Ed Hobbs, 1958-2007

Steve Krause's Eulogy for Ed

Ed Hobbs

Gail, Jason, Justin, Jordan, Jacob, the rest of Ed’s family, brother Knights of Columbus, fellow Cursillistas, boy scouts and their leaders, parishioners of St. Benedicts, Ed’ co-workers, friends, neighbors and all who knew and loved Ed Hobbs… I have the honor and privilege of sharing some thoughts and memories about my best friend Ed Hobbs. 

I. FRIENDSHIP

I met Ed almost 13 years ago while living a Cursillo 3 day weekend; #17 in the diocese of Tulsa in McAlester, OK in 1994. After the 3 day weekend we began living our 4^th Day by meeting for prayer and breakfast at the Village Inn across from Woodland Hills mall on Monday mornings at 6:30am, although most of the time Ed came late about 6:55am. We’ve had the same waitress (Paulette) all this time. Our Friendship group of 4-5 men (most of the pallbearers) have been praying together and sharing our Catholic Christian life with each other every Monday morning. Our conversations are not your typical guy talk like football… except if Ed’s Miami Dolphins won; you would know because he would wear a Dolphin shirt. We’ve shared good news, bad news, new jobs, lost jobs, same ‘ol jobs, interviews, births, sickness, divorce, annulments, children’s sports, camping trips, hunting experiences, deaths of family and friends and co-workers, our children’s lives including their faith, our relationship with wife, activities at home, work, church, good homilies, not so good homilies (sorry Father) … you name it… we shared it, because it was our Christian Life. Ed would tell you his Cursillo weekend was good, but not a mountaintop experience like some…his conversion and relationship with Christ grew over time through our prayers, sharing and accountability to each other. Ed knew how to make friends; he was fantastic at being a friend and in his own humble, natural and caring way imaged Christ to introduce others to God at home, at work, at St. Benedicts, at scouts, at Knights at Cursillos; wherever he was.

Our friendship developed quickly – Ed enjoyed the outdoors and camping and I duck hunting. I quickly introduced him to duck hunting, he became my hunting buddy. He wanted to include his two younger boys and their friend Chris. We quickly had a group, so we needed more than my duck boat. I found an old boat at a garage sale for $150. Ed and the boys did a great job converting it into a duck boat. Now we could all go… Ed was so happy about that… me too, since I had two daughters that were more interested in dancing than hunting. We had some really fun times…we did not get many ducks but we were outdoors, saw beautiful sunrises, drank hot coffee and hot chocolate and cooked breakfast afterwards in our boats. Doug Haskins and I bought some hunting land and now we had another outlet for outdoor activities. Ed and the boys introduced me to camping on our land, it happened to be in January on the coldest night of the year 7 degrees and -10 wind-chill. I remember waking up in the tent to Ed’s snoring on one side and my yellow lab Gracie’s teeth chattering on the other. Gail told Ed that I would never want to camp again, well I could not wait to go again! Ed loved to sit around the campfire telling stories and drinking coffee, the boys loved to make the campfire and I loved eating the food he would cook in his Dutch ovens. Again the hunting was secondary. A few years ago Ed bought a new shotgun. He went almost two years without much luck with that new gun, something would always happen, no ducks, no water, busy drinking coffee, safety on and other things. One day Ed, Justin, Jacob and I were hunting together on our lake and we saw a group of about 10 ducks land into the decoys in front of Jordan and Chris without a shot. Ed says – what are they waiting for? We got out the binoculars and saw both of them asleep in their chairs – he just said – Good grief!  Ed’s hunting misfortunes ended on the last day of the season this year in January. It was Ed, Doug, John and I hunting; the boys had something going on. There were ducks everywhere; we had a great hunt and Ed got to use his new shotgun; all he kept saying was – “I wish the boys could have been here.”

Ed was committed to FRIENDSHIP; true, sincere, authentic, caring friendship. Ed taught and modeled true Christian friendship to me and most all of you. THANK YOU ED, we’ll try to follow your examples.

II. SERVICE

Serving others brings others and us closer to God. In this case Ed was already very close to God! Committed to Service was just part of Ed’s makeup. You could ALWAYS, I repeat, ALWAYS count on Ed to help out! His service at work, St. Benedicts, Boy Scouts, the Knights and Cursillo are a few examples. He was a Servant Leader. At work he influenced so many people through his Christian leadership. He continually told me how much he enjoyed the role of manager. What attributes does one need to be a good leader? Honesty, Integrity, Responsibility, Accountability, Care for others, Humility, Commitment and Decision making – These words describe Ed. When Worldcom experienced their financial trouble, Ed’s retirement and boys college fund disappeared, eventually he lost his job. He was able to find a job at McCloudUSA here in Tulsa… boy are we fortunate he stayed in Tulsa! He always prayed for his coworkers.  THANK YOU ED!

