We held a Celebration of Life for Ruth yesterday in Florida. We’ll hold a second in Michigan in June. Each member of our family had something to say, but we knew the words would catch in our throats, so we produced a video to share with the attendees. We recorded our words and added several pictures to help explain our thoughts.
This is what I had to say.
Welcome and thanks for coming to Ruth Tebo’s Celebration of Life. I knew we’d have one of these someday, I just didn’t know hers would be first. That’s the problem with life, it throws a lot of curves, and sometimes we’re not ready.
Ruth and I believed life was a collection of moments rather than days. Some moments are planned, but most just creep up and surprise you. That’s what makes life interesting. Some are small bits and pieces scattered about with no apparent purpose, and others pile up over time. Some drip out and some come in an avalanche. We value them all, even the painful ones.
My first moment with Ruth occurred in August of 1969. We were first year teachers in Plainwell, Michigan. My first impression was Ruth was too outspoken. Too bold. I later learned she’d graduated from Plainwell four years earlier and these new colleagues of mine were her former teachers. I also learned that she lived near me in Kalamazoo, so we decided to carpool to work. She shared moments about her former life during our daily drives, and I shared moments about mine.
Our first date was February 14, 1970. We went to a faculty party hosted by the school counselor and his wife. That was also the evening of our first kiss. You remember moments like that.
We dated, but not exclusively, for several months. By the winter our friends recognized us as a couple. By the end of our first dating year, she wanted to get married, but I didn’t. Exclusivity fell by the wayside, she met a new guy, and they were engaged within a couple months.
She remained engaged until 6:00 p.m. Friday, September 10, 1971. Twenty hours later we were married. We had eloped to Las Vegas. That’s the kind of moment we had over the fifty-one years and sixteen days we shared. Spontaneous.
Our first child, David, was born on March 30, 1975 and Elizabeth two years later. Michael’s birth in 1978 completed our family. None were planned but all were welcomed.
Our mantra was to do things, go places, and expose our kids to as many things as we could afford. Ruth decided the what, and I focused on the how.
Our moments grew with our family. As it expanded, so did our joy. Lindsay, Kate and Sutton married in, and they in turn gave us three wonderful grandchildren. Brady, Eva, and young Jackson James.
We took several trips together, and held talent shows, lip-sync contests, went on horseback trail rides and conducted an afternoon water ballet to spice the trips up a bit. Just being part of the Tebo clan wasn’t enough for Ruth and me. We wanted each member to be an active participant. And they didn’t let us down. We shared a lot of moments.
Ruth and my lip sync rendition of Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe” captured several.
Beautiful! I wish we could have been there! Would like to be at the memorial in June Please let us know the date when you have it. Miss Ruth so much! Think of her every day. Our whole family loved her. Hope to see you this winter.