

Services for Former Governor Buddy Roemer
Season 2021 Episode 4 | 1h 44m 23sVideo has Closed Captions
Services for Former Governor Buddy Roemer
LPB provides live coverage of services for Former Governor Charles Elson "Buddy" Roemer III. Visitation and services will be held at Istrouma Baptist Church in Baton Rouge on Tuesday, May 25, 2021. Visitation will begin at 9:00 a.m. until service time at 11:00 a.m. Officiating the service will be Pastor Kevin McKee, Pastor David Melville and Pastor Michael Barrett. (info courtesy Rose-Neath.)
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Louisiana Public Broadcasting Presents is a local public television program presented by LPB
The Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting

Services for Former Governor Buddy Roemer
Season 2021 Episode 4 | 1h 44m 23sVideo has Closed Captions
LPB provides live coverage of services for Former Governor Charles Elson "Buddy" Roemer III. Visitation and services will be held at Istrouma Baptist Church in Baton Rouge on Tuesday, May 25, 2021. Visitation will begin at 9:00 a.m. until service time at 11:00 a.m. Officiating the service will be Pastor Kevin McKee, Pastor David Melville and Pastor Michael Barrett. (info courtesy Rose-Neath.)
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipagain good morning my name is kevin mckee and we're here to celebrate the homegoing of charles romer iii buddy buddy had many titles publicly it included governor congressman candidate in the private sector it included partner founder among the family his son his brother his husband his father was uncle and so on behalf of the family i want to say welcome to friends family someone asked me before we began are we going to have the family separated out i'm like i can't figure out where to start and stop i think most of you that are still here in that camp a family senator governor thank you for being with us today there were some titles that buddy chose for himself he had that kind of way democrat republican reformer there are two titles that stand out to me as someone knew him briefly little and that was his moniker buddy something that would stay with him made him approachable casual as he was and the other one christian someone who had been impacted by christ and the christ and the grace of jesus and therefore in the wake of that amazing grace chose to live as a christian as a follower of jesus celebrating at a funeral is is not a forced expression it's a historical fact jesus died on this earth rose again victoriously conquering sin and death so yes we will we will mourn and grieve the loss of buddy a brother a husband a father a friend a family member a colleague but not without hope the scripture proclaims in first thessalonians chapter 4 verses 13 and 14 brothers and sisters we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death so you do not grieve like the rest of mankind who has no hope for we believe that jesus died and rose again and so we believe that god will bring with jesus those who've fallen asleep in him and it is with this confidence that today we will remember we will honor the life and the legacy of buddy romer but we will also celebrate we will also worship jesus christ the one who is the living hope of all who follow him the one who gave his life for us that he might give his life to us that he might live his life through us his brother-in-law now will come and offer a prayer michael if you would bow your head and let's pray together oh father our father god of heaven and earth the sovereign lord of all of the nations we approach you in this place today and we stand in this holy place the place of your presence the scripture informs us father that we are to weep with those who weep and mourn with those who mourn but the scripture also declares to us this hopeful promise the weeping endures for a night joy always comes in the morning so we call on you today and in these days for the power of the holy spirit to weep and to mourn but also to enter in to a deep place of joy and celebration knowing that you are the alpha you are the omega you are the beginning and you are the end touch every heart and life in this service and those who hear it today we ask in the name of the lord jesus christ amen if you have felt the dark of night questioning what is out of sight he is the answer he is the light if you have felt the weight of sin bound by the shame that's he broke the chains he will forgive lift is coming there's more to the story if you felt broken and betrayed no one to trust alone afraid he'll comfort you he knows your name if you've wrestled with why this has been your road to walk evil is coming there's more to the story in grief and in glory still great is his faithfulness he is present helper keeper great is his faithfulness perfect sovereign fortress great is his faithfulness his faithfulness wait on him rest in him come find your peace again trust in him hope in him great is his faithfulness wait on him rest in him come find your peace again trust in him open him great is his faithfulness still great is his faithfulness in grief and in glory still great is his faithfulness in grief and in glory still great is his faithfulness then sings my soul my savior to thee oh great how great lord then sings my soul my save your god to thee oh great lord uh i cherish this opportunity to stand here to honor my dear friend gutty buddy governor buddy romer today there's so much that could be said about this very special man and friend chaz caroline and dakota are just hoping i can get through it me too i was 30 years old in 1986 when i first heard congressman buddy romer speak at a small breakfast downtown wow it was soon after i became a romarista in the roma revolution i got the t-shirt literally my wife packed it or i'd have it today i couldn't find it but i got so much more from buddy buddy inspired me and no doubt each of you it's one of the reasons why we are here today honoring him he set the standard for an honest political campaign telling me big ideas be big money we believed in his vision for louisiana and we were proud to fight at his side for a better future in the 1987 campaign i remember the day before the election when it was obvious buddy was surging from fifth into first place we were in the headquarters and one of the staff walked into buddy's office and said there were three businessmen in the lobby who wanted to see him and each had a five thousand dollar maximum contribution we all knew they'd already supported the other candidates but they wanted to get on board just in time buddy simply instructed this staffer to please tell them leave the office and take your money with you buddy wasn't a political candidate he was a principled candidate he changed our politics he changed louisiana he changed each one of us but he raised the bar on ethics in politics and campaign finance before it was the law he led by example proving louisiana could do better buddy embodied the revolution buddy romer was a public servant not a politician a politician tells you he'll scrub the budget on the campaign trail but then further muddies it up once in office but he was not that guy he told the voters what he would do if he was elected and then actually did his best to accomplish that goal as governor that's called leadership buddy romer was a leader a friend shared a story with me this week he emailed and said quote after being governor buddy was teaching at harvard i was lucky to have him as a seat mate in coach flying from atlanta to baton rouge i remember the conversation being high level i struggled to keep up as we were descending into baton rouge he became animated while looking out the window i recall him saying i always get excited knowing i'm about to be back in louisiana we all know buddy loved louisiana remember he loved