Our mom asked each of the five kids to speak at our dad's memorial Mass on August 19th, 2011. We were proud to honor our father with our individual thoughts of why we love him so much. Following are the texts of our reflections.
Greg:
“What You Don’t Know About My Dad”
I think it’s important today to discuss some of the things about my dad that most people didnt know about him. I wanted to share this with you, not only to recognize him and all the selfless and charitable acts that he never got recognized for, but to pass on to you what he passed on to me; and that is the meaning of charity and selflessness.
When I was growing up and my dad was coaching my teams we weren’t always the first ones at practice, in fact I don’t think we were ever the first ones at practice, but we were always the last ones to leave. This isn’t because he would make me practice longer than my teammates, it was because we would not leave until every single kid had been picked up by their parents. And when my dad wasn’t coaching me and he was picking me up from practice (which generally meant I was one of the last ones to be picked up) he would always ask who was still waiting and if they had a ride. Even if I said “yes dad they all have rides,” it didn’t really matter to him because he would take upon himself to roll down the windows and find out for himself. My dad always treated all the kids he was around the same way he would treat any of his own. This is probably why years later whenever I was with my dad at the gas station, a restaurant, the supermarket, it was not uncommon for one of his old players to recognize him and introduce themselves. They were always so happy to see him and thank him, and the amazing thing is my dad was always just as excited to see them. He would ask them all about how they were doing and how their family was doing and relay this information back to everyone in our family. Throughout my life I received updates on people I had never seen or only met when I was 5. But this was my dad, he loved everyone and everyone loved him.
The list of things that my dad did to help other people is nearly never ending. If a church was having a blood drive, my dad was there giving blood. If we had extra clothes or sports equipment it never got thrown away or sold, it was donated, when we stopped for fast food on one of our many long drives he would buy a few extra hamburgers for the homeless people outside. And when my dad befriended a fellow student of his at UC Santa Barbara name Phil Wombel, who is severely handicapped and confined to a wheelchair due to Cerebral Palsy, my dad didn’t just befriend him to be polite. He kept this friendship for 40 years and would fly out Phil to visit us when I was growing up. My dad would wait on him hand and foot. He would put swimming trunks on him and carry him around in our pool, feed him meals, and do anything Phil wanted just to put a smile on his face. Years later when I was playing baseball at UCSB my dad would pick up Phil from assisted living and bring him to the games. The amount of joy, love, and friendship my dad brought to Phil, a man used to being ignored by nearly everyone due to his cerebral palsy can’t be measured.
You see my dad was so much more than just a coach and a dad, he was someone who lived to help other people. Fortunately for me I was on the receiving end of so much of his giving. When I signed up to play baseball one summer in Eureka California not only did he drive me 18 hours to move me in, when I needed a car a few weeks later he drove up in my new car and drove right back home a few days later after watching a few of my games. He would do the same for me in Santa Barabara, driving 8 hours to watch a game, then driving 4 hours north to see his parents and brother in Carmel, then 4 hours back to watch a few more of my games, and finally 8 hours back home. My dad didn’t do this because he loved baseball. The biggest misconception about my dad was that he loved baseball, he definitely liked it and loved coaching it, but what he really liked was seeing his kids and his family. If my brothers and I were Chess players, I guarantee you my dad would have made the same 18 hours drives to watch us play. If the World Series was on at the same time as one of my sisters gym meets, he would be at the gym meet. You see my dad liked baseball, but my dad LOVED his family. Thank you for listening, thank you for being here, thank you to all you dads, and most importantly, thank you Dad, I love you. God Bless.
Valerie:
At Dave’s and my wedding, my Dad wrote the most touching and emotional speech I’ve ever heard. He had every guest in tears. It was so emotional, in fact, that he planned ahead of time to have my brother John read it so that he wouldn’t break down in front of 120 people. Today, I completely understand why. Now, it’s my turn to give the emotional speech and I’ll do my best to keep it together.
As you know, my Dad was THE most dedicated father on the planet. Family ALWAYS came first for he and my mom. He was also very protective of his girls, which I appreciate more and more every day as Dave and I are now raising a daughter of our own. The following are a few of the memories I look back upon that just make me smile:
When I was accepted to the U of A, my Dad intercepted my dorm request paperwork and decided to fill it in without me knowing. As the FIRST choice, he filled in Coconino (which was the all girls dorm)! At the time I was so upset, because all of my friends were in the “party dorm”. But looking back, he most definitely kept me from failing out of college my first semester!
