Dad - Eulogy

 Newton G. Thompson (written January 2019)

If Dad was here right now, he would be upset with all of you AND with his family.

He would say “y'all don’t need to be making such a fuss.”

He would be truly upset that our prayer requests for him created a log jam on your Facebook timeline.

But, we are going to just ignore his protests and spend some time with him.

We played America the Beautiful for him. Because Dad was a patriot.

His love for this country was second only to his love for God, my mother, and all of his children and grandchildren.

He instilled love for this country in all of us and even his great grandchildren are aware of it. My grandson Troy, in a school essay about him, wrote “I love that my Papaw is loving, sweet, smart and loves his country.”

Dad was born during the Great Depression. TV had barely been invented and, believe it or not, scotch tape was a new and amazing thing. Long distance communication was through hand written letters (Remember them?) and indoor plumbing was a luxury.

He joined the Army as soon as he could.

He served in the Korean Conflict. He worked in defense intelligence in the 60’s. He didn’t deploy to Vietnam although he did issue deployment orders to many troops.

And that weighed heavy on his heart.

He never talked much about his service.

He didn’t consider himself to be an important person, yet he did strive to be relevant, keeping up with current events and remaining active.

Steady or constant is a good way to describe my Dad. He lived his life in a manner that reflected the things he believed in. He didn’t waver. He wasn’t a fence straddler. He believed in God and Jesus. He believed in honesty and integrity. He believed in doing the right thing even if it was the hard thing.

He didn’t like pettiness and if he got a belly full of it, he would let you know. He could actually be pretty blunt about it. If you ever were on the receiving end of it, you know what I’m talking about.

He wanted people to be kind and thoughtful of others. He hated bigotry and prejudice.

He didn’t tolerate bad behavior around his family. He protected us from the ugliness that is in the world as long as he could. Yet he showed us beauty in the world also.

He liked to grill burgers for family get togethers and he never passed up a chance to go eat at Tamollys!

He loved to dance with my mom. And we loved to watch them dance together. They were always in step with each other ... in dance and in life.

He had a tender heart. He always had a hug and an “I love you” for us.

He wasn’t a prideful man.

But I was always proud of him.. Except for the time (a long time ago) when he arrived at the teen club and actually came inside looking for me! I was so embarrassed! But I think I was supposed to have been home already.

My sisters and I could tell you a few more stories like that.

I was an embarrassed teenage girl, but Dad didn’t care.

He was just doing his job as a Dad back then, taking care of his kids, showing us how to live, setting a standard... and he never stopped being the example. He took an interest in all of our lives and, although he never told us what to do, he would listen and give advice if we asked. He was always there for us. Always. During good times and bad.

He wasn’t perfect. I am sure he had some faults. I just can’t think of one.

I guess you can just sum it up with “He was a good man. A gentle man. An upright man.”

Dad was the most excellent person I will ever know. He was one of a kind and Kelly, Karla and I do our best to emulate him.

We know that God blessed us immensely with Newton Thompson for our father and we will be forever grateful.

During this last week, the story of Moses kept coming to mind.

When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and they came to the borders of the Promised Land, he sent scouts to spy it out. Those scouts returned to the people with fearful reports of giants and warriors. There was only one scout who gave a good and glowing report. So even though God had told them to go in and occupy the land, they would not ... because they chose to believe the bad reports. They feared for their lives.

They didn’t think about the promises of God and they didn’t think about the abundant blessings waiting for them in the land. They disregarded the one good report and spent the next 40 years in the wilderness.

This last few days we had some bad reports and fearful news about Dad, but there was always at least one hopeful report from the doctors. I determined to believe the good report... the hopeful one. I was hoping and believing for him to be healed.

I think Dad was hearing all of those bad reports just like we were, but the good report he heard came, not from a doctor, but from the voice of Heaven. And so he remembered the Promise of God and courageously entered in to Heaven and the Presence of Jesus.

We are going to miss him terribly, but we know that we will see him again.