louisiana enough to make some people angry but he was one of the smartest people i've known and there can be no doubt the best orator we ever heard no one could capture the hearts minds and attention of a room better than buddy he had a gift and he used it for good to help others he also read more books in a year than most read in a lifetime a love passed on to him by his parents every christmas i looked forward to when buddy would give me the latest new book he had discovered if only i had a dollar for each time a friend would come up to me and say hey ralph i saw buddy romer at barnes and noble in each of our lives there are a small number of people who have a profound effect on the direction we take our parents a spouse mentor and best friends buddy romer was one of my best friends i loved his passion for life and his courage to take a stand and speak truth to power he was unconventional unconventional all often going against the grain as we all know and i so admired him for that i dislike much about politics especially today but i must acknowledge that it was politics that brought buddy and me together it's also reason that his family and many of you here today are an important part of my family's life for that teeth and i forever grateful and cherish those relationships we all won together and yes we lost together but we never quit my friendship with buddy has lasted for decades we ate together at zealand's waffle house and fairway view we went to lsu games together we prayed together and we were in business together starting two banks that he led and was so proud of because it was another way he could help people he was also proud of his large romer family that he loved dearly including his wife scarlet caroline chazz and tina dakota and heather grandchildren adeline charles owen ripley and dax his brothers sisters their spouses children and grandchildren our hearts go out to each of them today i love buddy romer for who he was for what he stood for for what he taught me and for being my friend like each of you god blessed us to know him and we will miss him greatly i'm grateful for the opportunity over the past couple of months to have had the chance to visit buddy tell him how much he meant to me that i loved him and bring him some of the fried chicken he loved dark meat it was tough to see this warrior in a wheelchair as his health failed him this man was a giant strong a man who slayed dragons and only feared his god almighty the last time i was able to visit him he was sleeping so i sat by his bedside with scarlet and caroline telling romer stories we laughed and shed some tears i'm sure each of you today has a buddy story you cherish and the family tells me they've heard many in the last week and appreciate each one our friend has left this earth but his legacy and spirit lives on certainly in his family but also within everyone in this church as well as those around the state and nation who were touched by either the roma revolution or his incredible life i'm comforted today in my christian faith knowing buddy has knew has been restored has a new body and is walking with his savior jesus in heaven we all know buddy is likely asking lots of questions and even sharing some of his ideas i know i will see him again and i pray his family will find peace and knowing they will too there was a frequent phrase but he affectionately used often with others to honor them but today we can all agree it best applies to him buddy you the man we love you on tuesday april 28th when melanie and i drove from san antonio to baton rouge to tell her brother my brother-in-law goodbye i thought i would pull a trick or two out of his playbook and use a few metaphors and tell a narrative tell a story of love and appreciation for being someone that we could follow we did follow and we will follow i wrote about jesus's wild and crazy guy peter i'm not saying that jesus had favorites on his staff but i think he liked genuinely liked peter and i think jesus probably stifled a smile or a laugh every once in a while when peter was well being peter so a carpenter and a fisherman had this relationship in which jesus asked peter to be a part of a very elite group sometimes told peter you were right sir you've got it but then sometimes said peter you're wrong you've missed the point and jesus rebuked peter and then forgave him and in the end entrusted with peter the keys to the kingdom of all people our lord chose peter to start his church so many times peter's words and actions got in the way of the gospel but that's okay because he was in the game and jesus kept him in the game and peter is partially responsible for you and i sitting here today boy was buddy in the game sometimes stumbling sometimes bumbling most of the time though right where he was supposed to be doing what he was supposed to be doing on our behalf buddy i think of you as peter tempestuous spontaneous and all in peter said lord if you're going to wash my feet why not wash all of me i think of you in the sea of galilee seeing the future and wading in you were head of the boat ahead of the others yelling come see come see i think of you ahead of us all we were just trying to keep time sure you made mistakes along the way even if peter was rebuked by our lord but i think of you learning from your mistakes even iraq's rough edges are smoothened over time so whatever you are thinking on this day we will follow whatever you are running toward may there always be a little bit of the apostle peter and a little bit of buddy romer in all of us the world sure could use it amen no jacket required you know people just thought he didn't wear a jacket he lost them all uh all over the state he intended on wearing a jacket that was uh not the intent i want to thank everybody for being here it's a wonderful time to see each of you i have no idea what i'm going to say i wrote a few words down here but i forgot that i'm 51 now and i can't see them so uh we'll do the best that i can uh and i'm gonna i want to tell you a little bit about all of buddy and there are a few people that probably know all of buddy mainly in his family uh but not everyone knew all the buddy his whole life and what he was about and i would start off with a lyle lovett line lyle lovett was one of my dad's favorite singers entertainers and and friends and and his the line and i think he wrote this for my dad but the line was if i were the man you wanted i wouldn't be the man that i am now that was that way his whole life he always told me son if you're ever going to against somebody in a campaign or a game or whatever it might be he goes whatever you do don't play by their rules play by your own now dad was uh of the most complex people i think that's the nicest way to say it he's one of the most complex people uh i've ever met and and there's a part of him a few stories i'm going to tell and i probably will make a couple political things that some people believe political but but dad when i thought about talking today i said what would buddy say what would he say to his friends and his family and people that supported him and some some that may have even opposed him uh what would he say so one thing that was important our family that we would want you to know was dad was a whole lot more than governor and congressman my dad loved to travel and he loved to drive i mean we told him there was such a thing as a plane but we had to drive everywhere we went and after we had a few grandkids and a couple of us have been married and dakota was courting somebody that he was about to get married to my dad decided we got to take an rv trip okay and we're going to go out to new mexico we're going west that was one of his favorite places in the world so we pile in this rv scarlet managed to get out of the trip at the last second now i scarlett