Dr. Felice A. Ciccone

In the presence of my father, one felt inspired, validated and hopeful. When you went to him for advice, he would enthusiastically engage you in endless conversation to make it known that you were understood. He took great responsibility in inspiring you that you were worth being heard; that there was something he saw in you that was essential to the world. And at the end of conversing, he always convinced you, with the greatest sincerity, that your wildest dreams could, in fact, come true. A great thinker, a rebel without a cause, Dad advocated for us to dare to be different -- to take a stand for what we believed in, validating us along the way with his famous words, and with all his conviction, "You got me...I believe in you, that's all you need." Growing up, there was not a day that went by that Dad would not greet us with a "hi gorgeous" and a kiss. As a husband to my mom, his story never wavered about his devotion and school boy affection to her as he often used the analogy, "if Elizabeth Taylor and mommy walked into the room together, all eyes would be on your mother." And as mom would always say in response, "when they made your father, they threw out the mold." As a Father, he was protective, patient, proud. He was the kind of Father/Dad that when he said, "jump, I'll catch you," we did so without a breath of hestitation. "Family first, and listen to your mother and father" was his consistent motto. And so from his example, at the end of his life, we carried out his life's goals as Mom, my sisters and I rallied behind him during the final months, weeks and days of his lifegiving him, what he so selflessly gave us through the years -- INSPIRATION, VALIDATION and HOPE. In fact, before he took his last breath, as we all said our goodbyes with a confident reminder, "we'll see you tomorrow Dad," I assure you, he carefully reviewed in his mind how each one of us would handle his passing...and somehow, by all of his stellar examples of living and parenting, I think -- he thought -- that maybe, this time, we were ready. So we stand here today, with a heavy heart -- but an overwhelming sense of gratitude for having known and been fathered by such a great man, great soul who will forever inspire us to live out loud, take a stand, and to relentlessly believe in our higher selves. Our father, in short, was the greatest! In closing, I would like to read an excerpt from a Speech by President Theodore Roosevelt -- as a dedication to my father, "The Man in the Arena." ~Eulogy by the Ciccone family~