Papa

Last week we said good bye to my grandfather, Roy J. Connor, who was a wonderful, loving man. I always admired that he loved so unconditionally and never judged. I'll always remember seeing him walk in wearing his Irish golf hat with a smile on his face, listening to the stories, his love of history, the candy he kept in his car & the noisy toys he bought us as kids. He tought our parents, "to live your lives as best you can" which has been passed down to us. I only hope we all make him proud. He lived many lives in his 83 years. He saw his children grow and his children's children grow. He was even able to see 14 great grand children and know that #15 was on the way... He was also able to know there were 2 great-great grand children. He served his country for 30 years as a fighter pilot. He saw the world. There is so much more that our family will cherish about the man we knew as dad or Papa... He shared and gave all the love one could ask for.

He will live on through us, not only in the stories we tell, but also in the way we live our lives which will continue his legacy.

At the funeral mass my aunt read a poem, which he had asked her to read at one time and it was absolutely perfect.

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air....
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark nor even eagle flew—
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.