For the Love of Us All

OCTOBER 14^th, 2012

A TESTIMONY TO UNCLE JOHN

STRONG-WILLED=YES-That was my Uncle John

LOYAL=YES-That was my Uncle John

A man of honesty-sincerity-and integrity

               YES-That was my Uncle John

BUT FAMILY=That is the essence of who my Uncle John was.

Matthew 6:21 says=”Your heart will always be where your treasure is.”

And my Uncle John’s heart was always on his family.

His marriage and home were like right out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

Yet--------very very real.

His marriage to Karen was perhaps the strongest marriage I have ever seen in my life.

His children (Kathy, Johnny, and Kimberly), embody his life, his spirit, and the very

Essence of who he was:

                 LOVE-honesty-sincerity-and integrity.

And now three grandchildren (Zachary, Jacob, Leah), and a fourth on the way.  I know

That he valued the time he spent with his grandchildren.

And grandmother, Yvonne, a beautiful person who he valued as a member of his family.

But I want to talk about who and what he meant to me.

He wasn’t just my uncle.  He was my friend.  He was also like a brother to me, and

He gave me fatherly advice on many occasions.

Outside of my own mother and father, he was the single most influential person

Of my life.

I remember playing pitch and putt golf with him when I was10 or 12 years old.  I

Remember him, Karen, and I having our own bowling league-even having our

Own banquet and trophies.

I remember all the family picnics, all the family dinners (Thanksgiving and Christmas),

Dinners, and all the times we drove up from Pittsburgh to stay overnight.

All the love, hospitality, kindness, and compassion he showed to the three of us.

In fact, to the whole extended family, his friends, and sometimes even to strangers.

John and my mother shared a deep deep love.  I think I can speak for the entire family

In saying, we loved him very very much.

I think of the interaction between my dad and him.  If there hadn’t already had been

An Oscar and Felix, they might have been the original odd couple.

When we would stay overnight, John would come down, in the morning, about 11

Or 11:30am-for his coffee and his newspaper, and to sit in his chair.  No sooner would

He get in his chair-and my dad (who had already been up four or five hours), would start

Reading word-for-word, article-by-article, to him out of the newspaper.

John wouldn’t say anything.  He would just kind of furrow his right eyebrow, but you

Could tell he was perplexed.  Almost as perplexed as when the entire Murphy Family

Showed up on a Saturday afternoon, when my dad was outside raking the leaves, and

Said, “Nobody is home.”

My father, mother, and me have had some tough times.  I remember all the kind acts

He and Karen did for us without us having to ask.

I want to speak a moment about the trials he experienced the last year-and-a-half.

I don’t know why bad things happen to good people, or any person, for that matter.

But I do know this.  They say trials do not make character, but actually reveals

Character.  John’s character has been revealed.

And his character’ name is family.

His character’s name is love.

To quote from a poem that I once wrote:

A Family is life

A family is love

A family is God’s light

Shining on us

From above

John’s light will forever shine.

Robert P. Wallman

10-17-06

Ps       Uncle John died October 14^th, 2006