June 19th 2013 A Eulogy To Dad

My father was a simple man in a complex world. He lived by a few simple rules that made him a good son, a good brother, a good husband, a good father, a good uncle, a good grandfather and a good great grandfather.

His rules were:

Family comes first
Treat other as you want to be treated
What goes around comes around
Family comes first (yes this is in there twice)

The beauty of my dad is he did not preach these things he lived them.
He lead by example.  he would always encourage you to do what you wanted.

Some of my favorite sayings are:
Your a Farrell you can do anything
Farrell's never quit
I am not surprised  you are a Farrell
Always Finish what you start
Apples don't fall far from the tree

 I do not ever remember my dad discouraging me to do anything I wanted while growing up. Outside of a few disciplinary actions for a few indiscretions

 Ok I might be exaggerating when I said a few

He always encouraged us to do our best never give up and assured us we could do or become anything we wanted.
I remember  going with my dad on plastering jobs although I think it was to get me out of my moms hair for a while he always made me feel like I was helping, even though I rarely did.  A typical day was for him to find a closet for me to plaster Every once in a while he would ask me to come out and mix another batch of plaster. while I was doing that he would sneak into the closet and fix my mess and of course tell me what a great job I did.


He always was encouraging and supportive of everyone he came in contact with

 As I started to go through my dads stuff in his last days I found pamphlets from every baptism , graduation ,and wedding of every child , grand child and great grandchild he had. He had allot of pride for his family and extended family.

 It was always about us never about my dad

 He lived for his family his pride in his kids, and grandkids was always evident but his accomplishments went often unnoticed because it was always about friends and family never about him. The other thing I found was a dozen certificates from, presidents , congressmen and organizations all around this area honoring my father for his volunteer work, none of these awards were we made aware of.

Humble proud and happy always.

And Clearley one of the most unselfish persons I have ever known or will ever know.

 To all the grand children remembers grandpas simple rules they will serve you well.

A very good way to summarize my dads life and the way he lived it was my favorite expression of all and one i truly try to live by , and I have encouraged my kids to live by.

He told me when I was very young that:

It is not the person who dies with the most toys that wins it is the one who dies with the most friends

Look around Dad you win!!!!!!