Our family is feeling a bit of emptiness and sorrow today. But I emphasize that it's just a "little bit" when compared to the "extreme joy and thanksgiving" we share for the life of Albert Clifton Koontz and the blessings of having been very close, significant parts of his life.
             There is never a good time to die, neither suddenly or over a period of time from a lengthy illness or condition. Death always carries a sting... a sting that is overcome through the knowledge that a loved one has lived a model, Christian life. And in our dad's case, perhaps those latter few years may not have seemed to some to be so Christian as the ravages of an undiagnosed dimentia and just recently diagnosed Alzheimers creeped in and seemed to change the man we knew from years past. We aren't the first to experience this and we certainly won't be the last to do so. Our circumstance was by far not as devastating, demanding and negatively impactful on our family when compared to many others whose loved ones have fallen to this dreaded illness. And to those families, our prayers go out to you. So, overall, I suppose one could say we have a lot to be thankful for....and truly we are.
             But, now let me tell you a few things about our dad...some many of you already know. And then many things that only a few of you know.
             Mother always said that the two people most afraid of dying were daddy...and me! But we're here to talk about daddy. I've been home three times over the past two years including this trip wherein daddy was at death's door. But he fought it off, rebounding to another level of hanging in there. This last time, Sunday the week before he died, he said he was ready to go and he was calling for me to get home because he wanted all four of his children to be around his bed and watch him take his last breath. "Where is my Butch" he would tell the girls. I came immediately. I got hom...