Service Information
When
Friday, September 13th, 2013 10:00am
Location
St. Bartholomew Church
Address
Location Information
736 East Middle Turnpike, Manchester, CT
Service Extra Info
Next ~ Kevin’s family including Cheryl, Scott, Jeff and Lauren have prepared some kind words that I am going to read on their behalf and they thank you all for being here today. Kevin, a loving husband and wonderful father, exemplified so many amazing qualities that it would be impossible to express all the great things he stood for, but we will offer a few memories, stories, and thoughts. We haven’t quite come to terms with the fact that we will never have another conversation with Dad again. We are sure that we share that same sentiment with many of you. And as much as anything else, we are devastated that his life was cut so short at the young age of 60. He had so much more life to live, golf to play, relaxation to have, and lessons to teach, but today we’d like to focus on the wonderful things dad has shared with so many of us while he was on this earth. He has touched each and every one of us individually in a special way, and the words that fill our hearts the most include LOVE, DEDICATION, PERSONALITY, and COURAGE. Love - to see so many people who love Dad and are here today to say goodbye to him is just incredible. He would be so happy to see all the lives he has touched, and if he were here we know that he would be sitting down with that big memorable smile on his face that everyone enjoyed. Dad’s love can be embodied from the very first moments him and Mom met, Mom just 15 years old in the 9th grade, while Dad was 14 years old in the 8th grade. After being introduced by a friend and on their first date, Mom told her mother that night “I’m going to marry that man…” It is amazing that after only meeting once, Mom knew that this nice, handsome, and gregarious fun loving guy was the one she had to spend the rest of her life with, and she did. Still to this day she always says “we are true soul mates” and not many can say that. It was this affect that Dad had on so many of us. You just couldn’t help but want to spend more time to get to know him and enjoy his great sense of humor, wit, and fun loving nature. It certainly was a wonderful start to a long and beautiful life built together between Mom and Dad. Dedication - Dad was self made and self reliant, from his education to his career and so many other things. He loved his job and devoted his entire life to making clean safe water for thousands of people. We remember when we were little and Dad would come to our elementary school to teach our classmates on parents’ day about the safety of clean drinking water, and everyone’s faces lit up. Now, you wouldn’t think that a 7 year old would understand the importance, but dad’s special spin on it made a difference. He loved to teach, and like many of you in this room know – he loved to explain things in detail. He always took the time with everyone he met, whether it was his family, colleagues, or someone he just briefly interacted with. He truly had such a kind and caring heart. We always felt this throughout our childhood as well. He was an active father and helped coach our little league teams and even the girls soccer teams - which could get a little scary, but he lead our teams to a variety of championship titles, a winning tradition Dad was able to experience when he was a kid and was able to pass onto us. Even when we were at a young age, he’d play basketball with us boys till late at night in the driveway, but of course never letting us win…we had to earn it, and that competitive spirit is something that our family carries with us to this day…as most of you who know us understand all too well. It was the hard work that he always tried to instill in our family that is a lasting trait they we will all hold dear. Jeff and Scott can remember being kids and asking Mom and Dad to buy them Nintendo - which was the hottest craze in the neighborhood. In the late 80’s and early 90’s, a $100 dollars for a gaming system wasn’t a small amount in the Walsh house hold, and Dad said that he’d show us how to save up so we could buy Nintendo ourselves. So over the course of the next year Dad had us asking every neighbor on the block if they wanted their driveways shoveled or lawn mowed, even if it took us 2 hours to do it. Eventually we earned enough to buy that Nintendo ourselves, and it taught us a lesson about the value of earning something you’ve worked hard for, and Dad was no stranger to that. Dad put himself through night school earning two Master’s degrees in both Engineering Sciences and in Management as well as earning the distinction of becoming a licensed Professional Engineer, along with teaching night courses at Gateway. We will never forget Dad coming home from those night classes flashing his 100’s on his exams and 4.0 report cards, beaming with that smile were are all too accustom to. We all know that if Dad was going to dedicate himself to something, he was