My brother passed away unexpectedly last week. We made the trip to Idaho for the funeral, where I spoke. I thought I would post what I said here, so that family and friends that couldn't make it to the funeral could read it. There were over 800 people at his service. He touched many lives. I can't even begin to describe how much I will miss him. Here is a link to his obituary.
http://lmtribune.com/obituaries/article_ec7febf3-04ce-539c-afaa-47f79f24b8a1.html
I would like to thank all of you for being here today. Thank you for all the thoughts, prayers and kind acts of service that you have done for our family this past week. I live in New Hampshire, and it took me a couple days to get here. My main concern was for my mother who lives alone, and for Amber and the kids, but within an hour, they were surrounded by many of you, who were there to offer comfort when I couldn't physically be here to do so. I'm grateful for that.
I know that Jeff is looking down on us today, and he's thinking a couple of things. The first is, he is glad he doesn't have to work this service, and he's also laughing a little to himself, that Jason and Dennis do.
Jeff loved his family- his wife Amber, and his kids, but I have to say- those grandkids were where it was at for him. He loved being a Papa. I would often get text messages with pictures of the kids who look so much like him.
The kids talked about Jeff's life, the important moments that helped make him who he was. They mentioned his love of Pepsi. We all would affectionately call it "the sauce", because it was his addiction. We briefly considered having memorial donations go to the Pepsi Cola, Co, but as Jason pointed out, Jeff has already given them enough of his money over the years. Mahaley's husband Mike joked that in order to marry Mahaley, he only had to hand over a case of Pepsi, and Jeff was welcoming him into the family with open arms.
When Jeff was going to Mortuary School in Gresham, I was also going to school in Portland and we lived in apartments across the hall from each other. Amber didn't let Jeff keep Pepsi in the house at that time, so he would come over to my apartment and get his "fix". I always knew when Amber was out running errands and had left him home alone with the kids because Jeff would call me up and say, "What are you doing? You want to come over and bring me a Pepsi?". So I would go over there and not only did he want me for my Pepsi, but it never failed that one or more of his kids' diapers would always need to be changed! Jeff had 8 kids, and I don't have any, but somehow, I ended up changing more diapers in my life than he did- and all of them were for HIS kids!
They spoke of his love for MASH. I don't know if the kids remember this but when they were little, he taught them to say "Yeah, MASH!" when the theme song would come on, and they would watch it together. As they said, he loved to go to the mountains and look for mushrooms and huckleberries- the latter of which he never wanted to share with his sister!
I was the first girl born on my dad's side of the family in 37 years. Jeff always said that made for me being a little spoiled. Of course, that's not true! Mom and dad would always say, "Jeff, watch out for your sister." He always did- well, when he wasn't dangling me over the bridge in Pomeroy and threatening to drop me, that is! He did save me from drowning in the neighbors pool when I was 5, and he would get out of class to walk me across the crosswalk when I got out of Kindergarten because I was afraid of the crossing guards. Jeff was the only boy on our street growing up, with just me and a few other girls my age. It wasn't often he wanted to play with us, but a few of us do remember one year when it snowed, Jeff helped us make a snow fort and made us build him a throne so he could sit on it and he crowned himself the "King of Grelle Avenue". When we were home alone, before Jeff ever had his drivers license, he would take me for rides on our dad's motorcycle in the backyard, and afterwards we would have to rake the grass where the tire tracks were so that our parents wouldn't find out. It was always Jeff's responsibility to mow the lawn, but I always wanted to do what he did and help. So Jeff would let me "help" by making me mow the backyard, which was considerably larger than our front yard, while he sat under the porch to supervise- of course, with a Pepsi in his hand!
Jeff loved Chang's Mongolian Grill which is in the Seattle and Portland area. His love for Chang's began when he was in mortuary school, and we joked that he was there so much that they had his picture hanging up in the restaurant, and that when he moved back to Lewiston, they would probably have to lay somebody off at the restaurant because they would miss the money he spent there! Later, when I was living in Kent, Jeff would come visit me and we would go to Chang's. The only problem with that is, Jeff would put so much garlic on his, that I was smelling him in my apartment for days after he left! He would always tell me he was just leaving me something to remember him by so I wouldn't miss him too much!
