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Eulogy for Dad

We measure success in many different ways. Some look to material wealth for the measure of a man, while others make their judgment based on a person’s political influence. Still others keep their focus on fame - even if that fame is gained for the wrong reasons. In the professions I have chosen - politics and media - winners and losers are sorted with a ruthless efficiency that has little tolerance for the kind of setbacks suffered by mere mortals.

My children have accomplished many things that would make any father proud. But none of those successes have made me as proud as when they’ve responded to failure with true grit and determination.

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My father enjoyed great success in his life. He rose above an abusive and lonely childhood to become a faithful husband, a loving father, and a businessman who was as generous as he was successful.

He loved the Lord with all his heart. He based his life around First Baptist Church, and was most fulfilled in his work with Samaritan Hands. Dad, a southerner by birth, was a remarkable baseball and football coach feared by his opponents in the corner of upstate New York where I was raised. I can still remember the Saturday afternoon in 1975 when his two-year-long football winning streak was broken. The Yankees on the sidelines threw their hats in the air. “We finally beat George!” they screamed before marching off to the tune of “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.”

As we crossed the field I looked and saw my dad smiling. A new winning streak would begin the next week, and he had been through worse than losing a ballgame played by teenagers. Four years earlier, Lockheed had laid off Dad when the engine supplier critical to his project went bankrupt. As he approached his 40th birthday, my dad was out of work. I remember driving around the South with him for two years as he looked in vain for a good paying job. I remember the tears of my siblings at Christmas, the worried looks around the dinner table at nights, the $40 unemployment check that Dad got every week that allowed him to buy a bag of groceries and a tank of gas.

But it wasn’t until the day after he died last Wednesday that I found the diary he began writing the day he lost his job.

Wednesday April 28th, 1971: “Received notice of lay off.”

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Thursday April 29th, 1971: “Gave Gil Carmichael copy of resume, registered with Mississippi Employment Office.”

Friday April 30th, 1971: “Registered with Coats and Coats, gave Harry Lackey a copy of my resume, interviewed at IDS.”

And so his daily diary went for the next two years, highlighting every job lead, every interview, every rejection notice and every hopeful possibility. He looked for a good paying job for two years but ended up taking a job without a salary, hoping that he could somehow feed his family of five on a straight commission arrangement.

Dad’s final entry in that diary was simple. “With the Lord’s help, I will do well.”

And he did. Over the next four decades, Dad worked without ceasing, raised three children, paid our way through college and supported us without fail time and time again.

My father enjoyed great worldly success. He made more money than he would have ever imagined on that day in 1971 when he was unceremoniously fired. He even gained a bit of fame this week, with his life story ending up in the Congressional Record and his name making POLITICO’s Playbook.

But for me, George F. Scarborough’s greatest legacy did not come from what he did when succeeding by the world’s standards, but what he did when no one was looking. Because of the singular focus he showed during his darkest days, my family and I stand on the shoulders of a giant who has given us the chance to dream big dreams and the example to get back on our feet every time we get knocked to the ground.

Thank you, Dad. We love you dearly and will work without ceasing to make you proud.

A guest columnist for POLITICO, Joe Scarborough hosts “Morning Joe” on MSNBC and represented Florida’s 1st Congressional District in the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001


Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC
1010 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Suite 705
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-1880
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com
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