One particularly foggy evening, a battleship was out working on maneuvers.  An admiral on board observing the crew noticed a light in the distance that he realized was probably another ship.  He quickly found the radio man and had him tell the other ship to alter its course 15 degrees to avoid collision.  The response came back, “Negative. Please alter your course 15 degrees.”
The admiral did not appreciate this response, and got on the radio himself to say sternly, “I am an admiral; alter your course.”
“I am a lieutenant; alter your course.”
This response really got under the admiral’s skin, and he was not about to give up.  “This is a battleship; alter your course 15 degrees at once!”
“This is a lighthouse; alter YOUR course!”

Dad was always good for a joke or a funny story, but besides the humor we can all see and appreciate in that story, there is another way it applies to dad.  Throughout the past four years, I have seen dad stand strong as a lighthouse, never altering his course despite the arrogant persistence of the battleship that is ALS.  Anyone who knows dad and saw him during those four years knows that he was always cheerful and always had something good to say.  He dealt with it all so well that through his e-mails and instant messages it was next to impossible to tell how terrible a thing ALS is to have to live with—he truly did make it look easy, and he never lost sight of what is important to him.  Everyone fortunate enough to meet him would surely agree with me that my dad is a hero.

Many people have told me that they now think of dad every time they see a lighthouse.  I am certainly glad to hear that I was able to honor his memory by something I said at his funeral, and it is my hope that the lighthouse will serve to inspire us all through dad’s example of standing gracefully strong in the face of something so incredibly difficult to bear.  I feel privileged to know Joe Meagher, and I hope the rest of you do too.