Eulogy for Father :: Eulogies Eulogy

Eulogy for Father We are gathered here to give Dr. Jerome, my dad, a last formal farewell. We celebrate his life with the theme of "Choose Life". For throughout his life, dad consistently chose life. He has the God given virtue of seeing the possibility of life. In many circumstances when many are blind, he sees possibilities for more abundant life. His vision is so clear that it drives him to action. And he is a man of action. He always tells me that his actions are calculated risks. Only after his death have I come to understand what he means by calculated risk. I believe he weighs the possibilities for more abundant life against the personal risks that his actions might incur. For him, the possibilities for life always out-weigh the risks of personal loss or rejection. His vision gives him the desire and courage to act. When he saw the possibility of a greater life in relationship with another, he married my mother, Theresa, in 1938. His vision was correct and resulted in a fruitful life-long relationship that brought forth 5 children. When he discovered that I suffered from asthma, he chose a better live for me by becoming a pediatrician. The result was not only a better life for me but also for his many patients. In 1947, he saw the possibilities for life in the West. So he came over to study in St. Louis. His father, my grandfather, was blind to the possibilities and refused to send him here. But his mother, my grandmother, sold some of her jewelry to pay for his stay here. In 1949, when the Communists are moving to take over the country, he saw the risks to our lives and come back to get us out. For him the risk of Communism was greater than the uncertainties of immigration. We left one week after the Communists captured Shanghai, with expired passports, and on the only ship to visit Shanghai that year. If dad was only one day late, our lives would have been radically different. When he saw that teenagers needed a special kind of medical care, he left his practice here in order to study at Harvard's adolescent unit. He was the first doctor in St. Louis to practice adolescent medicine. He also authored a book on the subject. Later in life, with considerable personal sacrifice, he chose to fight for the life of the unborn, for medical ethics that protected the aged and infirm, for an end to capital punishment, and for other related causes.