06/16/2024
Today, we honor our fathers...and our good fortune to have them there to set the example we need(ed) to become the people he could be proud of....Tania and I miss him every day...❤
Below is the eulogy I wrote for him and presented at his funeral...along with links to the two songs I wrote for him...as presented in the ":Hear the Story...Hear the Song" interviews with Alton Riddick.
"By the Fence in the Sun" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgAPlz4eDUg
"Missing My Old Man" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIezlVtJLEc
We are here today to honor the life of Willard Farley, a small-town West Virginia boy whose life was devoted to his family and friends.
As a son, his love and respect for his parents, brothers and sisters remained constant throughout his lifetime.
As a husband, his love and dedication for fifty-three years were a testament to his desire to share the joys of life with June, and to raise the family they had always dreamed of.
As a father, his discipline was tempered by his teaching, his good example, his desire to provide his sons and daughters-in-law with every opportunity, the pride he showed in their successes and the support he gave them when they fell.
As a friend, he could be counted on at a moment’s notice to lend a hand or offer support. This can be remembered in the scores of building projects, bedside visits and cookouts he participated in. He most enjoyed the laughter, conversation and companionship that were the real joy of the work and the heart of the gathering.
And as a man he set the finest example of honesty, integrity, wisdom and kindness. His sense of humor brightened our moments with him, and we are all better people in having him as a part of our lives.
Today, he is with God. But if he were here, I believe he would say:
Do not shed a tear for me; it was heaven on earth among you; I loved you all. As his son, and for my brothers, I would like to quote a line from a song I wrote for him:
“Someday you’ll be thinking of ways that you’ve been bought and then been sold.
You’ll see that what you’re telling is mostly due to what you have been told.
And when you search you’re memory and sift through all the shadows you will find
That the maker is the father…..the son is now the maker
And both of them are really one in kind.”
This video is a segment taken from “The Path Taken” Podcast Series, Episode Seven: The Calm Before the Storm CD. The episode can be accessed in its entirety...