Posted by Mary Passler (nee Passantino) on May 27, 2007 6:15 PM
Every day my family prays for, talks about, and misses and loves Dad/Granddad.
He is the strongest influence on my life. He was the most encouraging person I
have ever experienced. He was a fascinating philosopher, and I wish he had put
out more of his ideas into the world through written or spoken form. So many
ideas raced through his mind, many of which I know were never brought out of
his mind. Every day I wish I could talk to him everyday. He was the first
person I would call for any question or advice I might have--from car trouble
to faith trouble. He never handed me an answer. He would lead me to critically
think things out on my own. He was a loving, accepting, compassionate,
encouraging, and motivating father to me. He made me think when I was young and
I still believe now that I am getting older that I can do anything I want in
this life--that is a great gift: the gift of confidence and motivation to go
along with it. I remember putting on clown make-up with him when I was a kid,
going to the circus and Lion Country Safari, discussing openly and thoroughly
literature, biology, geology, philosophy, astronomy, psychology, sociology,
history, natural childbirth or any other topic I was working on learning in
school or on my own, playing memorization games with him, reciting the books of
the Bible as fast as I could for his amusement and pride, discussing fallen
angels and redemption, seeing U2's Rattle and Hum at the Cinedome, eating at my
Grandma Rose's and Aunt Barbara's house with the whole family, going to lunch
with my sister, Karen, and him to P.F. Chang's or Cafe Plaka, going to '50s
diners with him, listening to his music: Eric Clapton, the Everly Brothers, the
Cream, '50s and '60s radio, Johnny Horton, the Stones, the Blues, Cornerstone
and the all night Blues Jams, holding his hand in the ocean when I was a little
kid and not being scared because he had me, watching him talk to every kind of
different person God creates and seeing him s how God's love to each one,
witnessing his openness and compassion and patience for seekers of truth,
seeing his face when he held Grace and talked to her, experiencing him always
looking out for me whether with $20 for gas or helping me move or sitting with
me while I learned to mother my newborn daughter, playing chess with him,
watching him play chess with Bill, playing monopoly with him, doing school
projects with him, introducing all my friends to him, walking down the aisle
with him when I got married, saying goodbye to him when I moved away from So
Cal, spending time with him when he stayed with us in Oregon for Grace's first
birthday, staying up all night talking with him countless times as I grew up,
watching Jackie Chan, Ferris Buhler's Day Off, and The Princess Bride with him
countless times as I grew up (inconceivable!), the way he smiled when he knew a
secret or knew you had a secret and he knew what it was (my son, Nick, has the
same look), his beautiful hands, his he althy smile, cutting his hair, hugging
him, getting a kiss on the cheek from him (my bro, Paul, does it the exact same
way!), and feeling like he loved me and was proud of me every second. I miss
you Dad. I love you Dad. I want to see you and hear you Dad. Thank you Dad.
Thank you Dad. Thank you Dad.