My dad, Darrell Luebbert, passed away on Sunday, March 1, 2020. It was rather sudden, but Not unexpected! He was buried at the Jefferson Barracks cemetery on March 6, 2020 with full Military Honors!

These were my parting words… 

 

Prov 1:7-9
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction
and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
9 They will be a garland to grace your head
and a chain to adorn your neck.
How do we go about condensing 89 years of living into just a few words? For, if it was any ONE thing that my dad did (And, YES, though Most of you knew him as ‘Darrell’, to me and a very short list of others, he was ‘Dad’!)… if there was ever ONE thing that Dad did, it was LIVE!!

As a child, Dad was a fisherman. I recall seeing some old black-and-white photos of the stilt-house he and his family lived in for some years with the rowboat tied to one of the supports… when the river was up, the only way to and from the house was by boat! And from the stories I recall from Grandpa Luebbert, Dad, and others, you Know fishing was a vital part of their existence.

He was a farmer. When the family turned to the land, he learned all that he needed From the land! And planting a seed, tending it as it grew, and harvesting the results was a love of his throughout his entire life!

He was a woodworker! Again, as a child he and his brothers helped Grandpa saw countless logs into the lumber that built much of the little town of Hartford, as well as the surrounding farms. He built barns, corn-cribs, wagons, and all manner of things out of wood. In his later years he learned and developed some of the finer skills of the craft, building cabinets and furniture, culminating in what I thought was one of the most amazing ‘grandfather clocks’ I’d ever seen!

He was a welder. Coming home from the service, he attended a welding school and became quite proficient in that, building, repairing, and even ‘creating’, if you will, all manner of metals and metal items.

He was an operator of heavy equipment. The Navy taught him that and, again, his enjoyment of doing it stayed with him all through his years! Many were the hours he and I, and I’m sure Many others, sat and swapped stories about running ‘this’ machine or doing ‘that’ project.

And speaking of the Navy, he was a ‘SeaBee’ during the Korean War. If you don’t know, ‘SeaBee’ (‘CB’) stands for ‘Construction Battalion’! He told me, once, how They were the first ones on an island so as to build the airfield that the Marines would come in to land on!

Yes, he was ALL of these things, and many, Many more! He was a humorist, in his own right, laughing and sharing jokes and stories with family and friends at every opportunity. He was a helping-hand, pitching-in wherever and Whenever he could. He helped serve Communion at the Hartford Church of Christ during his years there, and would attend games and other school functions to support loved-ones… I even recall that he was a volunteer Policeman on the Hartford force when I was very young, putting on his uniform to help control and direct traffic during our village parades and such!

Yes, Dad was many things to many people… but MOST of all, he was ‘Dad’!! I was two when he and My mom got married, so my half-brother, Mike, was Always three years younger than me. But aside from Mike’s and my ‘personality’ differences, you would have never known he was not My father as well as Mike’s!

I spent 15 years with him, learning Many of the things that he had learned, but Mainly learning the important values of life! Just as ONE example, Dad Hated to borrow Anything… but if he had to, it was ALWAYS returned in better shape that when he got it!!

But just as I was moving-out to start my ‘adult’ life, he married Betty and inherited a New family! He raised Jill as his own, as well as her son when he came along years later… (When I was young, Dad also took-in one of my cousins for a time, and did the same for Jill when the need arose!)

One last thought… as a ‘Luebbert’, the thought, or concept, of ever saying ‘I love you’ might have seemed to be a foreign one. Those of us who lived with him through the years Knew he was strict… and as a little kid, maybe even ‘mean’! But… he was Fair… he was Just… and he LOVED everyone of the people in his life, as well as all of those around him!

I am so happy that I was brave enough, in recent years, to tell him to-his-face that I Loved him… and after the shock wore off, he told me the same! So… for one last time…

Dad… I Love You!

Let us pray…

God, we send to you the soul of Darrell Luebbert. While he lived on this earth he was a son… and a brother… he was a husband, a father, and a grandfather… he was an uncle… and a friend to So many people throughout this world!

God, we know he was not perfect… None of us are! We know he was not worthy… again, none of us are! But we also know that one drop of your Son’s blood wipes away All of his… and Our… sins! One drop of Christ’s blood washes him white as snow.

Help us, God, to always be able to picture him in that way… Forever washed as white as snow, healthy and happy in Your Kingdom… even, perhaps, while he is busy digging-up a plot of ground to set a few dozen Heavenly tomatoes!

Through Your Son’s name we pray…