~damastez~

Damastez
2011-09-08 02:16:23 (UTC)

Hans Eric Thamm 1932 - 9/7/2011

My grandfather died today. He was the greatest man I knew. I've been asked to give his eulogy. This is my speech:

I've been asked to speak on the behalf of others, and I can only hope tho convey those words in a manner which honors both them and my grandfather, Hans Eric Thamm.

That being said, I see a room full of different last names here, but no matter how you spell it, we are all Thamms.

We're born in storms, and forged in iron, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

But to be called a Thamm, you must first know what it means to be a Thamm.

The earliest recorded instance of a Thamm originates from Waldstein, Germany, around 1300.

Frederick Thamm, my great-grandfather, was born in 1882 in Wettin, Germany, only 100 miles from Waldstein.

After the first World War, he settled in Texas and married Helen Kostka. He passed away on September 7th, 1963; 48 years earlier, to the day, that Pawpaw passed away.

Pawpaw was born in 1932, and during his lifetime, he witnessed the advent of television...computers...he watched a man set foot on the moon, and he witnessed the war to end all wars.

He owned a foundry, was a machinist, a farmer...but most would say his greatest accomplishment came on February 26th, 1956, when he married Betty Ruth Strong. Without them, most of us would not be here today. Without their lessons, most of us would not be who we are today.

Pawpaw was a man of virtue, integrity, honesty, and hard work. He embodied what it meant to be a Thamm.

Through the ages we've served as sailors, soldiers, and guardians to both Kings and Presidents alike.

Pawpaw would want us to carry on that name with the same amount of virtue, integrity, honesty and hard work that comes with bearing the Thamm name.

It is our mantle.

So let us grieve today, but tomorrow we go forth into the world, blessed to have known, loved, and been loved by such a great man.

~damastez




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