was supposed to come with us but scarlett knew what was coming and she said i think i'll just stay home y'all have a good time so we went out on the road had an awesome time uh and you know dad only signed only two of us that were signed up to drive the rv it was dad and myself well dad made it about two hours and i did the rest of driving myself so we're in the great place gallup new mexico and we're staying at a at a place called the ranchero motel it's a famous old hotel out there where all the movie stars he loved a good western and all the movie stars from back in the day stayed at this hotel and their pictures were all over the wall and at this point we were three or four days into the trip and i told everybody i said look i'm going to get up early tomorrow morning and i'm gonna go empty the septic tank to the rv and uh sure enough i get up i was about six in the morning we had a full day playing so i get up and i'm driving out of the parking lot in the rv well there's dad a cup of coffee hunched over dad hey what it is and uh he said i think i'll come with you i said let's go let's go so here's the situation you've got two harvard grads an rv and a septic tank the septic tank won uh we proceeded to try to un we had taken a lesson on this i mean he and i we but we knew we just couldn't be that complicated a couple levers no problem so we get to the place and we start to unload the septic tank and i guess we did the lever the wrong way and next thing you know it's spewing all over us okay i don't want to get into detail but it was not a pretty sight and dad kind of gets out of the way and i managed to wrestle it and i'm literally covered from head to toe and i'm probably saying some words i shouldn't say and dad and i get back in the car we get back in the rv and we get back in the car and he looks at me and he says i thought we had a good plan ah so you know that was that was that was dad he didn't cry that we made a mistake he wasn't cursing he just said when we had a good plan uh a couple other quick ones and i'm sorry i'm probably going to take too long but i just i want you to know it's it's funny when you grow up as a sibling or a son or a daughter or whatever nephew niece you know dad cast a big shadow i mean he took a lot of oxygen out of the room at times and and he just had that thing about him uh and so we we liked moments that humbled him it was good for us and so we're in hawaii we go to hawaii dad loved trips we didn't drive to hawaii that would have been quite a feat we flew to hawaii and i think this may have been pre-dakota we were really young and it was me and caroline i think patty and we go to hawaii and dad never really planned a trip it was kind of like he knew the direction we were going but we just kind of showed up at different places and he'd always tell you a lot about it well he woke up one morning and decided we needed to go deep sea fishing he wanted to go catch a blue marlin so we haven't chartered a boat or anything we just he told us to gather our stuff and we go down to the dock and the first person he saw he says i want to go blue marlin fishing the guy said all right let's go so we get on the boat and the guy's telling us look people spent their whole life trying to catch marlins so i want you to know and dad said he only wanted to go for three hours you know the captain was insisting that we needed to do 12 hours and dad said i can't do anything for 12 hours on a boat we're going to go for three hours so he preps us that we're not going to catch much i mean don't get too excited we're probably not going to catch them all in three hours and sure enough dad somehow we're not out there 30 minutes and we hook a blue marlin and they throw dad into the seat and he's wrestling this blue marlin it took him about three hours to get it in and we landed and it was huge it was 464 pound blue marlin it ended up being a state record for that time of the year of course dad somehow manages the first time he goes out for 20 minutes and he gets the state record blue marlin in hawaii and so they call the dock where we're coming because it's a big deal so the newspapers show up to take pictures and they they're going to take the fish off and they they put a board up next to the picture and it it says who the captain was and then who was the person that caught the fish and the weight of the fish and everything and i never allowed caroline and i laughed to this day on the board it says state record for a certain month of the year caught by bucky romer so whenever dad got the big head we we always would kind of mumble okay bucky we appreciate it now i could tell more but i said i'd be here all day um i would tell you i've had the privilege of working with my dad probably every day for 20 years and it's it's something else now you haven't been on a roller coaster until you've been in business with him or in politics uh and later in his life i had to pick him up every day he couldn't drive anymore and that was something i would i'll never get back we listened to sports radio on the way into work and he would curse lsu and everything else and but it's very interesting working with dad you know deep in his heart deep in his heart he wanted to be a receptionist now most of you don't know that we we had a receptionist but the phone would ring and before the first ring would oh would even finish dad would grab the phone romer and you could tell the other person on the line was totally shocked like what do you mean romer who have i reached you know what's going on and the other funny thing was at the same time i knew late in life he was probably playing solitaire or something in his office okay he we would meet first thing in the morning and kind of go over the day's business but then he'd spend the rest of his day drinking coffee playing solitaire but he'd answer that phone if it rang and he'd say roamer and they would ask they wanted to talk to him and i'll never i never i can't tell you this a million times he would go immediately into the speech friend if you knew how busy i was right now you wouldn't be calling the other so that was always funny the other thing is i'd be trying to have a serious meeting in the other room okay and our our offices are back to back and i'm i'm trying to i got to earn a living i'm young i got family i got to earn a living i'm in there trying to have a me meeting and trying to people always expected buddy to be the guy they were talking to so it always took a few seconds for them to realize they're talking to me and i had to try to overcome that and it did not help when i'm in the middle of a meeting and my dad would scream out coffee he wanted somebody to bring him coffee and i i'd have to get up from my meeting where i'm trying to act like i'm big shot ceo i said i gotta go get my dad some coffee he was something else now i will say this in all seriousness the single most optimistic person i've ever met in my life not even close now at times that causes me trouble we had people that would bring business deals to us and they'd want us to do them and they'd meet with my dad first that's who they knew they'd come to meet with my dad and i could hear him in the other room and my dad loved every idea that came in the door if somebody came to the trouble of coming to see him and they were enthusiastic about what they were trying to do he was all in he was all so i'd hear them in the other room and my dad telling them how great an idea this was but then he'd say but you know what unfortunately you got to go meet with my son and so dad was the yes man every deal was a home run we're all going to be great and he'd send them to me and they'd look at me and i'd have to tell them that doesn't have any authority around here but the best story about dad and this is i think exemplary of him you know