The final goodbye

On April 24, 2008 we laid my father, Ken Shaffer, to rest in his final resting place. He is gone now, but we all know it will not be the last time we will see him. Although difficult, the funeral services were beautiful. A wonderful tribute was made to honor my dad for the truly great man that he was. We thank all who attended to show support. I know there were more people there than he ever thought would care and for that I say thank you. I don't think I even realized how much my dad affected other people's lives, he will be missed so much.

At the funeral I was honored to be able to read a poem that I wrote for my father. I don't know how I was able to get through it without making a complete mess of it all. I would like to share that poem with you now.

A Letter to Dad

With love in our hearts
As children we stand
To gather together
To honor a truly great man

You have brought us a lifetime of joy
And memories too
Even one day is too long
To live without you

And so we will mourn
And shed a few tears
As we think about you
And all our happy years

We will live each day
The way that you would
Following your footsteps
Like good children should

The legacy you have left
Of hard work and of love
Will live on forever
As you watch from above

We will walk uprightly now
On earth we will remain
You can walk uprightly now
As you are free from the pain

We are the people we are
Because the way you have taught
Not a single day will go by
Without you in our thoughts

And when our eyes are closed
It’s your smile we can see
Our father, our friend
Forever you will be

In loving memory of our father, Ken Shaffer
Written by his daughter, Tiffany Head
April 21, 2008

This past week our family has been able to spend a large amount of time with one another. While it was a tragic event that happened to get us together I am grateful for the closeness that we have felt as we have reminised about our childhood and all the good times with Dad. This is definetly a week that will forever affect my life.

I am so thankful to both my mother and my father for the way they have raised us to become the people we are. Thank you Mom for being so loving and caring. I thank my dad for teaching me how important it is to be a good person and a hard-worker. As our family tries to get back to reality I hope we will always remember what an amazing, loving, kind and wonderful man that my dad was.

Dad, we will see you again some day, I love you.