06/02/2026
In honor and memory.
“I’m good”......
Question: How are we expected to be able to sum up 94 yrs of life for a person with such a servant heart his entire life in a 250-300 word obituary or maybe even 5 minutes as part of a eulogy at their funeral service?
A person who experienced so many things, I mean truly historical moments: The Great Depression, Multiple Wars, Multiple Presidencies, Invention of Television, Atomic power, 1st Space Exploration, Apollo 11 Moon landing, Berlin Wall falls, Computers, Internet, Cell Phones, 56 yrs of marriage, Covid, Emojis to AI. The list seems endless.
I am not even going to be able to cover or come close to all the adjectives that would describe everything Dad was to all of us: Mom, his 3 sons & family, his brothers & sisters, friends & anyone he met along his 94 years on this earth.
We would not have the time to cover them all, and Websters, Wikipedia & AI would not have enough adjectives combined to describe him anyhow.
Those of you that knew or have ever met my father, already know that he would not want us to be sad of his passing, although hard not to be, but to celebrate his life. So share those adjectives, thoughts & stories among each other today and the days to come. Move forward with those cherished memories & lessons he shared as that is what he wanted. It was his “purpose”, his “superpower”.
It is how he will live on in our hearts for literally generations to come.
Dad liked things to be straightforward, honest & simple.
So here are a few keywords and their true meaning that I learned from my time with my Pop.
FAMILY & FAITH:
It was & is EVERYTHING
1 wife
3 Boys
6 Grandchildren
12 Great Grandchildren
6 Great Great Grandchildren
and even a couple very special lady-friends post 2015…..
He loved each & everyone one of you more than you will ever know
He was always truly present, not just “showing up”
He had a calendar with everyone's birthday even including his Great Great Grandchildren. He would ensure everyone got a birthday card with a special note written inside the card and possibly even a little cash or a handwritten check.
By the way, if you did not cash the check he sent he would call after about 30 days and ask why you have not done it yet while letting you know it was screwing up his balanced checkbook he reconciled regularly. So there was no “I don’t want to take his money”, he made sure of it.
A lot of you reading this have been regular recipients of those annual cards.
On average he would take the time to write 10 to 15 cards per month and ensure they were in the mail (not email) to arrive on or as close prior to your birthday. (He sometimes would call or text to check on delivery as he did not like the inconsistent delivery process of USPS).
Always a hand written Thank You or Sympathy card when appropriate as well
Hardly missed a Sunday Catholic Service regardless of where he was in the world
Family & Faith were his daily if not every second of his focus in everything he did
LEADERSHIP:
Born into it without asking: Oldest of 13 !! (no twins)
Joined the Air Force and became Staff Sergeant responsible for making sure Fighter Jet Pilots had safe planes to fly.
Drove countless hours to attend many Cross Country, Track & Football games regardless of where they were being held.
Always at ALL family events with food or gifts in hand or just a helping hand
Coached track and field, ran sideline chains, board for Ford Credit Union, Numerous committees: Regina Coeli, St. Thomas Aquinas, ELKs, Knights of Columbus, American Legion and others we probably don’t even know about. While at Alsation he immediately took leadership of the annual staff compensation program the entire time he was there.
He relentlessly led by example everyday in everything he did, and that is what leaders do.
SACRIFICE: (and I am not talking about being grounded from your cell phone or video games)
He daily would have to go to the neighbors farm and carry back a large ceramic bowl of water because they had no running water or plumbing. (In Northeast Ohio, even winter)
He was removed from his Mom, brothers & sisters at age 5 for 2 years to stay/live with his Aunt & Uncle’s on their Maximo Farm a few miles up the road. It was with an abrupt notice from Grandpa Ray Valentine (his father) who came home from work one evening & said Virgil I need you to pack your things up now cause you're going to be staying elsewhere for awhile.
WHY, because Grandma Ruth Valentine (his mother) was expecting another child and they only had 2 bedrooms with literally no room left for the oldest.
He never got to play sports although was very athletic
He wanted to play football and was the only kid on the team that had dirty white football pants because they could not afford to buy a new pair like the other kids, but he did not care.