he respected he respected those who did public service republican and democrat those that agreed with him and didn't agree with him he respected the effort that it took and the toll that it took on you personally and on your family he respected business people he always got mad when the government talked about tax and business more and it wasn't as much about taxing as it was he didn't think the small business guy was appreciated that at some point in their life most small businesses and most small business people had all their life all their fortune in the middle of the pot and to hear people say they don't pay their fair share dad would agree that america can do better but he didn't agree with the sentiment that people take risk don't deserve a pat on the back at the same time we've had ups and downs with our business it's never easy we take risks we love doing it do we love people that take risks we love ideas that are new unproven deals that no other body no other person would invest in we love them and we still do we had one in particular that we that we had a very difficult time with and we had for us invested a lot of money and time and heartache in it and we had a group of people around the office in the conference room and it involved a large piece of land which we still own in south louisiana and we were fighting every headwind you could fight we had a trade war going on with china we had the president at the time changing what he said every day we were running out of money and we had everybody around the room and everybody was coming up with their ideas at this point dad wasn't his most articulate he had suffered a stroke at the time but he was smart he was sharp he mainly listened at these times so everybody went around the room saying what they thought we should do and most of them are like you know we've taken a good shot at it we ought to stop or we ought to downsize it we ought to make it smaller this is our project where where we're going to show the world that you could use natural gas the assets of the united states and the assets of louisiana and do so cleanly this was this project that i'm talking about and it was important to him and so everyone else is saying the odds are stacked against us and we ought to take our losses and they all get up and they walk out there's this dad night in there and he gets up and he's had a hard time getting up he was using a cane at this point he gets up looks at me and shakes his head he says they don't get it we need more land in the face of every obstacle when everybody would tell you to quit the man said it's time to double down we need more land he was an optimist believed in this state loved this state i know we have several current officials and former officials in this room he would encourage all of you to fight the good fight we don't have to agree but fight the good fight don't get trapped in what the political speak of the day is fight the good fight for louisiana now everyone knew dad loved to read i mean we you've heard every speaker so far talk about he'd read three or four books at a time every genre he loved them all fiction nonfiction you know all kinds of biographies autobiographies he read everything literally three four books a time you'd see him around town carrying his books now what you don't know about dad was dad became the book i mean when he read the book he became the book he was either the narrator or the author or a character he was the book and every book had something that he would learn every book no matter what it was and he felt compelled to tell you about it now i can't tell you how many lunches so he and i went to zealand i'm not saying he was a man of habit but we went to zealand five days a week for 15 years okay and he would start telling you about the book he's reading and he would become the book and he'd mean it his love affair with books was about dreaming it was about what we could be what we should be wasn't reading just to read it was to read about what we could be dad had a never-ending desire to improve louisiana you get mad many a day frustrated he wrote many books in his mind some of his best were we can do better we deserve better we can dream bigger perhaps his best seller was don't let the past determine our future a story of how louisiana and its people will overcome people will never know how much passion he had for this state man had diabetes his whole life and never complained would be giving himself shots on campaign trail hands come home bleeding and he would just talk about what an awesome day it was and what an awesome state we live in he refused to allow louisiana's future to be defined by its past now each of you in this room are part of his book in some way in some fashion every single person in this room has written part of that book and what he would tell you today is keep writing keep writing that book don't worry about your grammar don't worry about if you make a mistake keep writing the book to make our state better now he would tell you lsu is the greatest university in the world but it needs to do better he would tell you a land where they make you choose between whether you're pro-police are pro-peace those are false choices there's no reason we can't be a country of strength and a country of peace there's no reason we can't be a country of great wealth but at the same time take care of those who need a helping hand my dad couldn't fit in a party but he was most interested in solutions not party politics he had no time for him i'll never forget one of his one of his good friends was tip o'neill you know and my dad's first vote in congress those of you who may not know tip o'neill was speaker of the house in the line of a man my dad's first vote in congress was against tip o'neill to be speaker here's a democrat and his first vote was against tip o'neill as speaker of course there's no wonder he got the smallest office in congress too but the they became fast friends dad liked debate a good honest debate he wasn't interested in trying to fit somebody's mold he was interested in solutions now i will tell you the state has had many better politicians than buddy romer no question but i dare say they've ever had a better governor now a few final comments and i appreciate your patience there's several people i'm going to name and i'm going to leave some people out and i apologize all of you should be named my dad i don't think was always the best at telling people how much they meant to him but when you work next to him for 20 years i know i know the truth he would tell jude melville and his team at the bank including his daughter-in-law it's the greatest thing he's ever done and he could not leave it in better hands he would tell his siblings margaret danny melinda and melanie you were the smartest most talented group of people he ever knew you know it's hard being the the brother or the sister of the governor but he loved you and man he was proud of you he said danny and margaret were the only two people he knew smarter than he was and melinda and melanie had more talent than him his grandkids nieces and nephews were the best i'm not saying my dad was prone to hyperbole but they were the best and he would tell stories about them every day he loved the fact that drew continues to farm you know we grew up on a farm dad looked at me and franklin and he said he knew we couldn't be farmers so he was hoping somebody would pick up the torch and so he's very proud of drew for continuing to farm you don't get rich farming finally i want to say two two things and then i may go another 20 minutes i'm not certain but first of all we want to thank scarlett you know being the wife of buddy not an easy task and we want to thank patty and we thank my mom cookie as well we want to thank scarlett the last few days of dad's