Peter Male Eulogy from His Son
 
I just wanted to share with you today some of my memories of my Dad.
 
On the face of it if you didn’t know my dad you might assume he had a relatively ordinary life, he had no desire to travel and see the world in fact he never once went on a plane, he wasn’t one to be the centre of attention, until recently he didn’t like to try different foods and thought Garlic bread was too exotic. He did however have an amazing life. He always said he loved his childhood, although they had nothing and were quite poor, they would make their own fun. He would tell me of how he and his friends would go diving for Coal in the cut, which was term used for the local canal, back then they still used to  transport coal on the canals and some if this would fall into the canal, Dad used to say this was the ‘good stuff’ and would burn much better than the cheap stuff they could only afford, there was no Health & Safety in those days but although obviously dangerous he used to love it. He would often play football with a ball made of rags in the field behind his house, often playing 20 a side.
Dad lived through the war, which, typical of people of his generation was quite ‘matter of fact’ about some of the things they had to endure, I remember him dropping into one conversation that a German bomber had ditched all their remaining bombs over the village on returning from Bombing Coventry, and that one incendiary bomb had landed in the back of his Garden!!, he also talked about the many times they had to sleep in the bomb shelter in his garden which was cold and damp and had to fit the entire street in there. He used to watch his dad standing at the entrance watching the planes go over head.
My dad did his tour of duty in Germany as a Lance Corporal, in a town called Hildesheim, he was 18 at the time and although the war was well over at this time he saw first-hand the devastation it had upon the country.
When he left the army, he was one of the founding members to Re-establish Rushall Olympic FC in the early 50’s his name is still on their History website to this day. I didn’t quite understand how good he was as a footballer until I researched his history, I would trawl through archives of the local paper in the 50’s and without fail his name was on the sporting pages detailing his latest goal scoring feats.
To me as a child he was my Idol, as I guess most fathers are to their sons I was very proud of his Footballing career and that he’d been in the army, Over the years this adulation has never really changed but my admiration was more for him as a person, and how he was so well thought of in the community, it was his amazing ability to make people smile, how he could talk to anyone and make them feel at ease, we would go for walks around Burntwood, which would take hours due to the amount of times he would be stop and chat to someone he knew, or didn’t know, never awkward or stilted just a lovely feeling of warmth and that is what so amazed, even if he was not there many times the mention of his name would raise a smile. He never knew he exuded this feeling in people, he was a very unassuming individual, never wanting to be the centre of attention. Recently just after Mum passed away, we were talking about moving him closer to either myself or Michelle, his biggest concern was he would not make any new friends because he was not good at talking with people!!!
He did have his limitations notably of the use of the English Language, his reference to one of his favourite meals ‘Lasane and Chips#, was always amusing, And the fact that he always used to mispronounce his Vascular consultants name Dr Jaipersaid as Mr Rapsocat was always a continuing annoyance to his Consultant. I think the funniest though was when I thought it was a good idea to buy Dad and Echo Alexa for his birthday, he would constantly ring me or Michelle up somehow with Dance music blearing away in the background shouting down the Phone ‘Claricia’ won’t turn the music off!!!!)
Or the time he unveiled a huge banner for my 21st Birthday at the end of the street, stating happy 21st Bithday!! I nearly crashed my car with laughter as I came up the street.
He also had his challenges with Technology, I once spent a day trying to show him how to use a computer, by the end he just about managed to log on!! That was a day I will never get back!!, However he did recently manage to use Facetime to the amazement of us all
But that was my dad happy to poke fun at himself, he even told the surgeon to look after his leg they were about to amputate as it had scored him 57 goals one season!!!
It has been a tough few year for dad and watching him struggle as his health deteriorated, and in constant pain was difficult to see, regardless of this he was always upbeat and always strived to be the best he could and support us all as much as he could. Even the hours before he passed away, he was still joking with the nurses.
I have so many happy memories to cherish Dad
I will miss our Friday night chats and Fish and chips
My Dad was a larger than life character, who had a heart of gold, I feel immensely proud and privileged to have been his son.
He was a massive part of our lives, he was an amazing dad, Grandad and friend and we will miss him so much.
Happy Birthday dad Look after mum for us. Love you always.  
XXX