OCTOBER 14th, 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
was10or 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 14th, 2006
