On Thursday afternoon my best friend Neil’s father Ed passed away. I had known this man for a very long time as his son and I have been friends since second grade (there was that time early on when we didn’t like each other too much as kids but we got past it). Our families have been friends for a long time as well. Each family has a house on the Cape, ours is in Falmouth and theirs is in Bourne.
Each summer Ed and the whole family would come over for the Falmouth Road Race. The Falmouth Road Race was always such a big event with Ed and the family. There was even a “running club” named in his honor with a newsletter and other events. I think back on that now and realize how much fun it was to be around Ed and his family. Ed was as old school as they came, no nonsense, very set in his ways and stood by his convictions. As a kid who wasn’t quite like that you might get intimidated by the man however he was always fair with me even when he was ribbing me about some of my choices in style (again, back in college days). Ed was always good with a joke and some dry humor.
When Allison and I got married we gave everyone a CD with a slide show on it and inside it had information about my blog including the address. Now to be honest, one of the last people I would have expected to have read this blog would have been Ed. It blew my mind to find out that not only did he read it, he read it regularly and he enjoyed it.
Ed was so much an institution to this town and very influential in many of the town events. He ran his own insurance agency, he was my agent, and was president of our downtown association at one time. He ran the Santa Claus parade in town for many years and he was also president of our town credit union. I never knew that last one.
What I did know was that Ed was a good man who loved a good joke, enjoyed the heck out of being a grandfather and was father to three great sons and husband to a wonderful woman. He touched the lives of so many people in our town that half the town will probably shut down for his funeral tomorrow. That is a testament to a man who gave of his time and talents and who served his community. The line stretching out of the funeral home before the wake even begun this afternoon and the sign in the middle of town also serve as testament to a life that touched many others. We Will All Miss You, Ed.
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Ed sounded like a wonderful friend, father, husband, and community leader. My condolences.
You are correct in that, he certainly was. Thanks.
Drew,
Nice job that was a very touching tribute.
My condolences
That’s really sad, my condolences to ya man.
Thanks Stephen,
He was a good man and will be missed.
He sounds like a wonderful person. I’m sorry for you loss.
Thanks Chica.He was a good friend to many and will be missed.
Thanks very much Julie, the family will be very happy with the outpouring from the online community. Ed was all about community.
Great job Drew, Ed did tell me quite often much he enjoyed reading your blog. We always enjoyed Ed and family coming to Falmouth also on the 4th of July. I have fond memories of sitting on the wall at the heights beach watching the fireworks with Ed. You are right, he will be missed.
Drew,
The picture is awesome and your words are so true. Ed was one of a kind and will definitely be missed in our locale and beyond. Very insightful of you to mention those college days. No doubt he recognized you as a disciple,as your hair was certainly in the style of the great Leader, and Ed recognized you as an individual that was expressing himself and knew you would eventually modify your hairstyle.
I’m so glad we made the choice to move to No.Attleboro so our family could be friends with the Lamberts who are very special indeed. Love, Mom
Drew,
A fabulous tribute to my father. I was not aware that my father was a regular reader of the blog, but I am not suprised as he probably needed to figure out how to spend his 4 or so hours of office time per day. Ha ha ha.
I truly appreciate the comments from readers. My father was a man deeply committed to his family, his church, and his community and his passing will be felt for quite some time by all those whose lives he touched. I could go on, but I don’t think I have the room here.
My family and I truly appreciate that Drew, Allison, Mr. & Mrs. Bennett were able to be with us yesterday and today and for Tara and Erik yesterday (and Tara’s babysitting today).
Thank you and God Bless,
Neil Lambert
Thanks Dad,
Ed was certainly welcome at our home during all those big events. And I loved going to his house after the road race for his famous clam chowder.
Yeah Ed would give me ribbing about my choice of hairstyle but never kicked me out of the house. So I guess he still tolerated me being around 🙂
We are pretty lucky to have such nice friends in the Lamberts.
Neil,
My Dad would go to the office and Ed would tell him about something he read on the blog. I think Ed started reading it before my parent’s did. If surprised me and I was very happy to hear it. He certainly was a man of character. He raised some good sons too.
