“From These Roots We Came”

After a three week illness and hospital stay, Elmer M. Ross (Ahnentafel # 2), one of the subjects of this blog, passed away on May 3, 2007. the following memorial presentation was made at the funeral by the Author, his son E. Lamar Ross. Tomorrow will be our first Christmas without “dad” and “papaw” and he is and will continue to be sorely missed.

A Lasting Legacy: A Tribute to Elmer Melvin Ross (Jan 19, 1915 to May 3, 2007)

“Everyone leaves a legacy, a result of their life on earth. Some die and are immediately forgotten. Some are remembered and never forgotten. Dad will be one of these individuals.

We, his offspring and friends, will always be a living testament to his life, his love, and his strength of character. How well we live the rest of our life will in large part be a reflection of Dad’s influence on us.

Dad would not want us to weep, although we all are grieving his going. His many years with us made it seem like he would be with us forever, but the reality of life is that all of us are going eventually to our reward. Let us celebrate the fact that God allowed Dad to be with us for more than 92 wonderful years.

Even in Dad’s many physical problems, he was a perpetual optimist. Remember when at 81 years of age, he was scheduled to have triple by-pass surgery, and the doctor told him he had only a fifty-fifty chance of survival. What was his reply? “Look doctor, you do your job and I’ll do mine. I have already outlived three doctors who said I wouldn’t live” Well, it was more than three weeks of fighting, but he pulled through to live another eleven plus years. I think he may have outlived that doctor also.

He was stubborn. I remember another time when someone had indicated that he might not survive an illness, he stated as he got better. “Don’t tell me when I’m going to die. I’ll die when I am ready. Yes, this was OUR DAD. WE are his LEGACY.

Well, he finally left us. And he left us when HE and GOD were ready. We will weep for him out of love and sorrow that he is no longer with us, but he would not want us to grieve his passing to a better life. He would want us to celebrate the good times we had through those many years we had with him.

Let’s take a few moments and re-live a few of the good times we had with him, the one’s we will never forget. Each of us have different individual memories that are ours alone with Dad. Other’s we shared together. Here are a few.

Remember the fantastic harmonica playing, especially his rendition of the train sounds. How many times did we say, “Dad, play it again”.

Remember playing checkers and Chinese checkers around the coffee table in the living room. We could occasionally beat him at Chinese checkers but never at regular checkers.

Remember standing early on a cold morning in front of the gas space heater in our pajamas warming ourselves and Dad gently pulling the front of pajamas to give us a “little extra warmth”. Or standing in front of those same space heaters cooking our heavily buttered toasts.

Remember Johnny and Lamar strumming their guitars as Dad played his harmonica. Or his banjo playing, always a little off-key, but distinctly Dad.

Remember our trips to visit Grandmother and Grandfather Long in our old Pontiac (Dad’s favorite brand of cars at the time), with Dad singing gospel songs (also sometimes a little off-key) and stopping his singing long enough to admonish the six of us misbehaving in the back seat: “Don’t make me have to stop this car now!”

I remember Dad’s enjoyment of Southern Gospel quartets, particular one we attended with our Long grandparents when the Spear Family was singing. I don’t know why I remember this one so vividly, but I do. That’s the important thing.

We each have OUR OWN special unforgettable memories.

And one memory which will forever stand out in our memory, krystal hamburgers. Remember when in the middle of the night on Dad’s paydays, returning from the swing shift at Lockheed Aircraft, Dad would stop at the Krystal on Broad Street in Rome, wake us up, feed us Krystal hamburgers, which would leave us with the unforgettable hamburger aftertaste for most of the next day.

And Jerry, you will remember in the late 1970’s when you and I stopped in Cartersville one night, bought Krystal hamburgers, went to Dad’s and Mom’s place, woke Dad up and made him eat Krystal hamburgers in the middle of the night. I don’t remember whether he enjoyed them or not, but we enjoyed that moment with him.

And who can ever forget Dad’s love for us, our children, the grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Their “papaw” will never be forgotten. And he shouldn’t be.

These are just a few of the many hundreds of good memories that all of us have shared with Dad over the years. We must not forget. We must each grieve his passing in our own way, but whatever you do, remember that his memory and his legacy is in our hands. WE ARE HIS LEGACY! WE LOVE YOU, DAD.”

By

Elmer Lamar Ross, Son

© 2007 by E. Lamar Ross and Infopreneur Publishers, LLC.