Charlie Morris Eulogy By Candy Jaques

Anyone who knew Charlie Morris – knew he was one of a kind. He was a good son">

Charlie Morris Eulogy By Candy Jaques

Anyone who knew Charlie Morris – knew he was one of a kind. He was a good son, a good brother, and a good friend. He could make you laugh, he would stand with you when you cried, he was loyal, he could make you crazy and infuriate you, and he could be counted on no matter what when the chips were down. He tried to make us all believe he was a curmudgeon, but most of us knew -- well, I’d say he was a teddy bear, but he’d hate that! He was my best friend for more years than some of you have been on the planet.

I first met him as “Digger” at Jack Lunderman’s house in 1962. In those years, he had an “annual date” and I was it a few months later. Our friendship grew into an engagement, which grew into the knowledge that marriage wasn’t for us, which grew into a deep love that has abided for all these years.

There has never been a crisis in my life that Charlie wasn’t there for me.
But what I want to talk about today is the man we all knew. That’s difficult because he was so many things to so many people. Charlie didn’t differentiate in his friendships – you could be rich or poor, love tractors or Mercedes Benz, prefer bluegrass to Bach or vice versa. You could be a caver – or claustrophobic like me. He got me into one cave, one time, and his sister Sandy will tell you that I just about lost it even in that huge cavern.

Charlie loved tractors and trains, cars and boats, hearses and fire engines, caves and mountains, classical and folk music, jokes, magic, ham radio, farming and farm equipment, Sherlock Holmes, going down into caves, and going out to dinner. He cherished old ideals and the lost art of doing things the right way. He went to tractor pulls and fire musters, steam shows and art shows, Celtic concerts and the Philharmonic, and most of all, Charlie went where people were. Yet even saying that is somewhat puzzling….He loved people, but can anyone who knew him imagine him dealing with people, say at Wal-Mart – Hi, I’m Charlie, welcome to Wal-Mart!

He was always up for new experiences which is what led him in so many different directions. Once, when we were in our 20’s, he took me to Pigalle’s in Cincinnati for dinner. Now this was 1964 and neither of us had ever experienced a 4-star restaurant at that point. He spent $40 for dinner – and neither of us had a drink! So you can imagine how grand and special the meal was. When the waiter offered us dessert suggestions, Charlie chose the chocolate mousse because he said he’d never had it. He took his first bite and looked at me with that disgusted look he could get, and said, It’s pudding! We both laughed so hard about it that I thought we might have to leave.

Although Charlie never had children of his own, and always pretended to be afraid of kids, he had a stepson that he was proud of, nieces and nephews that he cared the world about, and he was a stand-in step-dad for my own two kids through some pretty harrowing times as they grew up. All of them could tell you stories about times when he was really important and helpful to them in their lives. And when my granddaughter Grace died 2 years ago, Charlie supported us in every way, including insisting on purchasing a beautiful pink alabaster urn for her cremains.

I remember a particularly trying time I went through when my two kids were in their teens. I vented and cried on Charlie’s shoulder, moaning that I just couldn’t cope. He listened, and the next day he showed up with something he said would help me get through it – a coping saw! It still hangs on the wall in my garage, reminding me that, even now with this huge chunk taken from my life, he’s still telling me that I can cope.

I started by saying that anyone who knew Charlie knew a good friend. This was a man of many facets, many loves, many talents, and many friends. A quote from the Wizard of Oz about the Tin Man seems to sum it up for me – A man’s heart isn’t measured by how much he loves, but by the number of people who love him. Charlie Morris had an enormous heart!