A eulogy for Dad
A complete example with gentle humour, then a short version from a daughter, why it works, and what to do if your relationship with your dad was not easy.
Written as if by his son, Tom. About 3 minutes read aloud · 408 words. Everyone in it is fictional, written for this page.
Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Tom, Keith's son. Dad would be pleased to see so many of you here, and slightly worried about who was paying for the sandwiches.
Dad grew up in Leeds, the son of a bus driver, and he never lost the belief that any journey could be done quicker if you knew the back roads. He did not know the back roads. I have spent a great deal of my life in lay-bys with a road atlas upside down on his knee.
He trained as an electrician and worked for the council for thirty-one years. There was not a socket in our house he had not moved at least once, and there was a drawer in the kitchen full of cables that he insisted would come in useful one day. Last week we opened it. One of them did.
He met Mum at a wedding in 1979. She says he asked her to dance and then trod on her foot for three songs in a row. He said that was a tactic. Forty-four years later, I think we have to call it a successful one.
Dad was not one for big speeches, which he would find very funny, given the circumstances. He showed you he loved you by turning up. He drove to Newcastle at two in the morning when my car broke down. He stood on the side of a muddy pitch every Sunday for ten years watching me be a very average left back, and he told everyone I was the best in the league.
He had rules. Never pay full price for anything with a plug. Always check the oil. Never, under any circumstances, touch the thermostat. My sister and I still feel guilty turning the heating on.
When the grandchildren came along, he softened in a way that surprised all of us. The man who timed our showers let Maisie and Jack build a den out of every cushion in the house, and then helped them make it bigger.
The last few years were hard, and he faced them the way he faced everything, with a bad joke and a cup of tea. When the doctor asked how he was feeling, he said, better than the cricket. He meant it as a complaint about England.
Dad, thank you for the lifts, the touchline and the drawer of cables. We will check the oil. We will not touch the thermostat. Goodbye, Dad.
Write yours from your own memories
Answer a few gentle questions and we draft a eulogy from your answers only, to edit and then print in large type or as cue cards. Free.
Write a eulogy for your dadWhy this example works
1. The first laugh comes early
The sandwiches line lets the room breathe. People at a funeral want permission to smile, and a gentle joke in the first minute gives it.
2. Running jokes pay off at the end
The drawer of cables and the thermostat come back in the goodbye, which makes the close feel earned rather than tacked on.
3. Love shown through what he did
The drive to Newcastle and ten years on the touchline say devoted father far better than the words themselves would.
4. Honest about who he was
Timing the showers and never knowing the back roads keep him human. A eulogy that makes someone a saint sounds like it is about a stranger.
5. The humour stops before the goodbye
The last lines are plain. Funny eulogies work best when they land softly.
A short eulogy for Dad, from a daughter
If you only have a minute or two, or several people are speaking, a short eulogy can say just as much. About 0.5 minutes read aloud.
I'm Rachel, Keith's daughter. Dad was an electrician for thirty-one years, and there is not a socket in our house he did not move at least once.
He was not a man for speeches. He showed his love by turning up: at every school play, every parents' evening, and once at two in the morning on the side of the M1. He had rules about oil, plugs and the thermostat, and we will keep every one.
Dad, thank you for always coming when we called. Goodbye.
Questions to start your own
Do not copy an example. Borrow its shape, and fill it with your own answers to these. One true, specific memory is worth more than any polished line.
- What did he do for a living, and what was he like at it?
- What were his rules, sayings or habits that everyone knew?
- When did he turn up for you, without being asked?
- What was he like with grandchildren, nieces or nephews?
- What would you tell him now, if you could?
The eulogy builder asks questions like these one screen at a time, and our guide covers how to read a eulogy without breaking down.
Common questions
- How do I write a eulogy for a dad I had a difficult relationship with?
- Say only what is true, and leave out what is not yours to settle in public. Talk about the parts of his life other people knew, his work, his friends, something he was good at, and speak about your own relationship briefly and honestly, for example "We did not always find each other easy, but...". You do not have to perform a grief you do not feel, and you can ask a celebrant or another relative to give the eulogy instead.
- Can a eulogy for my dad be funny?
- Yes, if the humour is his. Stories the room will recognise, his sayings and his habits, get warm laughter. Avoid jokes at his expense, and let the last minute be plain and simple.