After just a couple weeks of practicing with his football team and really enjoying it, Grandpa Valentine pulled him aside after dinner one evening and said he had gotten him a job at the local Butcher Shop and he starts tomorrow after school.
He told his father that he had football practice and would work after that, but the answer was no more football, that is the only time I can drop you off and we need the additional money to help feed your brothers & sisters.
He never played football again or any sport.
The BUTCHER: His job was to mainly grind meat into hamburger and clean floors & the coolers.
What did he learn:
The mops were rarely cleaned just rinsed with water
The rags were used over and over to clean up whether it was beef, chicken or the like. We call that “cross-pollination”. They called it cleaning.
There were various “grades" and what we would now call expired beef that made up the actual hamburger, but the Butcher would sell it as fresh. Dad brought this to the attention of the Butcher and was told just to do what he said & grind it and keep your mouth shut.
Dad would ask Grandpa Valentine when he was coming in to buy his weekly hamburger. Dad would grind the actual fresh beef separately and set it aside. He did this because when his Dad came in to purchase hamburger meat, he knew his brothers & sisters were getting true fresh beef that was not mixed with spoiled beef.
The Butcher was no wiser, and Grandpa V never knew of this either because Dad needed the job and his family needed the money.
He Joined the AIR FORCE to serve his country during the Korean War
Left his new Ford awesome car in the hands of his family although he could have taken it with him after his boot camp… he chose to leave it for his family….
Let’s just say brothers will be brothers and it did not last in the hands of some of my Uncle’s 🙂
He lived on 10% of his military pay as the rest he sent back home to help feed & clothe his brothers & sisters. It might have even paid for some Vitamin inventory as well 🙂
He gave up the opportunity to start a business with his best friend from the military in NY Mr. Ripley for a safe & steady paycheck to support his family in Alliance, Ohio. He worked various shifts over the years for his family.
He literally cut his home in half at 863 S. Haines Ave so he could rent out the top half of the house to help defer the mortgage payments so Mom did not have to work.
Uncle Rich & Aunt Gerri took up residence for a short while upstairs, and Lori & I remain close cousins & friends to this day.
This is also where we had Skipher, our mixed bag pet, but mostly Beagle, who had 3 litters totaling 29 puppies. No matter how high Dad made the fence, Skipher accepted the challenge to find a way out. She lived to be 21 years old, I was 22 when she passed.
RESPONSIBILITY & ACCOUNTABILITY:
Do I really need to elaborate?… I think not.
LOVE:
Every fiber of his body was woven and designed to share love with others
I believe even his RBC (Red Blood Cells) were shaped not as cells but as hearts ♥️
He always was seeking to take care of others, fixing something or a situation, help with needed comfort or just see how you are doing, all so he could help you be better.
Each of you knows this because you felt it and experienced it. He shared it in some way everyday with someone-somewhere-somehow.
SUCCESS:
He taught everyone of us to be “Other Centered” and is that not what Jesus spent his life trying to teach the world? They even wrote a “Good Book” about it! Dad was always helping someone with something anytime, anywhere.
Before I left his room on the sunny late afternoon of Thursday May 28th, 2026, I held his hand and I told him I would be back after Everett's Pre-K graduation ceremony (who knew that was a thing) and then for a bite to eat.
I asked him if he needed anything, and in a soft whisper he said, “No”. Then he struggled to ask me, “How are you doing?”
He is the most successful man I have ever come across in my lifetime. He set a high bar for all of us to follow, but that is what leaders do.
He was the catalyst for our own family Mantra which started out as the 5F’s: FAMILY + FAITH + FRIENDS + FOOD = FUN
And with help from Debora, Zac & Vittorio (Victor) it is now our 8F’s:
FAMILY + FAITH + FRIENDS + FREEDOM + FISHING + FI****MS + FOOD = FUN
Greatly missed, a legacy for generations to come, will never be forgotten and I will see you on the other side to play Euchre, Palm River and maybe even a Casino run (if HE has them there) when HE calls for me......
His final words on this earth were shared with an awesome nurse at Laurel Lake named Patience, and yes that is her name: were simply….….”I’m good”
R.I.P. 6:18pm EST May 28th, 2026