When Jeff started working at the funeral home, I told him that when I died, I wanted him to put me in the nicest, most expensive casket that they had because he owed me for all the things he did to me when we were kids. To that he would say, "Don't worry, I'll put you in the nicest cardboard box I can find." Dennis and Jason- I'm entrusting this to you now- the nice casket, not the cardboard box! Jeff still owes me!
As his family we laughed about his funeral home voice. He always sounded so somber when he answered the phone "Vassar-Rawls, Jeff Seipert speaking". Then he found out it was someone in the family and would switch back to his regular voice. It always made me laugh. I was at the funeral home yesterday and I was downstairs and Roman answered the phone the same way, only saying his name instead of Jeff's, and I couldn't help but smile. The funeral home voice lives on in another generation.
Jeff always said that I remembered everything. He didn't mean it as a compliment, because he usually said it when I was giving him a hard time about something he did to me when we were kids that he wished I would forget. Like throwing rocks at my bare feet on our gravel driveway and saying, "Dance, Heidi, Dance". But, I do hope I always remember the sound of his voice, and the way he would say "Yelloooo" when he answered the phone when I called because he knew it was me. I hope I will always be able to remember the good memories we have had.
I think that all siblings share a special bond. It's a bond that comes from growing up in the same house with the same parents under the same circumstances. Jeff and I had that bond. If you knew us at all, or saw our posts on Facebook, you would know that we enjoyed teasing and joking with each other. We weren't just brother and sister, we were friends that enjoyed spending time with each other. Many years his one vacation a year was spent coming to my house to see me. Of course, that could have just been because it was a free place to stay! When he was visiting me, I would always say "what do you want to do today?", and he would look at me from my couch where he was sitting with a Pepsi in his hand (are you sensing a theme here?), and he would say, "I don't care what we do, I'm on vacation!" He was content just to sit on my couch and watch tv and lay with my dogs. We spoke on the phone usually at least once a week, and if we didn't talk on the phone, we were in touch through text messages and emails. Our phone calls always ended with "I love you".
I have many more memories of us growing up that I could share, but we don't have that much time. The truth is, I could stand here all day and it still would not be enough time to adequately express what Jeff meant to me. I feel like no matter what I say, it will fall short of how I felt about him, and how much I will miss him. I always looked to him as a source of strength. I knew he would always be there for me. I struggled to be able to express to you the deep love we had for each other. I think Jeff said it best in an email to me about a year ago. I was going through a hard time in my life, and in the email he said, "I want you to know that I would give anything to be able to be with you and even go through the pain of everything for you. I love you and cherish you as my sister and as hard as it is for you, it is just as hard to be your brother and think of you going through these trials. I am grateful that you're my sister, and I'm grateful for the unconditional love that you have for me and all my imperfections. I will always be here for you and will help lift you in any way I can." And that's how I felt about him. I loved and cherished him as my brother, when he hurt, I did too. I was always proud of him, and grateful for him.
Amber, I love you. You know that Jeff loved you, and I'm so glad he picked you to be my sister.
To my nieces and nephews- I love you and I will always be here for you and will help lift you in any way I can. So will your mom, your grandparents, and all your aunts and uncles. You are loved. I want to share with you something that your dad wrote me in that email, because I think it would be what he would say to you as you are going through this trial of losing him, and all the other trials you will face throughout your life. He said, "Heavenly Father sent us here for a specific purpose and we don't always understand or agree with the trials that come our way. I've wondered about myself and the things I've been through as of late, but I keep reminding myself that it's how I stand up to these trials and deal with them, that will make me a better person. The Lord knows of our sufferings and heartaches. He has felt them. That's what gives Him the right to stand up for us and be our advocate with the Father. He knows what we need to sustain us, so put your trust in Him. Remember that we agreed to all this before we came to this earth. We knew the trials and sufferings we would face, and were willing to go through it anyway. Put your trust and faith in the Lord, and He will see you through it."
Then he said to me- "Remember that dad is up there in your corner also and watching out for you. Remember we want to be with him someday."
So to you, Mahaley, Abby, JD, Roman, Shelby, Noah, Joey and Andrew, I say this- Remember that your dad is up there with your Grandpa Ron, and they are in your corner watching out for you. Remember we want to be with them someday.
May God be with all of us, until we meet them again.