My freshman year of college, a group of girlfriends and I wanted to go to Rocky Point for Spring Break. My dad, surprisingly, said he would let me go…on one condition….that he would drive us there and make sure that the area we were staying in was acceptable to him! He drove his van from Phoenix to Tucson to pick us up, then four hours to Rocky Point (I have to say, I was quite nervous that he would just drop the other girls off and take me back home with him!). Thankfully, he let me stay and enjoy the week with my friends A week later, he made the 6 hour drive from Phoenix to Rocky Point, dropped us back off in Tucson, and drove right back home. To me, that didn’t seem out of the ordinary, with the amount of driving my Dad did, but none of my friends could believe he would take time out of his busy schedule to make sure his daughter and her friends were safe and well taken care of.
As most of you know, all of the kids in our family, except me, went to college on athletic scholarships. Since I couldn’t commit to any sport for more than a year or two, his dream for me was simple, and I quote, “Just go to Scottsdale Community College, become a waitress at Denny’s, and take care of me for the rest of your life.” I always loved that line. He didn’t care what we chose to do in life. He just wanted us to be close by. There is a reason we ALL chose to move “back home” after living elsewhere around the country: my mom and dad and their love for our family. How fortunate all of OUR kids are to be able to see their grandparents several times a week, EVERY week.
So, back to that wedding speech I mentioned earlier. As emotional as we all got that night, after the speech, my Dad and I had THE most amazing, energetic and entertaining Father/Daugter dance you’ve ever seen. There was no tearful slow dance for us. It was all about tearing up the dance floor and that’s exactly what we did!
I hold in my heart so many precious memories of my Dad: family road trips in the old suburban, church on Sundays, bike rides with my Dad and sister, baseball games and gymnastics meets, holidays spent in my parents’ front yard playing all kinds of sports with the grandkids. Family, family, family. My only regret is that he won’t have a chance to meet his seventh grandchild that we are expecting in January, but I know our baby on the way and the entire rest of our family have the most gentle guardian angel watching over us, now and forever.
Thank you, Dad for always letting us know how much you loved us.
I can’t step down from here until I say a few words about our incredible Mom. She has just as much to do with our amazing family as our Dad. She has been an incredible pillar of strength throughout our entire lives, but especially over the last five years. Her dedication to fighting Dad’s disease was absolutely astounding. I love you, Mom.
I love you, Dad.
John:
First, on behalf of our family, thanks to everyone for coming. Your presence and support as meant the world to our whole family and it’s truly appreciated. We are blessed to have so many wonderful friends, so a deep, heartfelt thank you.
Second, I want to say thank you to my family, which includes of course, Mike Powers’ incredible wife and my ever so strong, inimitable and loving MOM. And to the in-laws – Chris, Dave and Nikki – thank you for your enduring strength through this difficult time. You all have been amazing.
And now, I want to say a few words about my Dad (since you’re here, feel free to listen in).
He loved his kids and baseball: One typical weekend, Dad watched my game in LA on Friday, then went to Jeff’s game in San Diego on Saturday, then brought Jeff to see my game on Sunday afternoon, then dropped Jeff off in San Diego, then drove home. I’m surprised there aren’t any OPEC representatives here today, to mourn his passing.
He helped create the competitive baseball environment in Phoenix: Phoenix is a hot bed of baseball, where college coaches and scouts now focus. Dad contributed greatly to that environment, and did so even in impoverished areas, where I remember going with him and him “forgetting” equipment and leaving it behind.
He changed many lives for the better: Many young men have approached me to ask that I thank Dad for what he did for them when they were kids, going through the times. Dad would pick up for games or practices, arrive early and stay late for kids so that they could play sports.
He was a family man: He and my saintly mother had a pact of sorts, where they pledged to hug each kid at least once, every day.
Most importantly, Dad is a Catholic, a believer and a great man. Thank you, Dad. Thank you for making me lucky enough to say that MY DAD…IS MY HERO.
Now, one last thing: please, reminisce with a smile, grieve as much as you need to, but then, when you leave here, be joyous.
Kristin:
Thank you all so much for being here to celebrate our dad’s life. I would also like to thank my husband, Chris, and our children, who have felt the loss but have helped me through, as well as my mom, who has been a guiding light throughout. We have been surrounded by the love of family and friends and we are so grateful for all of the prayers and support you all have provided to us.
Many of you know that we all had a wonderful childhood…Life isn’t perfect, but our parents gave us the two most important things that children need, love and security. We’ve always felt that and still do. But the most precious gift I have ever been given came from my dad, and that is the gift of faith. He took all of us kids to Mass every Sunday, without fail…I always say that my mom was a saint way before she became Catholic, and back in those days, her one hour off from childcare per week was when my dad dragged all of the kids to Mass...eventually it was 5 of us kids, although sometimes it was only 4 of us, when Jeff said he couldn’t go because he had a “stomach ache”! But usually it was all five of us.
