Al's sons wrote down some thoughts to be included in the eulogy. These are those thoughts.
Our Dad was the best there ever was. We grew up watching him play ball. Though he never was in the Majors, he could teach the big leaguers how to do it. Even so, he taught us that there’s more in life than baseball. It seems that he knew how to do everything. Naturally, he coached little league, but he also coached football. We saw him build houses and raise two horses and a cow. Yes, even though he grew up in the city, he could raise livestock. In fact we remember one encounter he had with a young cow. After tying one end of the rope around the cow’s neck, he tied the other end to a tree. He started working on something in the field nearby. The cow apparently had enough of standing around watching and decided to run after Dad. Dad caught sight of the cow’s approach and his startled yell is what caught our attention. If not for Dad’s natural athletic ability, the cow would have caught him. As it was, though, Dad stayed just ahead of the cow. Just as it seemed the cow was going to catch him, the length of rope ran out snapping the cow back to the realization that her place was to stay tied to the tree watching. We never saw that cow test our father again. Regardless of where we lived or what we did, he always came to see us and made sure we knew that he was proud of us. He was also a great dad to our wives. Our Dad was the poster child for leading by example. His whole life was a lesson to us on how to be men. He taught us to work hard and be proud of our accomplishments, but, more importantly, to love our family and that what a man does for the ones he loves is bigger than any personal accomplishment. And by teaching us this lesson, he truly was the best there ever was. And for our Mom, he was her husband, her best friend and the love of her life. We will miss him, but he will always be in our hearts.
