George William Hess Eulogy
Written by Geordie Hess and Kelly Hess Moskal
Delivered by Geordie Hess on August 12, 2017
Good morning. My name is George William Hess, Jr., Geordie, and I am George’s son. Thank you all for coming here today to pay your respects to the wonderful man I was lucky enough to call Dad. In talking with so many of you yesterday, and seeing you here today, it is abundantly clear to me the impact that my father’s life had on so many people. My father was a dutiful son, adoring husband to his wife, Florence, of 47 years, faithful father, doting grandfather, loving brother, supportive uncle, and loyal friend. All of us are here today because he touched our lives deeply in many ways.
When we were children, my sister Kelly and I knew my father as the hardest working man on the planet. He worked tirelessly as a district manager at AT&T where all who worked for and with him admired and adored him. Many of these folks continued to be among his closest friends throughout the years. He organized and put on fundraisers as well as huge parties and picnics. His work ethic was evident at home as well, where he was extremely handy. He remodeled our kitchen and built our deck in New York. He finished our basement in Virginia. He was an electronics guru and loved to tinker with his home entertainment systems. In all of this, he still found time to pursue his passions for playing golf, writing (he wrote two novels...still available on Amazon, by the way), reading, listening to country music, and most of all, being a devoted and steadfast family man.
Much like his father George did for him, my dad instilled in me his passion for sports. I am so blessed to be an avid fan of the World Champion New York Yankees (great game last night), where he and I had the opportunity to see countless games in the House that Ruth Built. I am equally as cursed to be just as avid a fan of the Buffalo Bills. When Kelly and I went off to rival colleges, UVA and Virginia Tech, respectively, he immediately adopted both schools and followed their football and basketball teams faithfully. He not only watched sports but was also an active participant. For a man of only 5’5” he was indeed a force to be reckoned with on basketball courts and softball fields. But his true love of the sports world was golf. Over the last 43 years, he gleefully organized and ran a large multi-day golf outing aptly named the Moonshine Open, formerly known as the OSG (I won’t explain that acronym here in a house of God). Whether we were watching together, playing together, or just talking about golf, so much of the strength in our relationship surrounded that four-letter word. see continued