I wanted to say this during the service, but I was afraid it would prove to emotional, so I’m writing. Dennis is my father-in-law and I have to say, my relationship with him was not always the most positive, because for many years my feelings of him were based mainly through the eyes of others, from stories I would hear family members tell or those surly late night phone calls from him to Michael and me but mostly through the eyes of Michael and his brothers and how life was for them. When you love someone so much as I do, you tend to feel their pain & want to protect them from having to go through anything more & inevitably you form opinions. So, I lived with a lot of anger, resentment and judgement toward Dennis and at times, he would be very aware of how I felt. It wasn’t until I began to grow spiritually that I began to realize my wrongs & our relationship shifted. There began to be many talks involving God, prayer & his regrets of the pain he was responsible for to so many, but mostly his children. Although I told him we forgive him and God forgives him, he had a difficult time forgiving himself and I think that played a large role in his drifting in & out of everyone’s lives. The day Dennis called me & told me he had cancer; God wiped away every lingering negative feeling I had toward him in an instant. He moved in with us shortly thereafter to receive treatment here and although we all had good days & bad days, we were genuinely happy the cancer was in remission, and he was able to move to South Dakota like he wanted. Unfortunately, the cancer came back but I thank Jesus for his mercy & grace because it was within Dennis’ visits that he did ask Jesus into his heart to live and to forgive him of his sins. I’m also thankful that I was able to be by his side during his last moments, to hold his hand while the Lord was preparing to take him home. He kept reaching out his other hand as if he wanted to reach something or someone and I asked him if his angel was in the room, he said yes, I asked him if the Lord was going to take him home soon, he told me yes and it wasn’t long after that he fell into a deep slumber. There was such peace in the room. As I was quietly singing to him, I felt he was getting ready to go home, I looked to the ceiling, gave him a wink and he left. I told him “You made it Dennis”, I love you! I’m so thankful that I was able to see Dennis the way that really only mattered…through the eyes of the Lord. I don’t know what Mike & I would do without the Lord in our lives, he is so forgiving & merciful.

Rest in Pease brother.

Its so wonderful to know that Dennis is in the presence of the Lord, forever at peace.

This was about 10 years ago at Mike’s place in Buffalo.