going to put in 100% effort. Keep in mind that this was all done with 3 small children, Irish triplets at that, 2 in diapers and a wife working at night waitressing. So as we talk about dedication and Kevin getting past the schooling, coaching, being a great father and husband, he always wanted to take up golf. Now, when Dad first started golfing in his 30’s, and that was sparingly, let’s just say his swing wasn’t as pretty as it was today. But as Scott and Jeff also experience their current love/hate relationship with the game, Dad always reminded us of the advice his good friend John Ahlquist said early on in Dad’s golfing career “Kev, you just got to get out there and play.” And play he did. Some of the fondest memories Dad had with so many of his good friends and family was out on a golf course, whether it was golf trips he took with friends to Myrtle, company golf outings, or just playing at his local golf club with friends or his sons. When we were kids, an always memorable event in the Walsh house hold was when Dad would return every year from the annual Connecticut Water Company tournament. We would be so excited to see if the luck of the Irish would win dad another gift, and sure enough he always managed to bring home something…but not from golf, he’d win the raffle! Lauren to this day is still holding onto the red bike dad has won her over 15 years ago. Or the father son golf competition that we had going these last 6 years, Scott 1 & 2 vs Jeff and Dad, and even with strokes given to us, the Scott’s couldn’t get by Dad and Jeff…until the one infamous round we pulled it off ‘straight up’, and believe us Scott’s, those beer’s tasted great that day! It is these fond memories that so many of us had where we got to experience Dad’s big personality that always seemed to shine through when you were with him. PERSONALITY – Dad was vibrant, kind, and sociable wherever he was. He always loved to be part of everything, whether it was mixing the cocktails behind the family bar in the basement, or entertaining mom’s girlfriends, or kid’s friends, he just loved being part of a good party. This was self evident in mom and dad’s early years from the fun days in college, to camping all over New England, and skiing in Vermont. However while mom and dad did enjoy a cocktail every now and then, there was one night where Lauren called mom at her restaurant Vito’s on a Saturday night because she thought dad was “drunk.” After Lauren indulged Mom’s senses with visions of dad being too intoxicated to handle all of the kids by himself, she quickly told Lauren to put her father on the phone. To Kevin’s surprise, here is Lauren walking over with her pig tails handing dad the phone and with wide eyes, Kevin didn’t know who was on the line. After taking the wrath from Mom for a minute, she quickly got straight to the point “Kev how many beers have you had” and dad calmly replies with a quick laugh, “Cheryl, it has only been 3.” And this was dad’s nature, typically remaining calm in light of adversity, always showing his courage and patience. COURAGE – Our father was strong in body, in spirit, and in commitment. He fought his cancer for all 7 years with more strength and bravery than anyone could even imagine. He amazed his own physicians throughout his entire fight. Always in control, always taking his notes, always wanting to know the next plan of attack to beat this disease, with our mom and family always by his side every step of the way. He often, through contacts at his support group, would help console new myeloma patients through his own experiences, giving whatever advice he could to make them feel safe and stronger to fight the fight he knew they would have to endure. But at the end, dad didn’t want to quit fighting, and he voiced that time and again. He kept such a positive attitude and always thought he would rebound, just like he had so many times after he would experience a set back. He expressed how much he loved us all so much, and how his only dying wish was to spend his remaining time that he had left together with his family. As we all held hands together he told us how much love he had for all of us, how so very proud he was of our family, and talked about how much love we had for one another. That is what is so hard - We are all so very close, and were raised with so much love. We have such a strong bond, which we will continue until we are all united again. So you see, it all comes back to Love. It was his love for life, love for his family, love for so many of you in this room today that makes our dad’s passing so difficult. We want to let you all know that when you think of our father, know that his last days were filled with love. They were filled with family. They were filled with wonderful memories of a life that dad was proud of, a life that we were so happy and lucky to be a part of, and a life of a father and a husband that we won’t ever stop remembering. We love you so much Dad and will miss you tremendously. Thank you and god bless
