My Dad's Funeral

My dad

My dad was an outstanding father. I will never doubt the love he had for my sister and me. We have so many great memories of him that I don't ever want to forget. He loved the outdoors. I remember hiking, biking, snow skiing, water skiing, and running with him. When I was little he would put me in the kiddie carrier and take me with him everywhere, whether it be hiking or skiing. I remember him saying that I was afraid of powder and every time he skied in powder I would wrap my arms around his face and try to crawl out of the carrier, which made it difficult for him to make it down the slope because I would cover his eyes.

He worked a lot, but I never felt like he didn't have time for me and I remember spending a lot of quality time with him. He worked for the Salt Lake City fire department, Solitude ski patrol, Life Flight, Air Med, and would pick up side jobs as well. All of his jobs involved helping people and saving lives. In the end he was able to save more lives by donating his healthy organs. He took pride in his health and worked hard to be healthy. He worked out almost every day (except for Sundays) and ate very healthily. When I was little I remember crying when he left for work and when he came home I would wait for him at the bottom of the stairs next to the door and sing "I'm so glad when daddy comes home.." He would give me a big hug, bring me upstairs, wrestle with me and tickle me and I would laugh and scream. My mom would then say, "Stop making her scream." So he would say, "I can't tickle you any more if you scream" and I would beg him to tickle me again saying, "I won't scream, I won't scream." So he would tickle me and of course I would scream. He began teaching me to ski at a very young age; I wasn't even quite two years old when he first attached me to skis and skied with me down the slope, holding me between his legs. I will always remember the year that my cousin, Chad, and I were on the ski patrol with him and the many early mornings driving up the canyon together.

I remember heading for the slopes with him when school was closed due to snow. There's a snow day that stands out in my mind because we loaded up my Mazda RX7 with all our gear, parked it at the bottom of the canyon, and hitchhiked up the canyon. It was intense because I had never hitchhiked before. After a fabulous day of skiing pure powder we arrived to where my car was parked to find it had been towed. Needless to say, we got in trouble for hitchhiking, but it was an incredible day of skiing. I remember going on long Sunday walks with him and I reflect on how he would talk to us during these walks and want to hear about everything that was going on in our lives. I remember that when we hiked with him, we practically ran up the trail. He would time us to see how long it would take to get to the top and if we repeated a hike we would try to beat our previous time. Once we got to the top we would eat lunch and enjoy the scenery. Sometimes when he hiked by himself, he would wear a backpack full of books so he could get a better workout.

He was very calm and rarely lost his temper. In fact, I don't ever remember him yelling at Brittany or me. The main thing that bothered him is if something set him off his workout schedule. He was an early riser, waking up around 5-5:30 every morning to get his workout in first thing in the morning. Then he had the remaining of the day to fill with activities. He didn't want to waste the day by sleeping in. There was too much to do and enjoy. I remember waking up really early to go water skiing so we would be the first ones on the lake. The water was glass and so much fun to ski on, but at times also very cold. He loved having us invite our friends to come water skiing, hiking, or snow skiing as well. My friends adored him and thought he was the coolest dad. I have friends who have told me how much they admired and envied the relationship and bond I had with my dad. He also was very influential to my cousins. They have expressed to me that they have so many fond memories of skiing and hiking with him and they also greatly looked up to him. He was a genuinely nice person and was loved and admired by so many people. He will be greatly missed. I love you, dad.