One of my favorite things about the closing of a calendar year is the television news networks’ look back at those we lost in the previous year. CBS Sunday Morning’s Hale & Farewell is usually my favorite: they do an excellent job of honoring those in addition to the A-list celebrities that passed on in the last year. And I’m always surprised to learn about someone that died that I had missed in the news coverage.

But as 2021 ends, a farewell hit very close to home. My father-in-law, Albert Irlbeck, passed away on December 23. Although we are devastated that we didn’t get to have one more Christmas with him, we are at peace knowing that he passed quickly, in the Chiv-a-lay (that’s how he said it) pickup that he loved, driving the backroads of his beloved Swisher County.

Scott’s mom and sisters wrote a wonderful obituary for him at this link that provides a look into his life and the type of person he was. Scott wrote a beautiful Facebook post for him. My contribution was the slide show that played during the funeral.

We were all so pleased with his celebration of life. Two of his neighbors led the funeral services and their stories and tributes made it so personal. We were all happy that he was honored in such a happy way. If he would have been there, he would have been beaming and chuckling all at once. Never in my life have I met someone that could take a joke and teasing as well as Albert.

With all the nice things already said about him, you’re probably wondering why I needed to prattle on with a blog post. Well, two things. One is that I want to draw attention to the fact that the Amarillo Globe News wanted $1,700 to print the obituary that Scott’s family took hours to write (they had to trim it waaaaayyyyy down to get the price down to a reasonable level). I get that newspapers are a business and need to charge a something for obituaries, but $1,700 is highway robbery to vulnerable people who simply want to pay a public tribute the person they loved most. Two, I thought of a couple more things I wanted to point out about my father-in-law that I remembered after I had finished the slide show.

The thing that I don’t feel like I captured well enough in the slide show about Albert is how welcoming, warm, and hospitable he was. He loved to have people out at his house – especially his barn, loved to cook for people, usually had popcorn popped, had an embellished story to tell, and was always quick to offer a Keystone Lite. If you were in his home, his stuff was your stuff, and you were welcome to anything there.

Albert was an excellent farmer, and I will forever appreciate him as he helped Scott get started with his own farming career. Albert was Scott’s teacher, mentor, sometimes loan officer, consultant, and we often joked, supervisor. He was committed to Scott’s success, and I will always be grateful to him for his generosity and guidance.

The last song I used in his slide show was We’ll Meet Again by Johnny Cash. I can’t think of a more perfect ending to a tribute to someone. For one, he loved Johnny Cash. But more importantly, it was upbeat, which was so Albert – upbeat, smiling, laughing.

So, thank you for everything, Albert. We’ll meet again some sunny day. And until then, I’ll keep the drinks cold and your irrigation boots warm (we had the same size feet, so I wore his boots rather than get my own😂).