When my daughter asked what superhero I would be, there was no hesitation, ‘my Dad’, I said. Just like when she says ‘Dad, watch this’, and does a silly dance to impress me, I myself have been doing this all my life with my Dad. He is the only man I have ever wanted to impress, the only man who I have ever wanted to emulate and the only man who could convince me that I could achieve anything.
 
You see, my Dad had a knack of making other people feel good about themselves, he was selfless, kind and always thinking of ways he could enhance other people’s lives. When I have had tough times he was always there, helping me through problems with a positive mindset and a smile. He would always find the good in people and always give people unconditional trust.
 
What my dad has taught me, is that being kind to others should be the top of all our lists, being nice when others are not and always doing what is right. Because we all know what is right. Yeah sure, sometimes he put his foot in it, both physically by knocking stuff over or breaking things, (the clumsy gene has definitely been passed down) but also sometimes with his words, he didn’t always get it right verbally but his intentions were always right, he valued his family and always put them first.
 
The relationship I had with my Dad was special (a word he used to like to use a lot), he was always there for me when I needed him, making me things, fixing things, helping move house, helping in the garden, helping with my kids and my wife, picking me up and dropping me off at places, taking photos, giving me advice about work and how to deal with difficult situations, holding my hand through my entire life all, 46 years of it, I can’t ever remember a time when he wasn’t there for me. Quite how he found the time considering he had a big family I don’t know, but what I do know is that everyone here today will have a memory of my Dad helping them in some way too.
 
In his last week’s my Dad said to me that his only regret in life was that he didn’t get a better education. I could not believe it, ‘Dad,’ I said, ‘you didn’t need a better education, you did everything right in life, you gave you didn’t take, you loved you didn’t hate, and you enriched everyone’s life around you, even the stranger on the way to our wedding who had fallen off his bike’! Dad, you were the good Samaritan and you were the light of all of our lives, now I don’t know where that education came from but its better than anything you could ever get at Oxford or Cambridge.
 
All I want to do is live the rest of my life with your values and integrity and pass that on to my children and their children, you have done the best job you could have done, and more, and for that I will be eternally grateful, but you know all of this right? Because I told you, and I am glad I did, even if you couldn’t tell me to be quiet!
 
I love you Dad, I will miss you every day, every hour, every minute.
 
Rest in peace my hero and thank you for everything.
 
Dave
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