Robert Harold Mulford

Robert Harold Mulford, my grandfather, passed away on Tuesday, July 9, 2002 at 7:41am.Below is his obituary.He will be forever missed.

Obituary for Robert Harold Mulford printed in the Citrus County Chronicle on July 10, 2002 and the St. Petersburg Times on July 11, 2002.

Robert Mulford, 80 Inverness

Robert Harold Mulford, 80, Inverness, died Tuesday, July 9, 2002, at Citrus Memorial Hospital of Inverness.

A native of Cartersville, Iowa, he was born Oct. 11, 1921, to Floyd and LaVerne (Nichols) Mulford. He moved to Florida in 1982 from Park Forest, Ill.

He was a retired printer for the Star Publications Newspapers in Chicago Heights, with 20 years of service.

He was a member of the First Baptist Church of Inverness, the National Campers and Hikers Association, and a World War II Army Air Corps veteran.

Surviving are his wife of 60 years, Nancy Amendt Mulford; two sons, Floyd Mulford and his wife, Marsha, of Spring Hill and Dennis Mulford and his wife, Nancy, of Anamosa, Iowa; one brother, Carroll F. Mulford of Marion, Iowa; five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Chas. E. Davis Funeral Home with Crematory, Inverness.

Below is a copy of the Eulogy I delivered at his memorial service on July 12, 2002 at 3pm.

Eulogy for Robert Harold Mulford, 1921-2002

Recently, when my grandma and grandpa celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, as a gift, Karen and I wrote a poem to commemorate the special occasion.In the poem, I jokingly referred to an instance when my grandfather was instructing me in his woodshed.He was trying to show me how to make a paper-towel holder out of plywood.Seeing as we are both incredibly bullheaded, we got into some screaming match on how to approach the project.It ended with him throwing a hammer that whizzed by my head as I stormed out of “his” shed.

Grandpa and I got past that day in the woodshed 17 years ago and we began sharing a bond that somehow transcended the relationship of grandfather and grandson.He became a true friend in addition to all of the other roles he filled in my life.

A couple of years ago, Grandpa showed me a picture of his great-grandfather, who died in the Civil War.He told me at the time, he never knew his great-grandfather’s first name.So, naturally, we got to work on it.Since then, I carved a little niche out for myself as the family historian.Like most people involved in genealogy, I always had some small hope that I might stumble across an important political figure or someone of great historical significance.You know, someone really cool to put the Mulford clan on the map.

Well, after countless hours of research, all I ever really found, with a “few notable exceptions,” was a trail of countless struggling middle-class folks about 15 generations deep.I cornered Grandpa at every opportunity to probe him for his insight on the family.Though my interest was always in those “few notable exceptions”, Grandpa was always able to gently steer the conversation towards a discussion of those ancestors who would never make the history books.

Though he never came out and said it directly, he got his point across and that was this:The true royalty in our lineage doesn’t come from our material possessions or old historical connections, but rather from our willingness to exact our humanity on the situations around us.He demonstrated in his daily actions that he loved our country, our flag, our family and our God.In WWII, he defended all these.Following the War, he raised two boys to manhood with my grandmother.Though I would have loved to been a fly on the wall to witness it, many words have been used to describe my grandfather’s parenting style over the years: firm, kind, strict, loving, strong, forgiving.He was able to dole out discipline and praise, fear and faith in just the right doses to move mountains. For those who know the famous Mulford stubborn streak, you know how valuable a commodity this was.

It was Grandpa’s influence that helped mold four generations of this family. Yet today, his parenting style has been largely abandoned by society at large - a topic that I discussed with Grandpa a lot in recent years.One could argue today that my grandpa’s character and old fashion values have become unique in this modern world.It is for this reason that I can confidently say that Grandpa took the narrow path.In Matthew 7:13, Jesus said:

Enter through the narrow gate.For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only few find it.

Grandpa not only found the narrow gate, but he dropped breadcrumbs for the rest of us which took the form of honesty, integrity, and the wisdom found in a mealtime prayer.This is the royalty of our heritage.And today, surrounded in a sea of black, I wear purple, the color of royalty, to celebrate the life of this king within our family, my grandfather.

Over the past couple of days, people with the best of intentions have said to me, “I’m really sorry that you lost your grandfather.”I heard it once said that to lose a person implies you do not know where they are.I am comforted in the knowledge that I know exactly where Robert Harold Mulford is.

So Grandpa, as you get acquainted with your new home, please remember, if you find yourself in the woodshed up there please listen to the Lord.Because although you may be a king in our family, I understand he’s a pretty good carpenter.

Kevin R. Mulford