He served his parish, St. Benedicts in so many ways as usher, Men’s club, DTS, confirmation, fund raisers and weekly adoration to name a few. St. Benedicts is a big part of the Hobbs life. They all serve this parish and follow Ed’s example. THANK YOU ED!

He served as assistant scout leader for Boy Scout troop 26. He influenced many young men including all four of his boys (two are Eagle Scout). He was always going on weekend camping trips with the troop, Philmont in New Mexico or National Jamborees. Most of the time he ended up as one of the cooks, he loved to cook for groups and serve food. THANK YOU ED!

He was an active member of the Knights of Columbus, council 6606. He served as Grand Knight for three years and is a 4^th degree Knight. He and others dressed out for the recent ordination of 11 deacons and two priests in May. He and a small number of Knights lead our parish in prayer of the Rosary before our Masses for the intention of Family. Ed’s commitment to service in the Knights was so apparent. He will be sorely missed. He sponsored many new members through his example, including me. THANK YOU ED!

Ed was a Cursillista; a Cursillista is someone that has lived a Cursillo weekend. Cursillo is Spanish for short course – in Christianity. He lived his 4th day (life after Cursillo 3 day weekend) by faithfully coming to our weekly friendship group. He and his wife Gail coordinate our monthly Ultreya (big group) meeting here at St. Benedicts. Ed served the Cursillo movement and community on the School of Leaders, he and Gail were 3 day committee coordinators for years ensuring that our weekends were well organized, we had facilities and supplies. Ed has worked many Cursillo weekends on the team in just about every role; it didn’t matter the role to Ed, it was about serving the candidates. Ed has served as the lay director of Cursillo in our diocese for the past 2.5 years. Early last month Ed organized moving all Cursillo supplies from McAlester to our new facility in Okmulgee at St. Anthony’s – it’s all ready to go. The afternoon of Ed’s stroke he left me a voicemail about Cursillo; it was certainly the Holy Spirit’s work to carry on. While he was in hospital in ICU I told him I was going to the National Cursillo Encounter in Dallas – he smiled. I told him I’d bring him back a shirt to commemorate the 50 year anniversary of Cursillo – he smiled and told me XL. I said to him DeColores; a Cursillo term with many meanings but mostly thanksgiving. He replied “DeColores” – he smiled and I smiled.

Ed faithfully served the Cursillo community while living his fourth day. He now lives his Fifth day in heaven with our Lord for eternity. THANK YOU ED!

III. FAMILY

Family was so important to Ed. Ed had two sisters, Linda and Barbara. His parents Art and Rita would visit Oklahoma from Ohio and spend several weeks with Gail and the boys. Ed’s dad liked to stay busy, probably were Ed got that. Ed was THE BUSIEST guy I know! Ed and his dad would usually tackle a project together. Their project four years ago was painting the house. While Ed was up on a ladder painting the ladder slipped from underneath him, he fell onto the ladder breaking his leg and ankle requiring surgery, multiple pins and screws to repair the bone. Gail and his boys took care of him.

Ed loved Gail, they are very good match! He told me a story when they were dating that Gail suggested they take a break from dating to see if he was really “Mr. right”. If think it was because Ed told Gail he loved her on the second date! Ed said the break lasted less than a month; he was miserable without her. They got back together and they’ve been together every since and celebrated 27 years of marriage. They have four boys if you couldn’t tell up to now; Jason, Justin, Jordan and Jacob (they liked the letter J) Ed lived for Gail and the boys. He prayed for his boys every week. His oldest son, Jason was married 1.5 years ago to Candin. Jason and Candin just moved into a house in Cushing, OK.

Ed and Gail spent most of their time at their boys activities… you name it… they did it!  Sunday was family day, always at Mass as a family, when challenged with scout campouts or soccer tournaments they always went to Mass. Ed would tell us of their great adventures to make this happen.

The strength and faith of the Hobbs family was illustrated to many over the last two weeks. A model Christian family in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, always there for each other and for the community that supported them. THANK YOU ED and THANK YOU GAIL and THANK YOU BOYS!

We celebrate and remember Ed’s life today and his legacy he leaves – his commitment and involvement as a FRIEND, as a SERVANT and LEADER to so many people and groups and his unending love and faithfulness to his FAMILY.

The last words of this Sunday’s Gospel from Luke Chapter 10 read – “rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” We know the name Edwin Arthur Hobbs is in that book, now in heaven.

And finally…Ed never said goodbye but rather – “see you later.” 

THANK YOU ED! DeColores!        We’ll see you later!