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Larry L. Graeber........Memorial Address

August 28,1938 - September 3,2012

Delivered

September 25,2012

At

Michael Mondavi Family Estate

Napa, California



I was born and reared in the rolling hills of Southern Illinois. In 1956, after a four-year stint with the Marine Corps I decided to settle in San Francisco. Come the last week of next month, I will have lived in California fifty-six years. Outside my immediate family, the majority of my relatives are still concentrated in Mid-Western States.

I visit them from time to time. Not as often as I should. Still I think of them frequently, and miss them dearly. Those reflective moments always lead me back to those magnificent days of my childhood, where the whole world it seemed knew me simply as the roly poly little boy named Jimmy.

Much has happened since those days of yesteryear. During the intervening decades, death has laid claim to family. My maternal Grandfather, both my parents, and five of my siblings. Faith leads me to believe a spiritual rebirth awaits, and that one day in that sacred future we will all be re-united...bound together...forever. And through that faith I've come to appreciate that death and dying is a necessary passage through which we all must travel. There is reassurance in the realization that death is merely a finality of the body, but not of the spirit. And in that fashion the dead are destined to live on in the memory, ever closer than before. Within that glorious significance dwells the continuum of life itself. For in that divining moment perception does in fact become reality. One afternoon while exploring, and appreciating the depth of this poignant revelation, I was moved in a fit of anguish to compose the following poem: 'Reality says they've passed away...Is not perception reality..for I feel a living presence...as though they stand...right next to me. Those guiding hands...of long ago...so firm against my brow...as strong, yet gentle...as yesterday...is the warmth...that I know now. That legacy of the distant past...still a mighty roar...memories sustain my soul...and on whose wings I soar...reality says they've passed away...silenced in death and then...perception says they're just as close...and real as way back when.'

I was 21 years Robert Mondavi's driver. A time that brought me intense satisfaction, for I found within the Company an extraordinary sense of family. That association with Mr. Mondavi afforded me the opportunity to meet and greet...getting to know, and becoming friends with scores of folks where otherwise life would have simply passed them by.

As the keeper of the Company Limousine, I was assigned on rare occasions the task of driving varied members of senior staff. It was during one such engagement that I met Larry. From time to time I'd chat with him at the office, or maybe during the random encounter somewhere along the street. I learned to appreciate his radiant sense of life, his wit and intellect, his pride of work, and hearing him speak longingly of avid love of family.

A couple weeks ago Anna informed me of Larry's passing. I messaged her back, offering condolences, and shared this personal story...that excluding family, few folks have ever called me Jimmy. Larry was among the few. Not once asking my permission, it was Jimmy from the moment we first met. And from that day forward, the mere sight of Larry approaching, brought with it an intoxicating sense of pure invigorating joy. That very presence returning me ever nearer.....to home.

poem by James B. Earley
Added by Poetry Lover
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