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Eulogy for Richard
No parent should go through this horror, yet some are unfortunate to experience it. To make the best from it I am forced to concentrate on some highlights and great moments that pleased me in life with my son.
My Son Richard
To see him struggle on his feet at ten months
A toddler learning to scoot rather than walk
To remember him swimming like a dolphin at age six
Jumping off the high dive board fearlessly with glee
Remembering him catching, cleaning and cooking his own fish
School plays, little league baseball
Cub Scouts earning all his awards proudly
Camping with the Boy Scouts and earning merit badges
My son Richard was a busy boy
Temptations galore can be seductive
He had Phantoms of Fear and Demons of Darkness to combat
His medical history shows the battle scars he endured for a decade
Yet he made a life for himself and his family
Short order cook, construction worker, Fire arms instructor and cabinetmaker
Just a few of the many jobs he mastered
The joy of sharing a life with Eric and Kristy, his children
Lori Beth Reilly Cordero, companion, friend and wife for thirty years.
My son Richard had a full life worthy of praise.
He tried his best with what he had
I am proud to call Richard, my son
The Lord gave him to me for 42 years,
Now the Lord has taken him to a better place.
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VERSATILE TRACK
Track is year round; Track is for all ages
Track is competition; Track is for setting personal goals
Track is training and educating the body
Track is satisfying in so many ways
Track is for all that wish to improve
Track is for helping others
Track requires rules, administration, planning, coordinating
Track requires discipline, dedication, devotion, and desire
Track delays the aging process
Track adds longevity
See the MASTERS in track
Lively step, extra pep
Far more vitality than the couch potato
Pick your event, set your goals
Help yourself to a higher quality of life
Track is for YOU!
We have members of the Bohemia Track Team that have set world records.
Mary Louise Michaelson set a world record in the mile for her age and she
was on the Bohemia 4x800 relay team that set the indoor world record at
the National Masters Track and Field Championship last March in Boston
that included Betty Horstmann, Mary Trotto and Joan Cook. To honor them
and other women from Long Island who have set world records I submit this
poem in praise of them:
WORLD RECORD
To be acknowledged as the very best
To be number one in the world
To set a new standard of excellence
To exceed your very own expectations
To push yourself to your own limits
WORLD RECORD!
What a thrill! What an accomplishment!
What a momentary personal HIGH!
Get high on world class
Get high on achievement
Get high on being a pioneer
Get high on meeting goals
So many distractions, So many detours
Life is a maze
The true challenge is persistence
Stick to your goals, BELIEVE in yourself
Confidence comes from proper preparation
Focus on your target; Aim for the bull's eye
You can do it, you can do it, you can do it
Sing the song of praise to yourself
And best the competition with strength
Strength from training, Strength from will power
Strength from experience
STRENGTH FROM GOD!
CORDERO
THE MASTERS RUNNERS
High School is a memory, College is long GONE!
Yet the MASTERS RUNNERS are still on the road
Thank GOD for age groups, Personal goals, Personal records
They continue to strive with POWER and DRIVE
Peter Pan has brothers and sisters who refuse to grow old
Tough, tempered, battle tested bodies, forever fit, rabid runners
Living for the next race, anticipating the next run
Endorphin highs, self induced drug addicts
Skewing statistics, firmer, stronger, athletic, physically super
Pioneers for the next generation, setting new standards
New research needed to test these very unusual
MASTERS RUNNERS
Cordero 5 June 2000
DEATH IS A REMINDER
Each decade, each year, each month, each day that Silent SPECTER stalks
One can recall playing tag on an apartment rooftop chasing a friend who
fell through a tarred skylight to his death
DEATH IS A REMINDER
A best friend was asked to be best man but was killed by a drunk driver,
only 22 and 6 months out of college
Another friend died of stab wounds, Cain and Abel, brother against brother
DEATH IS A REMINDER
To lose a friend only one day older than than you, too close to home, too finite
We all have our time on this Earth, we do what we can for as long as we can
Until that indiscriminate SPECTER invites us to the unknown VOID
Rich or poor, believer or nonbeliever
DEATH IS A REMINDER
We came into this world naked and helpless, we leave with only the tested
and tempered body
Slowly decaying in the grave, Or cremated, the memory of our existence is recorded
In the hearts and minds of those we touched, in statistics for the government
DEATH IS A REMINDER
No religion, no science, no power grants immortality to the body, one,
ten, one hundred years or more
A person may exist and then is heard no more
Some live religious lives, some live for the moment, some live to help
others, some live to help themselves
DEATH IS A REMINDER
No guarantees, no sure thing, plan ahead, believe in the future, go on
with your life, do your best
for yourself and for others, be as positive as possible, be as happy as
YOU choose to be
Tomorrow comes regardless, the GRIM REAPER will harvest, the SILENT
SPECTER will haunt
DEATH IS A REMINDER
CORDERO
NATURAL HIGHS
To achieve a goal, To win an award, To see someone succeed, To be a proud
parent, Baby's first step
ALL NATURAL HIGHS
Earning a degree, Getting the job you want, The Joy of a Wedding, A
vacation with surprises, Beautiful weather
NATURAL HIGHS
A walk at the beach, Smelling Spring Fragrances, Warm sunshine on the
skin, A relaxed, unhurried weekends, Seeing your child excited with joy,
NATURAL HIGHS
No need for booze, drugs or artificial stimulation
Open your mind, your heart, your eyes and everyday one may find
NATURAL HIGHS
CORDERO
MUMSEY
Four score and seven years ago
Our Father in Heaven brought forth
Marjorie Bennett
She became a loving wife, an attentive mother
A rare jewel of a mother-in-law
One son-in-law realized her great worth
As a leader, as an example, as a role model
And married her youngest daughter because of this fine woman
ENGLAND LOST A DAUGHTER
AMERICA LOST A MOTHER
Yet we all gained so much
By her presence, her love
REST IN PEACE, MUMSEY
We all live happily with warm memories of you.
JOE
awful April
April showers bring May flowers
And lots of allergies to make you sneeze
Awful April has flooded us with weeds
Yards are overgrown because the rains are ceaseless
Colds, stuffy heads, congestion, and general malaise
Awful April has slowed us down
Unless one likes to run in the rain
More like March with the bitter winds
More like winter with the biting cold
April 2000 is a classic for freak weather
Let us hope May brings Spring
And the release from Jack Frost's icy grip
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