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GlennGood morning. Thank you all for being here. Helen, Reba, Billie and I appreciate your taking the time to be with us.
The past seven months have been very difficult. We knew he was sick. He knew he was sick. But until he was actually diagnosed, he tried to pretend he wasn't. After all, he was a lifelong athlete, a long-distance bike rider, a reformed cigarette smoker, a practicer of yoga. How could he be sick? But he was. Over the months as he prepared to leave this earth, we -his family and friends- had the chance to reflect upon the life he lived.
I want to thank my sister Helen who made it her mission to keep him at home instead of in the hospital. I want to thank all the medical professionals who worked with him, especially Dr. John Devlin who went above and beyond. I want to thank those of you who faithfully visited him and made him laugh by reminiscing about all the adventures you shared with him over the years. Hopefully, you'll share some of those stories today so we can all laugh once again and so his nieces can get an understanding of who their uncle really was. 'Cause he was really something.
Glenn's nieces were the true lights of his life. Reba came into our family first. I'd never seen him happier. He taught her everything he knew, including how to tease her Aunt Barb. One of their tricks came when he was teaching her the names of her family members. As they went around the table, Reba carefully pronounced all the family's names. Then they got to me. "Who's this?" Uncle asked. And as clear as a bell, Reba said, "blipp." (the raspberry sound) They laughed and laughed at my horrified expression. That was just the beginning of years of jokes at my expense. All the kids in the neighborhood knew Uncle. He was like a Pied Piper. The kids would jump the fence to play with Reba and Uncle. He would have popsicle tailgate parties on the back of his truck. He was fun and they loved him. It wasn't just the neighborhood who knew Uncle, Reba's daycare knew him too. If something needed to be fixed, Reba said Uncle could do it, and he did. He also became a bit infamous when the daycare kids were using magazine pictures for a project and Reba pointed to a bottle of beer and said Uncle!
Helen brought Billie into our lives a few years later, and Uncle was delighted to have a new buddy to teach and play with. He taught her the tricks of the trade. If something needed to be fixed, she picked up a screw driver right along with him. They were TV buddies. They watched everything together, from Spongebob to House. He taught her to ride a bike. Every day he carried her backpack and hiked the hill to take her to and from the bus stop. He was a faithful visitor to her schools. In kindergarten at Trinity, Billie's teacher helped each child to write and illustrate a book. The books were a secret until the big day when each child read his or her book. There wasn't a dry eye in the house when Billie shared the dedication of her masterpiece... to Uncle. Her book was all about her special Uncle and their special relationship.
Of course, he continued the family tradition of tormenting Aunt Barb with Billie. We had a big snow one year and he and the girls spent much of the morning making a snowperson. They were so excited when they ran into the kitchen for hot chocolate and told me to look outside and see their masterpiece. It was a huge snowperson, a giant woman with a blanket for a skirt and two bright red poker chips on the snow mounds of her chest. Yes, they'd named the snow woman. They called her Aunt Barb.
Uncle was quite a character. We will miss him forever. I want to end with a poem that Billie wrote a few years ago to honor her uncle, because it pretty much says it all.
I Love You
by Billie Snyder
Dear Uncle
You are the best
You're great at fixing things
I love you
You are the best
You tell me you love me
All the time
I love you
You are the best
You tuck me in at night sometimes
I love you
You are the best
I'm glad you love me
As much as I love you
I love you
You are the best
At this time, I want to ask any of you who feel so inclined to share with us your memories and stories about Glenn.