life last few weeks last few years haven't been particularly easy in fact scarlett may say none of them have been easy but those in particular and scarlett couldn't have cared for my dad more in his final days you should know my dad was at peace my dad didn't have pain my dad was surrounded by his friends and family and we owe scarlet that we thank you scarlet finally i would tell you there's a person that two people i should say my younger brother dakota he talked about you every day not some days every day and the thing he was most proud of was how great a dad you are i don't know if he had a chance to tell you that or not and then he had his foxhole companion the person when the going got rough and people were going their separate ways there was a person in the foxhole with him every time that's my sister caroline never been a better person connected to my dad no willingness to give up none caroline was always there for my dad and he loved you and he's so proud that you've continued and there's many in this room that have continued the fight of education in this state and he loved you for now what's a man's legacy i'm charles e romer iv none of us go by charles my son is here he's charles e romer v i tried hard to give him his own name my wife said there's no way and i'm going to use this as an example because i think it says a lot about buddy when my dad was in his final days and we knew it we all went over there and you never know how long you have is it five hours is it five days how long is it going to be well the first night about midnight i get up and my daughter and i and my son my wife were there and i said uh why don't we go home and get some rest and we'll come back tomorrow and we stood up we're getting ready to leave he was in good hands he had scarlet was there margaret was there so i felt i felt comfortable and caroline was there i felt comfortable dad was in good hands and i'd go get some rest but i could just look at my son's eyes and i could tell he didn't want to leave and i said son you want to stay he said i'm staying dead i said okay we get home a few minutes later my son stayed we get home a few minutes later i get a text from my son now my son's catholic my family's catholic and he sent a note and he said can you i want you to bring my rosary and he named what rosary he wanted me to bring he said would you bring the rosary and the green bag it's it's in my armoire and i said sure i'll bring it to you i mean what are you going to do tell your son who's you know it's i know i'm tired and it's one o'clock in the morning but your sons just asked you for the rosary and what are you going to not bring it so i brought it so i was told this and he brings out he pulls out the rosary with my dad and my aunt and mom i guess my stepmom i don't know what i call you scarlet my stepmom i suppose and my sister and my son explains what this rosary was the rosary had beads on it that were wood olive tree wood and it was from the garden of gethsemane now the garden of gethsemane is where jesus told the disciples stay awake stay awake tonight tonight there's going to be trouble so charles pulled this out and he told my aunt and scarlett and caroline this is what these beads are we're not going to fall asleep tonight charles would go on to stay there for five days without leaving my dad's side now the garden of gethsemane wasn't it wasn't really about jesus and it wasn't really to stay awake and protecting jesus wanted his disciples to know that sometimes on the way to salvation you will suffer that's why jesus wanted them to stay awake he knew he would suffer and he wanted others to know that to get to the gates of heaven and to receive salvation you'll be challenged you may suffer but in the end you will be saved my dad saved i'm happy for my dad proud to be his son and i appreciate each and every one of you being here today i don't even know what time it is so i'll say good afternoon i wasn't going to speak either in fact who wants to follow ralph and chaz after speaking no one i would remind you chaz though that dad loved to quote abraham lincoln who said he never heard a bad short speech three quick things before i go into my story about amazing grace the fishing story a little bit i think that's where dad came up with you to man because throughout the time he was fishing they would shout at him you the man bucky you're the man you're a born natural bucky and so i think you to man came from that right but i really i think that's that's where that came from um reading he did love to read and in fact he would say i'm sure he read this from someone but he would always say a reader lives a thousand lives before they die and dad has lived millions of lives from the the reading that he's done the travels that he's done and yes scarlett was always somehow very uncanny that she got out of all the trips with buddy it's so true she would show the dog's sick i i can't go um so she yeah yeah very suspicious scarlet um but as you've heard today my dad was really he was a you know what i think might sum him up best is my dad made mistakes but he picked out three incredible women to be his wives at different times not at the same though it was different times and what's amazing about that is while two of them divorced him and the third one may have if they were together a whole lot longer they still stayed in his life they ran his campaigns they celebrated birthdays with him they loved him very much he was too hard sometimes to be married to but i think it speaks volumes about who he was and that he was a friend and i'm always so proud that that my mom cookie that patty and scarlett could be in a room together we i think we have a picture someplace of buddy with his three wives and it's one of my favorite picks so just a solid solid good person but as chas said scarlett has been incredible for my dad he is not easy my dad i know you've all told me wonderful stories and i really appreciate it but he was also really grouchy a lot and fussed about a lot of things and sometimes it was scarlet often times too often probably that scarlett had to take the brunt of that grouchiness and so we are forever thankful of the care that she gave him over the last 20 years but in particular the last few years and that she opened her home their home to so many of us as family members to share dad's last days just means so much to us scarlett and i really love you and i really thank you for taking such good care of him he really loved you and and cared about you um after dad passed away scarlett and i have spent quite a bit of time at the kitchen table preparing for this i would say neither scarlet nor i are big on events and planning events so we really count on our sister-in-laws my sister-in-laws tina and heather for helping us do that but as we talked about what was going to take place today scarlett felt really strongly that amazing grace be part of today's celebration and as you know and as you've heard my dad it's it's a perfect song for him because my dad loved to tell stories he was all about telling the story an amazing grace is a story about the ability to transform to to to move from one thing to something else to move from something lesser to something better the good to great the center to someone that has been saved and so telling the story of amazing grace was really important to scarlett and she asked me to do it and so i said well you know it's funny dad tells so many stories but that's not the story he would tell me he didn't tell me the amazing gray story he would always tell me the story about the father and the son who went out fishing together they didn't catch any fish rainy day they came home the dad wrote in his diary you know wasted day it rained we didn't catch any fish and the little boy went to his diary he wanted to be just