My brother Eric's Eulogy was first and I followed him. You may find his eulogy by clicking here.
A week ago we burried him. I had the tremendous honor of giving his eulogy. I've typed it out this morning, because this is who my father was:
The laws of Doug Molepske
A Scout is: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly,
Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent.
This is the Scout Law, but
what I’m going talk about is the Doug Laws.
Doug is Prepared
I know, all the Scouts and
Scouters in the room know that Lord Baden Powel said this first, but my father
took it to a whole new level. I always
made fun of the number of things he kept in his pocket, (took out cell phone)
Steve, I know dad would have never kept a cell phone in his pocket. (took out a
pocket knife), my father always had a pocket knife in his pocket. (took out a comb), I went through my fathers
stuff, because he always had a comb in his pocket. Lindsay, you were wondering where Preston got
his cowlick from, I always remember my fathers cowlick! (took out
handkerchief), dad was always prepared with a handkerchief! (took out a pen
from left pocket), anytime you ever needed a pen, my dad always had a pen or 2
handy in his left hand pocket. I use to
make fun of my dad for keeping way too much stuff in his pockets,,, until one
day I came home from work only to realize how much stuff I had in my pockets
and I said, dear lord I’ve become my father!
Next thing you know, I’ll be going to the store wearing black socks with
tennis shoes, a 20 year old shorts, & a white t-shirt!
As I was going through my
fathers items, in his file cabinet, under “c” was a file called
Constitution. I thought, what was in
there… only to discover that it was a copy of the United States
constitution. The only thing I could
figure, was if the movie Independence Day really happened, and Washington DC
was destroyed, my father would be able to say, “I know how we can rebuild it! I have it right here!”
Doug is Cheap (he would of called
it thrifty)
believe there are about 10
Chinese buffet’s that are going to go out of business in about a 20 mile radius
from here. At one particular restaurant
one of the waitress called my dad 1 dollar . . . because that is what he
tipped.
When my brother Greg came
home from Iraq I had purchased some really nice cigars, but my dad stuck to his
$1 cigar, when I asked him why he always smoked those he said, “I Like these,
why spend more?”
My Uncle Don shared a story
about my dad with me, that he went to the circus with his granddaughter
Molly. In typical Molepske fashion said,
“now we’re not going to spend any money once we get there.” But there was an
opportunity to ride the elephant, and Molly wanted to. Uncle Don retold the
story to my dad, and my dad agreed that it was okay to spend money like that
for a memory. Because sometimes love
costs.
My Cousin Mike showed up
Friday night, and I thanked him for coming and he replied, “I had to come,
Uncle Doug gave me my first roll of nickels.”
Uncle Dick quickly responded, “Yeah, he had you fooled thinking that was
a lot of money.”
A typical fence lasts about
10 years I’ve discovered at my house, but not Doug Molepske’s fence… he made
his fence last nearly 30 years! Every
time I came home it felt like my dad said, “let’s go fix the fence.” I always enjoyed it because I was able to
spend time with my Dad, but finally last summer, I told him, “Next time you
need to repair this fence, I think it’s time to build a new one.” And he
finally did.
Doug is Practical
I love cartoons, and my Dad would always tell me how
grown ups don’t watch cartoons. Cartoons
are for children.
Did you know my dad use to own the first Superman
comic book? Yes, but practical Doug got
rid of it when he was a teenager because it was childish… little did he know
what it would be worth. I’ve always
found it funny that rule #3 got in the way of rule #2.
For the longest time, I always thought my name was
number 2 son, because that’s how he’d introduce me. As I got older I’d always add, “Hi my name is
Tim.”
He had this handkerchief always in his pocket that he’d
blow his nose in literally every portion of it.
One time my nose was running and he tried to offer it to me, and was thoroughly
confused when I refused. I could see the
inquisitive look as he tried to understand, “I need to blow my nose, he has a handkerchief,
I don’t, why don’t I just use it?”
My mom told me the day they got married, that the tire
needed to be replaced on the car and he wasn’t going to wait… it had to be done
right then so the car would be ready. My
mom was hoisted up car and all while the tire was changed!
Doug tells stories & Jokes
He would always say to me, you’re not going to believe
this, but from the mundane to the funny, I always believed him.
He’d sometime do this thing with his arm, that he
would pump it back and forth in a dramatic fashion as he was really getting
into his story.
Mom, two Pollock’s were on their way up north to go
ice fishing, but they had to come back because they didn’t have a big enough
bucket for the ice (my mom’s favorite joke my dad would say)
I loved the twinkle in his eye as he would tell his
stories!
Doug is forthright
There was no mixing his
words, if he had an opinion… and he thought it was right, you’d know it. This is going to be a group participation
thing because I don’t have a story, but if you’re here, and you know this to be
true . . .and you have your own story… raise your hand. (almost 85% of the
audience raised their hand)
Doug liked to compete
He always wanted to win! Greg, him, & I were fishing. And I started cracking up because he was catching
the smallest fish that I didn’t even think was possible to catch! I finally asked him why he was catching all
the small ones, and he looked up at me and said, “sometimes the quantity is the
quality.” And it was game on! I tried to match his bait and catch as many
as he did, but he won that day.
Most importantly, my Dad competed against
himself. Always wanting to do better
than he did before. And more importantly
than himself, he competed to do it right.
Doug is do it right
“Do it right or don’t do it at all” and “Job worth
doing – job worth doing well” were to of his favorite sayings he told me growing
up.
My dad and I would have lots of discussions about
volunteers who would just wear a patch. And
I remember in one discussion he passionately exclaimed, “Don’t just wear a
patch… do something with it.”
Oh, and the times he’d tell me about some poor district
executive who didn’t get Doug Molepske his reports on time. (I acknowledged a couple district executives
with whom he worked) if the report was
due on the 2nd by 5pm, he was calling you at 8am asking why you cant
do your job!
Doug is Proud
Steve, he was so proud of
you! I remember the day you graduated
from University of North Texas and Dad didn’t know what to say and he looked at
you with tears in his eyes and gave you thumbs up.
Greg, the day you graduated
from basic and he was able to help pin on your badge. The look of pure joy in his face!
Jeff , of all your friends
you brought around that would watch football or just hang out. He’d always tell me anytime you had friends
over and who was doing what.
Eric, of your own thoughts…. Albeit
he’d disagree with you, but would be so proud you were your own person trying
to understand the world from your perspective.
Doug is Family
He would go to every family
reunion, update the family book, and always try to keep the most up to date
contact information.
I remember being in Troop 703
in Wichita, Kansas and my dad stood up at a court of honor and read Cats in the
Cradle, and with tear filled eyes exclaimed to the parents, “Time spent is time
earned” I don’t know how many parents chose to get involved that day, but I was
11 and I remembered that… and so every opportunity I got I spent it with my
dad. Because he earned my time.
Doug believed Love is a verb
Why use words when actions
mean more?
He loved life, he loved wife,
he loved us boys, oh and how he loved his grand kids, loved his brothers!
Doug is Belief
He was a man of faith. Every
Sunday, sat in the same spot at 10am mass.
He believed in the values of
Scouting, and finished every commissioner meeting with, “For the Boys”
One of his favorite movies of
all times was Follow Me Boys, and the final lyrics were:
So the journeys end,
Is beyond our sight,
Follow me boys, follow me
If we do our best
Then we’ve done all right
Pack your load, hit the road
And follow me
Dad, I don’t know when I’m
coming home, but we’ll get together then, we’ll have a good time then.
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