Good morning and thank you for coming today. I wanted to say just a few words today. Not so much about the past, but about the future.

Today, December 21st is the Winter Solstice. Since ancient times, we humans have marked this day with awe, fear and even stone monuments aligned to catch the first rays of the morning sun.

Why? Because this day, amongst all others is the shortest day of the whole year. Today there is more darkness than light. But as they say, it’s always darkest before the dawn and light’s return. Well I say to you today, gathered here in celebration of this man’s life, my father, not mourning his loss to us-do not be fearful.

This may be the shortest day of the year, but it also means that each and every day hence will have a little more light in it. We miss him, we will continue to miss him. But each day it will get easier knowing that wherever he is, he’s making a place for mom and the rest of us to spend eternity.

And if I know my father, he’s already hard at work letting the powers-that-be know how they can run things more efficiently. He will have everything in order for us to join him.

As we’ve spent much of the last week remembering him and looking through photos something struck us. All of us have favorite photos and many of them are of dad walking down a path in the woods ahead of the family. It would be easy to see this as a sad image, one of someone always alone leaving others
behind. But I’ve realized that he never left us behind, but was guiding and leading us into the unknown ensuring the path was safe. Nothing has changed. Nothing has changed.

We will follow him down this new unknown path in time knowing it’s safe and he’s waiting for us just around the bend in the path.

Thank you for being here today to honor my father, Dennis Ropars and show
such wonderful love and support for our family.

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Here is a copy of Dad’s obituary: click here.