like his dad and he worked great day spent it with dad so he always told me the story about priorities which probably says something about what he worried about for me with my priorities but scarlett said that they were he was a guest i'll say guest speaker at my uncle david's church in a meet and scarlett said he told the story of amazing grace and that she thought that it was one of the best speeches if if that's the right sermon speeches talks that she had ever heard and she said that it it's so represented for her where they as a couple were able to find joy and peace in that that idea of amazing grace if you don't know the story of amazing grace and look i've written scarlet you'll love these i continue to get these at the house they have your name on it and it's the wounded warrior stuff so i still get those i'm at the house so i too wrote down a few notes um dad would tell the story and it actually goes all the way i found it in i think tanton helped me tantan thank you for um helping me tantan is my cousin he mentioned to me and reminded me that in dad's book scopina that there is a chapter in it and i think it's called um the birth of a politician or something to that effect it's towards the end of the book and he talks about going to boise state it's 1957 he goes to boise state and he decides there that he's going to run for governor and he spent the next two or three days campaigning and in the in the story talks about how hard he worked and he didn't go to sleep and it was just you know grueling he loved all of that so early campaigning and when it came time uh to give the speeches he he had an opponent his opponent went first and and dad writes that he really felt good about this like i'm a good speaker i'm going to go last i'm going to you know bring this home this is going to go great well he stepped up to the mic to speak and nothing would come out he couldn't he couldn't talk and he stood there for a long time and in the story he says he turns and he takes a sip of water and he clears his throat and he tries to do a few things just to like calm himself and the nerves but the words never came out and he ultimately stepped off the stage and he did not become governor of boys state and he talks about going home feeling humiliated and embarrassed and he got home and he says that he told adeline and budgie his parents what had happened and that budgie told him papa told him well you know those things happen but you're the best speaker i've ever heard and i know you can do it so you just need to get back out there we need to find you an opportunity to speak and let's go let's try this again you can do it and so dad contacted his church and asked if he could speak at sunday school and tell the story of amazing grace and john newton who wrote amazing grace and he gave he did a 20-minute presentation he said and it went really well but for me that was it's nice that dad's written this book it's nice that i can see speeches you know technology so i was able to pull some things together um around amazing grace and that story i think dad liked it i laughed john newton who who wrote amazing grace in 1772 uh with a poet named uh william calper who was a famous romantic period romantic era poet they were friends and they wrote hundreds and hundreds of hymns but newton had a style in which a lot of his hymns were very autobiographical and about his life and he had been and this is the part that i think dad really loved is john newton had been a sailor his father was a sea captain and ultimately john newton was put on a ship and had it pretty rough i mean he ultimately in his life he himself was enslaved and handed off from ship to ship and but he ultimately was on a ship the greyhound that was a slave trade ship and he spent many many years on those ships going to africa and taking people from their home and bringing them back to great britain and in one of those trips they were off the coast of ireland and a storm hurricane came up and they were in this hurricane literally fighting for their lives for like 11 days and at one point john newton who got tired of pumping the water strapped himself to the helm and the steering wheel and navigated the ship for like 12 hours trying to keep it afloat and just when he thought that that he couldn't go on and that all would be lost and that everyone would die he prayed to god and he asked god for mercy and said you know if if you just let us get through this i will dedicate my life to you please let us get through this well about that time they come to the eye of the hurricane and there's a great calm and it moved john newton he believed that god had heard him and that there was an opportunity for salvation and for mercy he goes on and actually didn't immediately stop being a slave trader it was actually many years that he continued to do that work and it's funny i think about dad because john newton was known for being this terrible cursor like he was awful like they talk about the the captain would say i've never heard those words before like this guy would make up cuss words and i'm like that that's dad in a lot of ways he would definitely make up curse words but he was a he was a rough guy um and again did not immediately uh turn his back on on the slave trade but ultimately when he retired he started studying christianity and theology and he ultimately became a member of the clergy and it was then that he made friends with someone that was wilbur for i think was his name william wilberfore who was a member of the british parliament and that man went on to end slavery he was an abolitionist and passed the laws that ended slavery and he credited john newton for helping him do all of that so he ultimately again that transformation from a slave trader to an abolitionist and it was for dad the story of again everything is possible and that optimism that even someone undeserving even someone that makes many mistakes that they can find mercy and that they can live a life that is one dedicated to love and to kindness and again cherishing uh time together and again what is possible when i asked scarlett why that moved her so much what you know why why that story for you scarlett what what did it mean she talked about how frankly their marriage was nothing less than amazing grace that there were many many difficult times sickness health lots of different issues but that through grace of god they were always able to find places where they could expand and move get through the tight spaces i think is what you told me and find themselves in in in a bigger space to um love each other and cherish each other and again share in their love for christ and the church dad loved going to church loved it scarlett told me there were years that dad would go the early service at first methodist here in baton rouge and then get in his car and go to the service at chapel on the campus and if you know dad you know he's always he has the program and you don't think he's listening you think he's just doodling on paper but then when you would pick up the the program out of his bible or whatever you would see where he had made made notes and scarlett shared with me the other night dad's bible that he carried for years and when i opened it up i was just blown away so many highlights and and in the margins notes and thoughts and ideas and gratitudes that he would write out and funny thing is she pointed to one and it is perfect for amazing grace he wrote that i get upset sorry one second he wrote the definition of grace and his definition was me getting something i don't deserve he was a very humble man that loved louisiana very very much and even though louisiana didn't always love him back he felt so passionately about the state and the people in it and he believed in grace and kindness he was never angry he used to