My dad passed a couple months ago, he was a good man. Here is what I said about him at the funeral.
Russel Arthur Beaulieu, son of Ralph and Bertha Beaulieu, husband of Theresa Clair Beaulieu, my dad.
My dad Russel was a self-educated man. He never graduated from high school, although he did get his GED later in life and as I remember, he never studied for it.
He was a man of many talents and adventures. He was a Navy veteran, a brother, an uncle, a father, a grandfather, a great grandfather, a plumber, a carpenter, an electrician, a mason, a mechanic, a machinist, a boat builder, a house builder, a welder, a western saddle man, a motorcycle enthusiast, a hunter, a fisherman, a survivalist, a provider and a husband. Yes, he was a jack of all trades.
He taught me many of the talents I just listed. In a way I sort followed in his footsteps, being a Navy veteran myself and being pretty handy around the house and vehicles and loving and still riding motorcycles.
He was a hard worker and loved his job as an aerospace quality control engineer. He worked for Airesearch which later became Garrett Turbine Engine Company, which later became and still is Motorola. I worked there for a time when it was Garrett Turbine Engine Company and I use to meet up with dad and his cronies for lunch on occasion. They highly respected him and most looked up to him in one way or another. They would laugh, tell stupid jokes, kid each other about stuff and I would just look on in amazement at these grown men acting silly. Dad was in his realm at work, he loved it, they loved him. Russel lived life his way and not much swayed him in doing otherwise and I think his coworkers recognized that too.
He was a true ‘Do It Yourselfer’ I remember one time, I was probably about 6 or 7 years old. I was out in the work shop with dad and we were working on his old International pick-up truck. We changed the oil and oil filter. Then we were giving the engine a tune up. New points, new spark-plugs, new spark plug wires and so on. We had it all complete and ready to fire it up for a test run. Dad handed me the busy end of a spark plug wire and said ‘Hang on to this for a minute’ I WAS HELPING and not knowing any better, (Key words there ‘Not knowing any better’) I naturally grabbed onto wire as he had instructed and you guessed it, dad turned the key in the ignition and fired the truck up. It In turn fired me up. He laughed, I cried. BUT! In turn, I learned a valuable lesson. Dad called it (Knowledge going in) WHAT? Knowledge going in? He said yeah, you now know not to grab a spark plug wire while someone is cranking the engine. Knowledge going in! Oh, I get it. For years when I was out in the shop with him, he would randomly hand me a wire with nothing attached to either end, just a bare wire 2 foot long and say ‘Hold onto this for a minute’ you can bet I never touched it, and he would just laugh.
Many things I learned out in that shop. Many words I learned out in that shop too.
Dad was a busy man, he always had a project going on of some kind. I remember my mom wanting a bar-top attached to the end of the kitchen wall and sort of make a little sweep with a leg at the other end to hold it up and it was to be made from a wood frame with a Formica top and seat three people. Dad cut out and glued down and ripped off, three Formica tops on that bar top before he got it the way he wanted it. I learned how to make a bar-top that day along with a few new words from that project.
I wished that we could have ridden motorcycles together but I didn’t get into the street bikes until later in life and besides, I was married at that time and had two very young beautiful daughters to care for and that is not the time to be out on the streets riding a motorcycle. Dad did many long trips with his younger brother Chuck (Yes, I was named after him) and he so enjoyed it. They would finally come home from a long ride and I mean sometimes they would be gone for a month or more. They would have all kinds of stories to tell. I loved to listen to the tales of the road. These tales are what inspired me to want to take motorcycle trips too. The look in my dad’s and my uncle’s eyes, the expressions on their faces as they spoke of the adventure they just came back from, was so exciting and exhilarating to listen to. One telling one side of the story, the other telling a different version of the same story, them laughing and remembering was such a site. I just had to make some of those stories too and I have, with more planned, thanks to my dad and his adventures.
Now he is on his biggest adventure and in heaven with my mom Theresa and his two brothers Richard and Chuck and more family members and friends that there’s just too many to list here. After all, when your 95 years old, you are one of the last to leave.
Russel had lots of people who cared about him and this showing of family and friends right here proves it.
I want to thank you all for taking the time to be here today. Dad is probably looking down wondering why we are all making such a fuss but after all, I don’t really think he knew how many people cared about him and how many will miss him.
I am missing him right now!
