And YES, both of my girls make me VERY PROUD to be there father!
PS – To help you understand why the album was so meaningful to me, it was of all my kids artwork from when they were little. That artwork had been on my office walls floor to ceiling. I covered every bit of my walls with just their artwork, that’s all that was on my office walls. I had that office before there were cell phones with cameras in everybody’s pocket. I never took a picture and thought I had lost all that art. My wife saved it and they turned it into that album. It was very touching.
My daughter and I made a post on FaceBook and she made a video – Jack Becker – A Wonderful Life – to honor of my dad and her grandfather.  I am posting this so all, including those not on Facebook can have an opportunity to know about this great man.
John “Jack” Becker – March 12, 1932-August 22, 2019
From my daughter:
There are no words to describe the incredible man my grandpa was. This weekend has been really hard, harder than I could’ve imagined, but I will forever treasure the memories I have with him. Before my sister was born, my grandpa was my best buddy and we went everywhere together. We had an incredible bond and I am so thankful for the 23 years we had together.
I love you so much, and I will miss you deeply. Rest In Peace, Grandpa đź’ž
My eulogy at my Dad’s funeral is below. The wonderful video was made with love by his granddaughters – my daughter, Amanda Becker with help from Annika Becker and Shannon Lee Dollar.
Dad’s Funeral – 8-25-2019
This has been tough, harder than I thought. Thank you for coming to be with us today. As most of you already, know – with Jill and Holly – we won the lottery and got the best parents. All of you know how amazing my mom is and the unbelievable love and care she showed my dad these last few difficult years. This has been an emotional summer. I have teared up, for both happy and sad reasons, more this summer than I did over the last 50 years.
I have had ups and downs. I was happy I could be here the during my dad’s last few weeks but sad he is gone. I am happy he is not suffering any more but sad that disease robbed us of a great person. He was funny, very smart, caring and always fair – even when the disease hampered his abilities, he was fair. I remember during the sale of his house, after one deal fell through, the realtor offered to not take a commission because of the problem – he told him he should get his commission because the problem was not his fault.
He was amazing, he could help us figure out almost anything. All of us could tell you stories about situations where we were told it can’t be done, but dad always found a way. They would say, “this can’t work and there is no other way.” Then they talked to my dad for 5 minutes only to change to, ok – here is how we can get this done.
I was so happy to see the joy my dad had at Samantha and Craig’s wedding. I was even happier when I saw him dance for over an hour with both of my sisters, my daughters, my nieces and my mom. Then when I told him he had danced a lot and asked him if he wanted to keep dancing, he then looked at me with that old spark in his eye’s, stood up straighter and said, “You are not my type.” That was my dad.
Looking at picture of my dad it made it clear to me, the good qualities I have today are because of him. As I said, I won the lottery and I will spend the rest of my life attempting to become the person, husband, father, and son that would make him proud.
I was fortunate enough to be able to celebrate my Dad’s 84th birthday with him and my mom this past week. Luckily my Spring Break always falls around his birthday so I take that time to visit. This year, as usual, we had a good time. Many say I am like my Dad, I hope I can be as good a father to my girls as he is a father to me. He has helped me by teaching me to always do my best and by being a good model to follow. To show our similar thinking, twice while I visited we put on similar clothes. One day I had on my ECU T-shirt only to find had chosen the same shirt. ECU represents East Carolina University where I am a professor. The next day I found we both wore  MIT T-shirts. MIT represents Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the school he graduated from in 1953.
How he handled the situation after my near fatal car accident demonstates how he always helped move forward. The car accident put me in a coma when I was 17. Despite the situation, he believed I would be fine. I wrote about that experience in, “The Power of Positive Health: Why I am So Passionate about Wellness” if you want to learn more about what happened. In that situation…
The doctors did not recommend I go to college because they didn’t think I could make it. Interestingly, my parents never lost hope. I had previously applied to college and had taken the SAT’s early. While I was in a coma, my acceptance letter came from Purdue. In the belief I would be fine, my father went ahead and completed my application and sent it in assuming I would go to college that fall despite the fact I was in a coma when he completed my papers.
To celebrate his birthday we went out to dinner. While we were celebrating his 84th birthday another family was there to celebrate their daughters 2nd birthday. In seeing the baby it reminded me of my girls and how fast they have grown up. They are now 19 and 17 about to be 20 and 18. Where did the time go? Although I addressed this issue in a previous post, What did I used to do with all My time?, the little girls parents told me something to capture that concept even better:
          The days are long but the years are short.
To me it is a great reminder to do all we can to create interactions to benefit everyone and everything now because all the time we have is today. I look forward to hearing about how you made today great with Selfish, Selfless, Synergy!
Positive Health Leadership 