without a championship.
To the outside world my father was a little crass. I remember working at the National Guard right after college, a place he worked most of his life. His ex-co-workers would say to me, “How was he at home”, implying he wasn’t that nice at the office. I would say he’s great at home it must be this place. Like father like son.
I admire my dad for the way he lived, his love of family, and always trying to do the right thing. I will miss him every day.
A fairly simple life, but in a lot of ways truly remarkable.