July 8, 1926 ~ August 14, 2016
Norbert proudly served his country with 20 years of
service in the U.S. Coast Guard. His beloved wife Sylvia
predeceased him in April 2016, as did his twin brother
Edgar in 2003. Norbert is survived by his daughters Karin
Perakis (Mark) and Michaela Reed (Tom), and his grandchildren
Jonathan, Jaclyn, Nicholas, and Samantha. He
will also be missed by his sisters Marian Ragan and Carol
Goulden. Service Friday, September 2nd at 11:00 at Chapel
of the Angels 40842 Fremont Blvd Fremont CA 94538.
The other day I was trying to define what a good man is.
That is what you do when you get older, you get philosophical.
So I turned to poetry because that is where all the great and deep meaning literature resides.
I found a poem from James Whitcomb Riley that resonated with me.
It goes like this:
A good man never dies–
In worthy deed and prayer
And helpful hands, and honest eyes,
If smiles or tears be there:
Who lives for you and me–
Lives for the world he tries to help
He lives eternally.
A good man never dies.
Who lives to bravely take
His share of toil and stress,
And, for his weaker fellows’ sake,
Makes every burden less,–
He may, at last, seem worn–
Lie fallen–hands and eyes
Folded–yet, though we mourn and mourn,
A good man never dies.
It’s a good description but it wasn’t in my own words.
So I looked for some divine help and wrote the following description:
A good man honors his God
A good man honors his Country
A good man honors his word, his commitments, and his marriage
A good man honors his family, his wife and his children
A good man honors the people he meets and treats them with respect
A man that honors everything around him is a good man
Sound familiar; it should be
Because I used Norbert Hasson, my father-in-law, as my role model in crafting this definition
He was all of these
He went to church every Sunday
He served his country in the Coast Guard for 20 years
Married for over 50 years
You learned from Michelle how much she truly loved and adored her father
Throughout this week as Michelle went from store to store and people would ask how her father was doing. When she told them the bad news, they were genuinely saddened.
I think we can all agree Mr. Hasson was truly the embodiment of a good man