Giving the Eulogy for a Father -
Honouring the Man, His Role and His Life

Giving the eulogy for your father is a unique situation. Our father has a powerful place in our lives, and will inevitably to some extent have shaped who we are, whether our relationship with him has warm, loving and supportive, or reserved, distant and even critical.

It may be that your role in doing the eulogy for your father is to represent the thoughts of the whole family, in which case you may be called on to balance differing views. Or perhaps you are to give a more personal, individual perspective on who your father was for you. In the first instance, you can talk with other family members, either one-to-one or as a group, and get their input on who he was for them, stories and great times they remember, his achievements, the guidance he gave, etc. And if people disagree on some things, you can acknowledge that in your speech, saying how your father “was a complex character” or, like all of us, “had different relationships with different people”. Whereas if you are giving purely your own personal view and experience, all there is to do is to share from your heart.

There are few “rules” to giving a eulogy. On the one hand you can talk about your father’s whole life, starting from when and where he was born, or you may tell stories and anecdotes which illustrate who he was as a man, or you may simply say what he meant to you, as in the eulogy below.

This very short yet heartfelt eulogy by Christina was one of four simple speeches given by various family members at the funeral of her father, Geoffrey…

“Not only was Dad a wonderful father, extremely devoted to and proud of his family, but as a person in his own right, he has always and will always, serve to be a great inspiration to me.

He was an incredibly strong, resilient man with an instinctive drive to succeed in the things he loved to do. This propelled him from an award winning career in advertising, to his extremely successful business as a cabinet maker, and more recently the beginning of a career as a sculptor. His creativity was at the essence of everything he did. From cabinet making, stained glass, sculpture and painting, to playing the guitar with his friends and spending hours of enjoyment listening to his classical music.

This very positive, creative, energetic man instilled in me the importance of striving hard to achieve my potential, within the things I love to do and of living life to its absolute full, no matter what obstacles are put in your way. I just feel incredibly lucky to have had this man as my father.”

For a simple 6-step process for writing the perfect eulogy, download my to-the-point guide, How to Write and Deliver a Great Eulogy in 6 Simple Steps, complete with example eulogies, poems, quotations and public speaking tips. It also comes with a 100% money-back satisfaction guarantee. You can see more here.

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