I had the honor in January of 2006 to prepare a eulogy for Salvatore (Tore) Allegrezza, the grandfather of three of my friends. I only regret that a sales meeting I was at ran late and I was never able to read it at the funreal. I guess the words hold true for anyone who may have lost someone dear to them.
Few words, if any, can console those who must now share in life's most regrettable and inevitable milestone. I can only imagine how insignificant and feeble my words must be in attempting to ease the pain of those who have lost their beloved.
Perhaps comfort to those in mourning can come in knowing that Tore did not pass on in vain or alone but instead remembered, revered and honored in the company of so many who he had loved and those who had loved him.
Perhaps comfort can come in the hallowed words he spoke while with us, now sincerely and thoughtfully preserved in the memories of those who learned and listened.
And perhaps the hurt can be softened in remembering that each of his kin now carries with them the unequivocal qualities that made him uniquely theirs.
Many times in those final years, I witnessed myself, that out of the darkness and longing, his eyes would lighten as he spoke of days gone by and the kinship and camaraderie he felt with his grandkids and family. This reminds us that the shadow of the inevitable can grow long, and life's twilight can approach, but neither time, nor physical pain and anguish can extinguish the human spirit.
The soul and the spirit of Tore remained bright and alive just below the surface of a physical body that sat old and seemily by-gone.
So you can take comfort in knowing that death did not take Tore from us but merely severed the cold, dark, and heavy shackles of physical life and freed the everlasting and eternal spirit to be reunited with those loved and lost ones that have gone before.
