I attended a funeral for a family member recently who had been with the same family-owned company for 43 yrs...unheard of these days. He had a prominent position in the company, and for whatever reason, the CEO wanted to pay for the service (we learned later that it allowed him to control who spoke and when). As t…
I attended a funeral for a family member recently who had been with the same family-owned company for 43 yrs...unheard of these days. He had a prominent position in the company, and for whatever reason, the CEO wanted to pay for the service (we learned later that it allowed him to control who spoke and when). As the family sat and listened to story after story of his work life, which really was a reflection of themselves and their unmatched dedication, long hours, mtgs at 7 pm, it made us all depressed. We also knew that his wife did not get enough of his time in the previous 20 yrs. There were two family members who spoke, not about "the employee" but the man, and they were warm and funny and made our hearts swell with love for the guy we knew. I was glad my 20-something kids were there to see/hear and our discussion afterwards on the imbalance of how he was eulogized (they also expressed frustration). Perhaps they gleaned a bit of what is really important in life.
Lovely essay, as always.
I attended a funeral for a family member recently who had been with the same family-owned company for 43 yrs...unheard of these days. He had a prominent position in the company, and for whatever reason, the CEO wanted to pay for the service (we learned later that it allowed him to control who spoke and when). As the family sat and listened to story after story of his work life, which really was a reflection of themselves and their unmatched dedication, long hours, mtgs at 7 pm, it made us all depressed. We also knew that his wife did not get enough of his time in the previous 20 yrs. There were two family members who spoke, not about "the employee" but the man, and they were warm and funny and made our hearts swell with love for the guy we knew. I was glad my 20-something kids were there to see/hear and our discussion afterwards on the imbalance of how he was eulogized (they also expressed frustration). Perhaps they gleaned a bit of what is really important in life.