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Monday, 06 February 2012 13:29

Written by Reg Henry

I was in Jacksonville, Fla, this past weekend for the memorial service on Saturday morning for my father-in-law Barny Howard. As you may remember, because I wrote about it at the time, he died back on Dec. 18 but it took quite a while to gather all the family and friends together from different parts of the country.

As it was held so many weeks after his death, it was styled as much as a celebration of his life as a funeral service. While intimidated by the prospect, I was honored to have been asked to deliver the eulogy, or family remembrance as it was billed. I have been worried about this daunting task for weeks, not ever having written a eulogy before and not quite knowing what note to strike. But in the event my 2,000 words or so said over 10 minutes seem to be well received.

After the service, we walked back to a local resort hotel — led by a piper in deference to Barny's Scottish ancestry — and proceeded to have a fine lunch with champagne toasts, which, thankfully, my work now done, I did not have any role in but to lift my glass, a task that I am familiar with..

Overall, the day was sad but also upbeat, being sustained by many happy memories. But Barny leaves a big void and it seemed odd being without him in that place.
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We returned to Pittsburgh late yesterday afternoon in time for the Super Bowl. I see from your 350 plus comments, perhaps a blog record, that you had much to talk about while I was away, including the perplexing and prickly subject of abortion.

After all that, and my own recent somber experience, I think we need some light relief, so I suggest we talk briefly about the game. Here are my impressions:

It was one of the great Super Bowls — a good, exciting game down to the last second. And I was glad that the Giants won. There's something about Tom Brady and the Patriots coach I just can't abide.

Although not really a big Madonna fan, I thought she was great and the half-time show itself, as a matter of production, fantastic.

The only disappointing aspect for me were the much vaunted ads — there was only two that I liked. The one with Elton John as a king dispensing Pepsi to his subjects and the grandma who sling-shots the baby to get the Doritos off a taunting brother.