Friday, February 25, 2011

Called to Serve


My dad was born on May 31st 1956 his given name was William Sheridan Han. He went by Bill or Billy He was so awesome he played football in high school and was an all American football player.He loved all sports if he could play he would. He was a bigger man about 250 ish and 5'6'. He was balding with red brown hair and green eyes. I have his eyes I remember laying on him and looking at his eyes and telling him they were mine eye color. I was a daddy's girl. He could be mean and stern. He was the oldest of 7 kids 2 brothers and 4 sisters. His mom had some drinking problems and was married 3 times. My dad served his mission in Australia a place I have always wanted to visit. He loved being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. He did a lot of missionary work even after his mission. He had many jobs and we moved a lot as a child.

I remember a regular day on April 16 th 1993. It was a day that I had a day off school. My dad went to work as always. I remember hearing sirens that morning we were camping in our back yard. My mom was gone at a parent teacher conference. All the sudden my cousin Cam and his friend showed up at our house to take us to my Aunt Angies house. As we were driving there I knew something was wrong. I was holding my little brother(he was 18 months at the time) and knowing something was wrong. My siblings and I kept asking questions but no one would Say anything. So finally my mom got there. She brought all of us kids into my aunts room. She had two of my aunts there. They told us that my dad was in a head on collision. At first I just thought he was hurt. But my brother Kimble was sitting next to me starts hitting the bed and saying no not dad not dad. I asked when we could go see him. My mom said we couldn't because he was gone. I was in shock I remember just walking around my aunts house in disbelief.

The next few days were a blur, then came the funeral. There was a viewing and my mom wasn't sure if I should go there and see him. I am so thankful I did because I saw his body and knew he was gone. The funeral was nice and packed. My dad touched a lot of people. People sang songs that I can't remember. I remember walking out for awhile. All the cousins and my siblings sang my dads favorite song called Called to Serve.

We then went to the grave yard and it was so wet and muddy. I just kept thinking it was raining because my dad was weeping in heaven for us. He was a great man and I miss him. I know I will see him again and I am thankful for the sealings.

3 comments:

Sandy said...

Thank you for sharing this Brittany. I do not know you, but your story here brought tears to my eyes. I can tell you loved your dad very much.
Sandy Winchester

momof8 said...

Very nice Britt. But, you need to correct the year he died. It was actually 1993. Hard to keep all the dates straight. Love you, mama

Lisa said...

this post was a great tribute to your dad. I know he is very proud of you.