Yesterday I received the following letter written to the community by Bill Vandermeer that was read by Gene Rund at Vandy's funeral. He said I could post it on the blog.
Hawkeye



Preamble

This speech was written by an engineer. English teachers, including Diana: please be gentle.


Amble

The Vandermeer family is appreciative, humbled and in awe of the response from the community to the passing of my father: the countless best wishes; the school allowing us to use their property for the visitation; this church allowing us to have this service; and the list goes on.

The response of the community during life was also phenomenal: the naming of the physical education center; the countless friends who took him shopping, to the bank, to the doctor, to games etc; played cards with him; looked after him when he was sick; made sure he was eating when he did not feel like eating (he could be a bear in those circumstances); and the list goes on.

I would like to name names, but the list is too long and I would surely omit many, either inadvertently or in ignorance.

To the family, he is a brother, father, grandfather, uncle, cousin or whatever. We see him in that light with good points and a couple not so good points. The role, if you’ll allow me to be presumptuous, of a community icon is somewhat beyond our collective vision.

I feel that the success he had was due in large part to strong values which were the underpinnings of this community. A triumvirate of strengths is necessary for a school to be successful: good teachers; good parents and good students.

The students were, of course, outstanding.

We had the best teachers: Sloop, Tumey, Clements, Clements, et. al.

And we had great parents. One of my dad’s favorite stories concerns a boy we will call Joe. Joe was high spirited and would occasionally get into trouble. One time Joe went beyond his normal transgressions. In addition to the normal punishment, which isn’t so normal today, my dad informed Joe’s father. Joe’s father assured my father that henceforth, Joe would not be a problem. For several days following the incident, Joe ignored my father. Finally my father cornered Joe and asked him why the cold shoulder. After all Joe had been in trouble before, but the two remained friends afterwards. Joe’s response: “You didn’t have to tell my father!” That says it all: You didn’t have to tell my father.

Of late my father has said on numerous occasions that he had the best job in the world: good teachers, good parents and good students.

The Vandermeer family thanks the Center Grove community for the outpouring of love and compassion both during my father’s life and after his passing.


Bill Vandermeer
26-August-2007