Eulogy for Son :: Eulogies Eulogy

Eulogy for Son First I would like to say thank you for the tremendous outpouring of love and affection from our community at last night’s viewing for John. Roger at the funeral home told us this was the largest turnout he can remember. Close to 1,000 friends—and many people who were merely touched by John’s story—waited up to fours hours in the rain to pay their respects. We want you to know how very grateful and very touched we were by the response. As Congressman Johnson said in his tribute to John, entered into the Congressional Record, John truly was one of our nation’s best and brightest and dearest sons. He was already a great young man who would have served his country well, and I know he could have become one of our great leaders had he been given more time. I also want you to know that we knew it would rain today, because one of John’s longest-running legacies is that it always rains on major events in his life: His graduation from high school, parents weekend during his plebe summer, his formal ring dance his senior year, and now today. Only his graduation from the Academy broke the mold. After four straight days of rain, God granted us a beautiful day for John’s commencement ceremonies. Perhaps rain is God’s enduring way of testing our love for John, and if today and last night are any measure, I think we passed the test with flying colors. When the officers arrived at our door Saturday morning to give us the tragic news about John, our hearts and our lives stopped. The thought was too hard to comprehend and any parent’s worst nightmare. Our son, who had just graduated from the United States Naval Academy with academic honors, was looking forward with excitement and anticipation to entering flight school in Pensacola in September. He was also excited about coming home for his mother’s birthday, and giving us the latest news from the Naval Academy, where he was stationed for the summer during Plebe training exercises. One of the police officers who came to our door was Bob Fischer, the father of Peter Fischer, who is one of those Plebes at the Academy. In June, our son had presented Peter with his appointment at an award ceremony at Egg Harbor Township High School, where John graduated 4th in his class in 1996.