Dan Peters, my father, was an incredible man in so many ways. He was a loving father, uncle, brother and friend to many of you here today. He built a reputation as a well-respected painting contractor and was the founder of Dan Peters’ Painting Contractors in this area. In my eyes he was a model of success and the measure of what a good father should be. Being from a family of 10 children he learned the value of hard work and sacrifice at an early age. However, I believe the most important thing he learned was the value of family. Although he was a private and quiet man he loved his parents, brothers and sisters fiercely which was evident in some of our last conversations we had in previous weeks. This carried over in his love for my Mom and my sister and I. He was a firm disciplinarian but never abusive. He could often make my sister and I straighten up by simply giving “a look” that let us know at that point he meant business.

The last year of his life was challenging as the changes he had to endure were extremely stressful. After he retired a few years ago I know he looked forward to enjoying more time with Mom and his children and grandchildren. I’m sure what he didn’t count on was having to watch the terrible effects of Alzheimer’s as it began to affect my Mom’s memory and health and eventually require her to be placed in a nursing home. The amazing thing to me is that he never complained about the challenges he faced but rather continued to be the loving husband he always was. He visited my Mom every day and took their dog Katie to visit her because he knew this might brighten her day.

While all of this seems very sad I was fortunate to see him enjoy happy times with Andrew, Emily, and Abigail as they grew up. He beamed with pride any time he saw them. Any time I would visit the first words out of his mouth were “How’s Tiffani? Or “how are Andrew, Emily, and Abigail?”, followed by “have you hear from Jill today?”, which was then followed by “have you seen your mother lately?”.  He had a genuine concern for his family and wanted to make sure they were always doing well.

There’s simply not enough time to tell in detail how he enjoyed life but I can assure anyone who asks that he lived life as full as he could.

If I took the time to share with you all the things my Dad taught me, we would probably be here for quite a while. So I’ll focus on a few and keep many in my heart. I hope I can get through this without breaking down but I’m sure you will understand if I do. Billy Graham said that a good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society. Dad was definitely a good father.  My Dad was a master teacher too, however he taught many things I have learned not by lecture (though there were a few of those too), but by just the way he lived his life. Dad was a believer in Christ and I have no doubt that he learned and lived these lessons because of his faith in God and the written word. Now I’m not trying to paint the picture that my Dad was perfect or that he walked around reciting scripture and was in church every Sunday. The truth is that in his later years he didn’t attend church. In fact, he didn’t get out of the house much at all except to go see my Mom in the nursing home faithfully every day, or go to the grocery store to get a plate lunch from Winn Dixie. In the past few months on occasion he would come to my house to visit, bringing his and Mom’s dog Katie who loved to go for rides in his truck. Other times I would visit him every few days at his home in the afternoon after I got off work and sometimes on the weekend. I wanted to visit him more often but often consoled myself in the fact that I was so busy and there was always tomorrow. I cherish the conversations we had during my visits which in the past few months were about family history, how my Mom was doing, how my sister was doing, and so forth. During his last few days in the hospital I would go to his house to check on things. It was difficult going into his room because of the image of the emergency responders loading him onto the stretcher. The night Jill and I learned that he was rapidly declining I went to the house again to make sure it was secure and to check on his bills. I reluctantly went into his room carrying his bed sheets I had recently washed and dried and noticed something very comforting on his nightstand. The Bible he had by his bed even to the very day I took him to the hospital 2 &frac;12; weeks ago was marked up, pages folded, written in, and had every single chapter circled in it. This told me that he knew he was not perfect but relied on the teachings of Christ to live his life by. This brought back a memory of a conversation with him in recent months which confirmed in me his still strong faith in God. So now I will share with you a few of the many things Dad taught me. 

Remain calm – you can’t get through stressful or trying times by reacting with anger, chaos, or hostility. My Dad was the King of Cool under pressure situations, even when those around him showed signs of losing control. His calming nature had a way of diffusing an otherwise chaotic outcome into a manageable situation. “Calm to a fault” would be a good way of describing his demeanor. I remember my Mom telling about the time she and dad were in the kitchen and as he was reading the paper and drinking coffee he received a phone call. She recalled that phone call lasted a few minutes and he never once changed expressions or tone in his voice and occasionally muttered “Mmmhmm…. Yeah…..Mmmhmm…..ok. After he hung up she asked him what the phone call was about. Without blinking an eye, he simply said “That was Ben……. someone set the paint truck on fire”. She said he then went back to reading the paper and drinking coffee. Change is inevitable and most of the time good. However, if you don’t like the outcome of a change then don’t just accept it as a mistake or “written in stone forever”, but rather seek to change yourself or your situation again and again until you get it right.  This was definitely the case with houses and my Dad. He must have thought snakes were a reason to change houses because they were the culprit in 95% of our moves. Build a house….see a snake….time to move. Don’t try to keep up with the Joneses (no disrespect to my mother-in-law):   If you try to live your life up to the standards of others just because of what they have or proclaim they have you’re living a false life and will dig yourself into debt and despair. Don’t be afraid to take a chance. Ask yourself what’s the worst thing that could happen and as long as there isn’t a risk of physically hurting yourself or someone else then taking a chance on something may just make your life better. One of our recent conversations was about his first real success as a painting contractor. He told me that he started out by painting houses which he said he was thankful for and provided well for he and Mom. He wanted to break into commercial contracting but the cost of licensing and bonding was just too much. One day a general contractor he had met previously gave him a call and asked him if he had bid on a upcoming job in Troy which was a huge housing project job. Dad told him no but didn’t tell him the reason why. The man knew of his work and insisted that he bid on the job. Dad pondered over this for days and finally decided to submit a bid even though at the time it was just himself and one or two other men as a crew and even though he had no way to afford the licensing and bonding that was required to take on such a job. When I asked him what gave him the courage to submit the bid he said “I kept asking myself what’s the worst thing that could happen?” “They can refuse my bid”. “They could sue me but I didn’t have anything they want so I really didn’t have anything to lose. He got the bid. Forgive. Dad never held a grudge. He frequently said that life was too short to argue needlessly. Forgive and move on was his motto. Be humble. Dad was an example of humility and I never once heard him brag or try to build himself up as a better man than someone else.

I will miss my Dad terribly but I take comfort in the fact that he is now in a better place and is reunited forever with his parents and the brothers and sisters he loved so much that preceded him. 

I love you now and forever Dad

Your proud son,

Danny