tell me he used to call me the warden because he said i was this mean i was always mean and he told me i'm too angry and that life is too short and i think if he were here today one he'd be disappointed not to give a speech he would he would like that he would love to be telling y'all something but i think what he would tell you is to never never lose faith that all things are possible when you do your best and when he was governor i lived with him in the governor's mansion um i would ask him sometimes like you know dad how do you know what to do like how do you know what's the right thing to do and he said i don't always know the right thing but i try to do the thing that when i put my head on my pillow at the end of the night that i know i did my best that i was good to other people and that i put louisiana first and i definitely think he himself showed amazing grace and for that i'll be forever thankful i'm so glad to be a roamer as chas said we have an incredible family and i i think thank everyone for being here today um you know you want more you you don't want it to be over but his body gave out and i know for a fact that he is in heaven right now i've told a couple of you he's either in a poker game he's either got one created or he's gone and found where the poker game is or he is on the baseball field playing shortstop right now and he's turning that triple play maybe double play but he's turning the play and really enjoying being with family and friends again but thank you so much for being here and we love you all and i hope there'll be more time to get to talk to you and share stories with you thank you amazing grace sweet the sound that saved like me i once was lost but now see twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears that grace appears i first believed through many dangers toys and snares i have already calm tears brought to me save us fire and grace bright shining us the souls to sing god's praise then when we to sing god's praise then when we first the bible says for it is by grace that you're saved through faith it's not of yourselves it's a gift of god so that no one can boast to be with buddy unguarded was not something i think was easy to do as i listened to his children i'm even more convinced i had the opportunity to be with buddy on three occasions where his guard was down very rare i was with him for a week not on a campaign trail not in a board room not in a classroom but on a three-story boat opened air sleeping in hammocks and on the floor in the amazon river basin on the northeast tributary called the rio negro on a mission trip there were no newspapers there was no really place to bring a book there were there was no cell phone service the satellite phone was for the captain only there were a few with some gray hair on the trip from america that knew of buddy's political career but most of the americans did not none of the brazilians did not knew of them and we were to take the gospel to one of the over 7 000 river villages in the amazon river basin his guard was down he didn't sleep in a hammock he slept on the deck of the boat and with his guard down and his eyes wide open he was so available sure he told his stories and everyone enraptured listen couldn't believe the life of this person on the boat with us told about the advice that he would often give seldom seldom right never in doubt and he prayed and he participated in every way possible which just so amazed me because i did know about his political career and the humility of which you speak and the adventurous spirit of which you speak it was on full display there we would exit the boat and go into the villages in the heat of the day almost on the equator and there he was in his long pants and often a long shirt sweating with the rest of us and on the way back to the boat on this path thousands of miles it felt from anybody he declared finger-pointing there's cotton i looked down the path i thought about what he told me earlier seldom right never in doubt i said nobody uh there's no cotton here they don't they don't they don't grow cotton here go no no that's cotton 75 yards later he stops triumphantly and he points at a twig in the ground with three leaves on it wilted and wanting water and one bowl of cotton he said i told you it was like a satellite from outer space that had zoomed in on the only bowl of cotton within 500 square miles in this area that's only accessible by boat during the dry season and i think he knew down to the minute how old that cotton was it doesn't look like what's on the lapels of those here today it wasn't white and it was worn out it was sun beaten it was it was tough and i thought to myself you know this man often sees things before other people do this was his heritage this was his conviction this was his upbringing a love for education a love for service the understanding of human dignity particularly civil rights the unique power of money both to create and to corrupt fascinating and we had doctors of course and dentists to help those in need and toys to play with all the children that we would meet on those five days but i was so impressed with this learned man from harvard i didn't know and i asked him i said who who was your favorite who was your favorite professor because i like him maybe be overeducated you read too much and don't read like he did he said oh robert frost i'm like what i thought that guy was dead like a hundred years ago you actually knew him yeah he was a great teacher like wow unguarded generous with his smile with his energy with his prayers amazing accessible i think it was his faith didn't make him from my perspective complicated but what often christian faith does is make us conflicted there's the good we want to do and there's the good we must do and it would play out i heard as i read and watched as you said speeches how he wouldn't just go against the grain just to go against the grain there was something deep inside and i believe it was his faith that allowed him to see things before others could the second time i was with him his guard was down he called me out of the blue and he said hey would you come by and and pray with me i felt completely honored i said certainly where are you he said i'm at my office in downtown so i did i went down to his office and it was just the two of us and i said how can i pray for you and he said i'm running for president i said joe are you really you don't meet people every day that say that and then actually do it and i said i'd be glad to and so i turned my chair and we were knee to knee and we talked and and we prayed and he he talked then to me personally about what he has said publicly that he desired to be a president that was free from the encumbrances of big money that would then demand that he reply and kind and do favors he wanted to be free to govern and to lead what a lofty ideal even though he knew it was not maybe even feasible the courage and i realized then this is the gentleman that has more courage than the average bear than the average person and we prayed you mentioned his bible that scarlet sent me those pictures that horrible handwriting of his all in the margins and i think he had you know having brother-in-law's that are in the ministry i think he had a very soft spot for a pastor he did for me and i would scarlet took some pictures of my name there in the margin and i'm like oh what an honor what an honor the third time i was with him and he was completely unguarded really because because he couldn't guard himself anymore and and he didn't want to his body has it had given out and scarlett as as everyone who said was giving him tender care and she called me and she said his days are short would you please come visit him and not having seen him in a while or seeing you guys at lunch i i i made my way to