Thank you all for coming to show our Dad your respects. Many years ago when he could not attend his own father’s funeral his Aunt Bess, his father’s sister, told him “Funerals are for the living”. I hope to share some stories that say a lot about the kind of person he was.

When we were kids, he liked to say.

“I’m not your friend, I’m your Father”

That did not keep him from playing ball with us, teaching us to swim (which usually meant throwing us headfirst in the deep end) or being a scout leader. He led by example. When I was a teenager I had the privilege of turning his hair gray overnight. I was in serious legal trouble in another state. He placed himself at great personal risk to get me out. He did not abandon me. I will never forget this. I let him know that.

            He believed in the power of positive thinking. He doodled symbols of his goals everywhere; his bible was Claude M. Bristol’s “The Magic of Believing” which he gave to me. “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve” No Spitzer male had ever made it out of their 60’s or been married for 50 years. He was determined to be the first. On September 7th Mom and Dad reached 50 years together (I’m sure it felt like 60 to him!). In a couple of weeks Dad would have been 79. He made both goals.

            He was modest in ways few knew. My brother and I found his medals when we were kids. He had never bragged to his sons about his wartime exploits. When asked he said,

“Anyone who saw combat does not want to talk about it”

 When we wanted a 22 rifle he said,

 “I have no interest in ever being around a gun again”

When we complained, he did not go camping with us like the other dads he said,

“I camped out in Europe enough to last a lifetime.”

            A few years back I told him he had to tell us about his experience in the war before he died. Mom, Dad and I were having dinner at the Captain’s Tavern and for whatever reason the time was right and the flood gates opened. I asked him about courage (I did not tell him I knew about the medals). He landed in Normandy on D +3. He said that from the time you got there till the time you left you were scared. He told many other stories, painting a picture of the horror of war unlike the movies portray. He ended the war running an R + R for GIs in Paris as he knew French. Those of you who knew him can imagine how much he enjoyed that.

            His facility with languages served him well again in the 60’s. He started as a life insurance agent with the Prudential in 1957. When Castro took over Cuba, Dad learned Spanish. As the refugees landed in Miami, Sun Life of Canada cashed in their policies for them. He was next in line, writing them new policies for their new life here. But he didn’t just take from the Cuban community. As a teenager I remember many whose relatives he helped get out of Cuba after Castro closed the gates on them.

            And finally, he drove a taxicab in NYC from 1952 till 1956. He bought it with a loan under the GI Bill. He had three signs on his windshield visor facing his passengers, I think these say a lot about the guy he was.

W.C. Fields

Man chases Woman!

A Skunk

Thank you.

The Taxicab:
https://classicrecollections.wordpress.com/2014/09/02/1957-checker-cab/

PS to my website readers: I do not have pictures of these, but it is worth asking me in a phone call to describe them to you. Funny!