We were never on time, so we would usually stand in the back…I remember when Greg was a toddler and he took the collection basket, which was on a long stick, and he started swinging it like a baseball bat! It was often an adventure. I also have many memories of sitting outside the church during Christmas and Easter services, because again we would be late, and my dad would gripe about the fact that we were there every week, but all of these other people came and took our seats for the holidays!
I am eternally grateful for his devotion, and he spent much of the past few months praying with my mom, and I am so proud of him for clinging to his faith and trusting in God. And I have to say, as faithful as he was to Mass, he was to attending sporting events…For all of us growing up, and more recently, for the grandkids. In these past several years, he and my mom literally almost never missed a game (and there have been a lot of games...Baseball, soccer, basketball, football)…They would drive to Avondale, Gilbert, Flagstaff…And the last game he attended (which was a baseball game) and the last Mass he attended were both less than a month ago. If there was any way for him to get there, he did. That’s the kind of dedication he had, and now he has the best seat to watch it all!
So anyways, he has been an extraordinary father to me, father-in-law to Chris, and grandfather to our kids, and I feel so blessed to be his daughter and to have had him as an integral part of my life and the life of my family for as long as I did. We will miss him greatly, but we will always be strong in the faith and the devotion to family that he passed down to us.
Jeff:
John Michael Powers was born the eldest of five children, son of a devoted and loving mother, the late Dorotha May Kilpatrick, and father, Colonel John Francis Powers, Green Beret, 3 war veteran and Special Forces Instructor.
My dad's "love of driving", or as some might call it, "a fear of flying," started at the age of 15, when he drove his mother and 4 younger siblings cross-country from Virginia to California while his father was on a tour of duty. Due to circumstances beyond his control, he became a young patriarch; and found himself the man of the house at an early age. He instinctively took on this role, to help take care of his mother and 4 younger siblings while their father was off at war, not knowing if or when he was coming back. My dad never questioned why. He just did it because above all else, the one thing that came most naturally to my dad was taking care of and loving his family. He set the bar for me, and I will always strive to be the kind of father that he was to his 5 kids.
My dad drove everywhere. If you wanted to get somewhere, he could tell you which freeways to take and how many Circle K's were on the way there.
One of the genealogical predispositions my dad has passed on to me is his fear of flying. Thanks for that, Dad. He preferred driving over flying because as he said: 'hey, why fly there in 3 hours, when you can drive there in 46?’
Its not a tragedy my dad is gone. We're all just sad because we're going to miss him very much. It WOULD BE a tragedy if he never drove me to excellence, kindness and love. It WOULD BE a tragedy if he never drove me to and from school, soccer, friends houses, baseball, college, work, spring training... He may not be here anymore to open my door and buckle me in...but he still drives me everyday.
I know that Heaven is very far away... I don't know where it is... And I don’t know how to get there... But my dad does... And he's driving there right now.
Powers, John Michael (Mike) 62, passed into God's loving arms on August 14, at home with his dearly beloved family. Born Dec. 19, 1948 in Ft. Benning, GA, the oldest of five children, his family moved about as the children of an army officer. He attended college at UC Santa Barbara where he was the catcher on the baseball team (MVP) and met the love of his life and wife-to-be, Missy. Subsequent to his graduation he played a year of professional baseball in Canada followed by a year in the San Francisco Giants organization. Married in 1971, they moved to Arizona in 1972 where they had five children. Mike's biggest love in life was his family. He always worked his schedule around being present at the multitude of baseball, soccer, football, and basketball games for the boys, and gymnastic and diving meets for the girls. His second love and passion was coaching his sons (and countless other boys) in baseball, where they got life lessons as well as baseball skills,-from T-ball through summer college leagues, then driving all over the country to watch his three sons play college and professional baseball. These past years have had the added joy of having all of his grandchildren nearby. Bigger than life, his infectious laugh, Irish sense of humor, warm and generous personality, along with his strong faith always drew others to him. He is pre-deceased by his mother, Dorotha and sister Kathy. He is survived by his loving and beloved wife of 39 years, Missy, his children Kristin (Chris), John, Jeff (Nikki), Valerie (Dave), Greg, his father, Col. John F. Powers, brothers, Dave, Steve (Barb) and Dan (Catherine), as well as his grandchildren, Sean, Jeremy, Katie, Tyler, Keira and Abby and numerous nieces and nephews. He is deeply missed by his family and friends. A memorial mass will be held at St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church on Friday, Aug. 19, at 1:30. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Hospice of the Valley. Arrangements entrusted to Messinger Mortuary. 