the house the first opportunity i could i would see him two weeks before he passed twice in the same week and the and the difference in the two visits were just a couple days but you could see that he was struggling and so i so i was entered in my scarlet and and i was i was a i was a little surprised and what i saw there in this beautifully sunlit room was a bed and in that bed was a small person smaller than his usual small stature bundled in blankets head down not knowing really what to say or do i just yelled governor and he lifted his head and he turned and he offered that uniquely generous smile gavin mckee i said yes sir it's good to see you and i sat as close as i could and i grabbed his small cold hand and i rubbed his exposed shoulder i said how are you doing and he began to cry and i think it's like his son said he called it an accumulation of gratitude and i was trying to feed him words because he couldn't get them out actually it was the only time in in our relationship that i had the verbal upper hand on him unless they know that they know you love them and he was so grateful he was so grateful for this life that had been given to him by nothing other than the grace of god we don't get to pick our brains we don't get to choose our intellect it's what we do with those gifts and so i reminded him of something that the devout christians need to be reminded of all the time and as i held its hand i read from second corinthians 5 and it says this for we know when this earthly earthly tent we live in is taken down that is when we die and leave this earthly body we will have a house in heaven an eternal body made for us by god himself not by human hands we grow weary in our present bodies and we long to put on the heavenly bodies like new clothing for we will not i mean excuse me we will put on heavenly bodies we will not just be spirits without bodies for while we're in the earthly bodies we groan and sigh but it's not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that close us rather we want new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up in life and god himself has prepared us for this with the guarantee of the holy spirit i said buddy god is preparing you for this and it says and so we are confident even though we know that as long as we live in our bodies we're not at home with the lord for we live by believing not by seeing we live by sight you mean by faith not by sight see we we're fully content and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies for then we would be at home with the lord so whether we are at home in the body or or away from this body our goal is to please him for we must all stand before christ to be judged and we will each receive whatever we deserve whether good or evil but he knew that his salvation his family his beautiful family his children the blessings that he had were indeed the grace of god in his life and he responded to it because he also knew that he would not even with his own intellect and his strength and his connections and his power climb a ladder to heaven he would never work his way there the bible's extremely clear for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god and it says later in the same book of romans for the wages of sin is death but the but the gift of god is eternal life in christ jesus our lord god knows we can't reach him so he came to us and he gives us his son jesus and like any gift you've ever received you must take it you must choose it as buddy did choosing life the gift it says later in romans that if we openly declare that jesus is lord and believe in our heart that god raised him from the dead we'll be saved for it's by believing in your heart that you are made right with god and it's by openly declaring your faith that you are saved but it was clearly not perfect he was often the first to point that out but humble and hungry and desirous to walk with jesus to be obedient to live a thank you life because of what jesus had done for him the decision to trust in jesus is a decision that makes all the difference in this life and the one to come jesus said you can enter god's kingdom only through a narrow gate the highway to hell is broad its gate is wide for the many who choose that way but the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult and only a few find it matthew chapter 7 jesus would say i'm the way the truth and the life this is the road the buddy walked on this was what created the complexity in his life in my opinion it's what brought conviction to be able to stand when the whole world is either laughing or criticizing you to be able to carry on to find the optimism in difficult situations it comes from new life in christ and the hope and the assurance that we don't have to guess or wish a wonder but know that in christ when we die to be absent from the bodies to be present with the lord that makes living different and it makes dying different i took full advantage of that one-on-one conversation and by that i mean i was selfish i enjoyed it i enjoyed the laughter i enjoyed the tears i enjoyed him communicating his accumulation of gratitude for his life for his family for each of you i enjoyed it because his gratitude spilled over and it was really the gratitude he has for life what about you what about you there have been many statements already this is what my dad would say this is what buddy would say i would suggest he would say don't go through life and not choose jesus and so i'd like to read a poem by robert frost the road not taken and i'd like you to think about your choice and consider that jesus is the road less traveled he is the one i believe that made all the difference and buddies successes and failures he is the one who made all the difference two roads diverge in a yellow wood and sorry i could not travel both and be one traveler along i stood and looked down one as far as i could to where it bent in the undergrowth and having perhaps a better claim because it was grassy and wanted wear though as for the passing there had warned them nearly about the same and both that morning equally lay and leaves no step had trodden black oh i kept the first for another day yet knowing how way leads onto way i doubt if i should ever come back i shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence two roads diverged in a wood and i i took the one less traveled by and it made all the difference let me pray for us lord jesus christ we give you thanks for the life the legacy the changes that you have brought through your servant buddy romer for his family his friends his state his country we thank you that in your grace you have given him what he never deserved would none of us deserve a salvation and an intimate relationship with you through faith we thank you that he was real and transparent his heart overflowing spilling out as it were on us the joy the confidence the courage that we all got to enjoy lord we worship you as the one who gives life changes life can take a darkened heart and make it clean can take the guilt and bring freedom can take the worn out soul and give it strength we know that only bodies buddies only but buddy's body is here and his soul is with you so we we rejoice that we have a confident hope to be with you when we pass as we put our faith in you so i pray that that would be the case for each of us here today and i thank you in jesus name amen amen i need to give just a few instructions we have two dismissals family and pallbearers will be first and they will leave accompanied by bagpipes as they escort buddy's body out through the coffin so if you guys can prepare yourselves and then after the entire family is gone and through the doors i'll give more instructions so if the folks there would come forward hmm so you yes
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