Well,  what can I say as a fitting tribute to my dad... a man who touched all our lives in a gentle, compassionate and loving way. I guess it would be to remember the ideals to which he lived his life, what things were important to him, and what they taught me, taught us all and ultimately it's how all of us who knew him will remember him.

Two central things stand out, two central pillars that were his guideposts to how he lived. His faith, and his family. (And the Roughriders).

I'm sure that my dad's faith was instilled in him by his father. The effort that was made to hitch up the wagon every Sunday pack ten kids up and make the long trek to church, at forty below, uphill and against the wind in both directions.

He continued this as he grew up going to Walther league and then the Lutheran Laymen's League, church councils, every city he and mom lived in, they were always active in the churches and made many of their closest friendships through the church. But it wasn't just the outward activities that defined his faith. It was the actual internal belief and trust that God was there to watch over him, guide him, and in turn, he needed to serve and be thankful. Dad never underestimated the power of prayer and the comfort it provided.

Family, what's that saying, you can pick your friends but you can't pick your relatives?  Well, if dad could have picked his relatives, he would have chosen the exact ones he had.  His greatest joys and fondest memories were of times visiting with his brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews and of course children and grandchildren. He also had the wonderful gift of having such loving and caring brothers in laws and sisters in laws.

Growing up, almost every family holiday we ever took, was to visit relatives from all over the country.  And if he'd been there before he would always remember exactly how to get there again without a map.

Dad was never the most timely of people. It seemed that no matter what the event we would always arrive 1 minute late.  It got to be a running joke, in fact he himself said that when he died he would be known as the late Norman Reisdorf.

Dad also loved his leisure activities. Life was way more fun curling, fishing, all day pool tournaments, bowling (which pins were up) cribbage, with relatives, or at his "office" at the Lipton rec center, countless hours playing Rook and Phase 10 tournaments, skip Devin,  and of course horse shoe,  horse shoes, he was so envious of his older brothers ability throwing the horse shoes,  I think he had to wait until uncle herb and uncle Ernie had arthritis so bad they could only throw the shoes 20 feet before he could beat them.

But thats ok, because he always bragged that he had more hair then any of his brothers. He was very proud of his hair, until his grandson Brett got taller then every time he walked by he gave grandpa a nuggie.

I think dad's greatest claim to fame was his homemade sausage. I don't know how many pounds left the doors of his meat market but we have so many memories of carrying rung after rung into the smokehouse. And every family event we went to, homemade sausage was always with us. One of dad's nieces Harmony sent a fitting text message to me. When she told her son Tanner that Uncle Norm had passed away he was very sad, then his eyes got really big, and he said, oh my gosh, (edited for church), did he write out the secret sausage recipe !  I know that many from far and wide have been after the secret ingredient to that recipe, today, I will tell it to all, the secret ingredient was... love.

Dad was an inspiration in the way he lived his final years. Yes, he was frustrated with his body. It wasn't working how