Drew,
I have to agree with brother Neil — your tribute was well written and captured him perfectly. There were so many people at the wake (about 600 in all came by) who told us many of the same things that you did; in particular,they mentioned his sense of humor. I knew, either in person or by name, most of the people who came to offer their condolences. I had never seen them all in the same room before, however, and that has affected me deeply. As far as your blog goes, I’m not surprised that he was a regular reader; he really embraced the Internet and constantly was forwarding me things he saw or received by email. As far as your hairstyle goes, I agreed with him completely and am glad you came around!
My father and mother have always been glad to count your folks as friends. It was great that Andy and Denise could attend both the wake and the funeral. They are truly wonderful people.
Thanks for writing such a great tribute!
Paul Lambert
Thank you Paul. There were just so many great stories about your Dad that it must have been amazing to hear so many at the wake. I could really hear him in your voice of the eulogy. You had the exact inflection and tone down perfect. Thank you so much for that.
Drew,
Thanks very much for taking that photo of the sign in town. John and I went over to look at it when we left yesterday and John cleaned off the snow that had accumulated. The sign is such a tribute to Ed.
Over the past few days, I’ve learned alot about my father-in-law’s influence in peoples’ lives, which has been inspirational to me. Before this, I would not have necessarily thought of Ed as an inspirational kind of guy. Not only have I learned that he has positively impacted many people, but that he didn’t even know he was doing it! Ed was just being himself and sharing his thoughts and advice with folks, and turns out that these people took his words to heart and acted on them. Through these simple acts Ed positively influenced their lives. Essentially he practiced random acts of kindness (but he’d not want us to acknowledge this, of course, or call it such.) These day-to-day, immeasurable things go beyond the formal volunteer activities he undertook and have made me think of him differently. I personally experienced a caring father-in-law and loving grandfather, but had not know of this side of him.
He’s got big shoes to fill in our family and within the community. We are going to miss him. Thanks for your tribute and sharing your own personal interactions with him.
Stephanie
I’m sorry for your loss. He sounds like a really great man.
And what a wonderful tribute you have written for him.
Stephanie,
I have a feeling that many feet are going to be needed to fill Ed’s shoes. I learned so much about him in the past few days and each story amazes, and yet doesn’t surprise me, about him. Learning about his impact on so many people by doing simple things really makes me feel like I should have listened to him more, talked to him more and gotten to know more about him when he was alive.
I don’t think I have ever seen that sign in tribute to anyone else in this town. It was a fitting tribute to him, simple and straightforward.
Thanks Joy, the tributes to him just keep writing themselves. There are so many stories that you could fill a book.
Drew – allow me to follow suit with my brothers in commending you and thanking you for the poignant tribute to my father. Those Falmouth Road Race weekends were some of the most special times in our family’s lives, and the Bennett’s hospitality was always an integral part of it. I’m thankful for your family’s friendship with my father. In recent years the running contingent from “Ed Lambert’s Running Club” has suffered from attrition, weight gain and, quite frankly, sloth. But it never really was about the race itself, was it? Ed found his glory in huge gatherings of family and friends, and that’s all that that weekend and any other gathering he took part in was ever truly about…sharing time with his family and friends, both of which were quite extensive.
The story about discovering that he read your blog is similar to many I heard at Ed’s wake. People, some I knew well, some a little, some by name only, and some not at all, offered a litany of stories both funny and serious that testified to the fact that he touched so many people. I knew of almost none of them on Sunday morning, but by Sunday night I had been edified by every one I’d heard.
I knew that he was active in the NA community, but I didn’t understand to what profound extent until Sunday. I did not take a single break from the receiving line because I was so uplifted from hearing from all of those people whose lives were affected by my father. What I anticipated to be a sad gathering was discovered to be a celebration of his life, a life that was given, by the grace of God and the committed professionalism of the medical staffs at Sturdy Memorial Hospital and RI Hospital, a gift of an additional twenty years, which he in turn gave as a gift to his church, his community and his family.
And Drew, he would have never “kicked you out of the house” for your forms of personal expression. That would be too easy. He’d much rather nag you incessantly, to the point that you would beg for waterboarding in lieu of. And it would appear his tactics paid off.
Thank you for your tribute.
Yeah I agree with the nagging incessantly. While it could get under your skin he would do it in an entertaining way after all.
I didn’t say much at the wake as I know that once I start talking at wakes I just start bawling. So my words and expressed thoughts about your father had to be written down.
You are right, the running club was never really about running, it was about the gathering and the family and friends. Something I came to really enjoy at your home and at ours as well.