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The Passing of a Legend

My Grandfather was buried today. The following is the eulogy that I wrote and read for him.

Poppy’s Pearls – My Grandfather’s Wisdom

My grandfather gave me these pearls, and I have cherished them every day, one by one. I am sure that each of you who knew Bob Peaslee knew about the pearls of wisdom that he modeled all of the time. In his long life, he showed me how to be a good person, one story at a time.

He showed me how to be a persistent person – When he was a young man, just in High School, he watched a pretty girl walk by his house every week on her way to violin lessons. When he decided he wanted to meet her, he took up playing violin himself – so that he could walk with her. Poppy played the violin on and off for the rest of his life. The pretty girl became his wife.

He showed me how to be a practical person – When he was searching for a job in college, he interviewed with the gas company. Because it was more affordable, Poppy rode an Indian brand motorcycle around Cincinnati. (As an interesting footnote, my Very Proper Grandmother zipped around with him in a side car!) During a particularly bad snowstorm, Poppy bundled up and rode into the interview. When he arrived, his competition was lined up – one pressed suit and polished pair of shoes after another. The interviewer came out of the office and saw Poppy, snow covered, in boots and a heavy coat and realized this was a man ready for action and hired him on the spot to do outside meter repairs.

He showed me how to be a person with a sense of humor – A metallurgist by career, his original interest was purely chemistry. My dad recalled a saying that always made Poppy chuckle: Once there was a chemist, but now he is no more, for what he thought was H₂O was H₂SO₄… In case your chemistry is a little rusty, the unfortunate example drank sulfuric acid in place of water – and in rhyme!

He showed me how to be a passionate person – He took up the field of brazing when it was in its infancy. He sold nickel brazing to manufacturers that, by his definition, didn’t know they wanted it. He would win them over by asking what problems they had, and then go about solving them with his new product. He developed and taught the Brazing School that was attended by international participants. He always talked about his adventures discovering the “footprints” that metals left behind. In his own words, he said, “Just like footprints in the sand tell a story by showing the direction someone has gone, how fast they were traveling, and the length of their stride, brazing footprints also tell a story of many variables and provide clues to the reasons certain conditions occur. One must know what to look for.” That quote is from the preface of his own book called “Brazing Footprints”. It was even translated to Japanese. He was so very proud of that.

He showed me how to be a diplomatic person – As a sort of mediator and purveyor of metallurgical goods, Poppy frequently found himself between the engineers and the metallurgists – kind of a brazing “rock and a hard place”. When he wanted to do something new, these two sides would come together to tell him why it wouldn’t work. The engineers would say, “that’s impossible!” and the metallurgists would proclaim, “the engine will fail if you do that!” Poppy would say, “Let’s let the engine decide whether it will work or not”. When the two parties got stuck and could not see the other person’s viewpoint, he’d bring out a ping pong ball that was painted black on one side only and hold it so that each side could only see one of the colors. When he would ask the one side, “What color is the ball?” It was, of course, always the opposite of the other team. When the whole ball was revealed, the meeting proceeded with a renewed camaraderie. He used to say, “Every problem has a solution, but the hardest are people problems!”

He showed me how to be a person of understatement – During a time 15 years ago when Poppy was under the weather, I called to ask him if we could come up and help him out. “That would be fine” was his reply. Probing, I asked if he needed the lawn mowed, since my husband was offering to take care of this. “Well, it’s growing” he stated. Upon seeing the “growing” lawn, it was clear that what he meant to say was, “Well, it’s becoming its own prairie”.

He showed me how to be a frugal person – on time we drove to the Post Office and he circled around a long time for a parking spot. Poppy passed up 2 or 3 good parking spots. I remarked that I had plenty of change if he needed some for a parking meter and he said he was looking for a meter that already had time left on it. I told him I would gladly contribute a nickel for the meter. Poppy explained that he only needed less than 5 minutes and there was no reason to pay for those few minutes if he didn’t have to. He asked me, “Do YOU have a penny for every minute of your day?” I never forgot that lesson.

He showed me how to be a person who loves the Earth – He always had a compost pile going from his garden and he always tended to his flowers with a consistent flare. When he became good friends with my maternal grandmother, he gladly planted the flowers she picked out in a section of his garden. One time he was taking a walk around my garden with me and he commented on my beautiful irises. I was flattered, but told him they had come from his garden originally. He said, “Well, good! You can give me some back!”

My grandfather was a strong, kind and generous person, known for his a suit and tie. Around the office he was known as “Bowtie Bob” – he didn’t know that. He was a knowledgeable and pragmatic man and we were all better people just by knowing him. The pearls of wisdom he gave me will never be forgotten and neither will he. Today we come together to honor and remember him. We do not say goodbye to him, but with the words of Mr. Yukimatsu who translated the Japanese version of Brazing Footprints, we say, “sleep restfully”.

If you would like to leave a message about my grandfather who passed last week, please click here.

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