Sunday, June 06, 2021
Sunday Reflection: The Good Dad
This morning I'm giving the sermon at 1st Covenant Church- Minneapolis. The service starts at 10 eastern/9 central, and you can see the service at this link.
One of the things I talk about in the sermon (which was taped on Thursday) is this awful moment a few years ago when my dad had a terrible reaction to something during hip surgery and had to be brought back to life. If you listen to the service, you'll notice that I come up short right then-- it was just too hard to talk about fully, and I didn't.
A day later, IPLawGuy lost his dad after a bout with cancer. It progressed fast-- from diagnosis to chemo to hospice in a matter of weeks. Tom is my best friend; it's hard thinking of what he is going through right now.
His dad, Ty Brooke, wasn't famous, but only because people who do the most important work-- building communities, starting businesses, making sure that the institutions we all rely on work-- rarely are.
After a few other lines of work, he started a business. He bought a franchise to rent out tents and work equipment-- the kind of place you go when you need a post-hole digger. He built it into something bigger, with multiple locations, and left the franchise behind. He hired people who needed work, and he adapted when his clientele changed-- people like me stopped fixing their own homes, and instead the people who rented a generator or a post-hole digger spoke other languages.
He married a strong woman, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Grinnell who was successful in her own right as an editor at US News & World Report. They were partners in the best sense.
He cared deeply about his community-- he was the guy who signed up, and led when leadership was needed. I once saw a list of the organizations and groups he was a part of, and it was... long. The best parts of the communities we live in came from people who signed up, people like Ty Brooke.
But, more than anything, he was a good dad. I know this because my friend would quote him, or tell a story about him, and it wasn't worship or pride-- it was just that Tom knew what was right and wrong because someone taught him by example.
That man was Ty Brooke.
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I lived across the street from the Brooke family in Vienna for a while. I was young, middle, and first two years of high school. I have wonderful memories of Ty Brooke. I can distinctly remember a few conversations with him, I would sum them up as, Be involved, do the right thing, and love your family.
God Speed Ty Brooke
God Speed Ty Brooke
Very moving. I used to chat with him when I rented equipment and he was a great guy. One time, we got to talking about old cars and he showed me a picture of a car he'd restored. I'll miss those talks.
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