You may not remember the name Craig Eubank, but I remember
you. In your career as a pastor, you probably officiated well over 1,000 funerals,
and quite understandably, may not remember all of the deceased. Please allow
me to remind you of a couple that are special to me. You eulogized the passing of my
father, Irving B. Eubank, in 1964 (Weymouth Funeral Home); my grandmother, Bessie A.
Gibson, in 1965 (Weymouth Funeral Home); my mother, Marie Gibson Eubank King, in 1991
(W.J. Smith Funeral Home); and my stepfather, James H. King, in 1998 (W.J. Smith Funeral
Home).
I’ll soon be 64 years old, and am blessed with relatively good
health. With 2 teenage sons and a young wife, I must stay in good physical
condition. And since I currently live in Texas, you may never get to pray over my
casket. But one never knows. My mother felt reasonably well in 1990, and one
year later, she was gone. But if my time comes tomorrow, I can’t think of
anyone I’d rather have stand over me than Dr. Furman Kenney.
Anyway, I’m very thankful my family knew you as pastor of Parkview
Baptist Church in the 1960’s. I joined the U.S. Army in 1968, and my Mother
contacted you when she became concerned that I might be sent to Vietnam. Since I was
her only son, and my father had died several years earlier, she asked only that I be
allowed to serve stateside instead of in a combat zone. She feared being left all
alone--her mother had died in 1965, and her father (my grandfather) had remarried and
moved away. I remember you supported her without hesitation, and she was extremely
grateful for your help.
Like many young men, I had a very difficult time figuring life out. It
took me 10 years from the time I left Newport News HS in 1964 (including 3 years in the
Army) to earn a Civil Engineering degree from Virginia Tech. In 1974, I was
lucky--you would call it blessed--to get a prestigious and challenging job with the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers that lasted almost 30 years. I may have retired too young at
the age of 57, but I didn't want to end up like my father. Failing health forced him
into retirement at the age of 67, but debilitating arthritis and a series of crippling
strokes turned his final 2 years into a nightmare instead of the golden reward it should
have been. I swore that would never happen to me.
Of one thing I can be absolutely certain. Without the help of people
like you, I don't think I would have ever made it. I consider it a great honor and
privilege to have known Dr. Furman Kenney. Thanks for touching our lives the way you
did, and for being someone we could always depend on.
Sincerely,
Frederick Craig Eubank
May 21, 2010
"The Hymn"--Yanni |
