WMCTV5 in Memphis posted several videos of SSG Stephen New's memorial service today.
What an amazing tribute given by Stephen's best friend [D]. I transcribed it below. I wish all high school and college graduations featured speeches such as the one he delivered. Powerful words delivered about living life hard and not leaving anything on the table. I haven't served, and the tribute still made me laugh and cry. Powerful words for anyone, really....
If you have the time, the video of the entire memorial is 1 hour:
LINK. The Memphis news site has 4 videos: 2 are short 1-2 minute excerpts, 1 is the pastor's portion, and the 1 hour version is all tributes/music.
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Good afternoon. My name is [D].
Stephen was a lot of things to many different people. To me, he was my brother, and my best friend.
I was fortunate enough to spend the last 13 years with him. In sharing a house together, working as business partners, playing on the same sports teams, getting into fights together, joining the military and training, you get to know a person unlike what most people get to experience in life. I saw Stephen for who he truly was, flaws and all, and I can honestly say he was the greatest person I've ever known.
Times like this call for the retelling of a who a person was. But before I do that, let me first tell you what he was not.
He wasn't afraid of anyone. He'd never back down from a fight. He wasn't selfish or prideful. He didn't care what others thought about him, only those that he loved. He didn't care much about money, only seeing it as a means to an end, or a way to help others.
He didn't care much for material things either. Anything he owned was as good as yours if you needed it. As [M] mentioned, he definitely was not a fan of poison ivy. Anyone who's ever spent 5 minutes with him knows he was deathly allergic to it.
What he was is a much more interesting story.
He was extremely intelligent. I can remember times when I would find out that I knew something he didn't, and I would just gloat in the moment to his face, briefly thinking to myself, "So this is what it feels like to be the smartest guy in the room for once." So you can imagine how many of our conversations went, something similar to Lenny and George from Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men.'
He read more books than I could imagine. Books on things that hardly anyone cares anything about. Books like 'Trigonometry Demystified,' 'Exploring Electricity' and a book all about wolverines.
He was practically a world-renowned expert on anything 'Lord of the Rings'-related. Authors like Tolkien, CS Lewis and Cormac McCarthy were just some of his favorites.
Stephen was rough around the edges, to say the least. He was a mess. He didn't sweat the small stuff. He would laugh about trivial things such as cleaning out his car, his room, cutting the grass, or not washing his whites and his colors together.
But all of these are some of the funniest things about him. He was a jack-of-all-trades. Some days he would start by building a fence in the morning, we'd go move a piano in the afternoon for a customer, and then he'd finish by working on his half pipe that he built in our garage. He loved to skateboard, and he would spend hours hurting himself trying some new trick he wanted to land.
He would say things that would make me so proud to know such a crazy person. Things like, "I cannot wait to have a moat full of alligators." Or more recently, "When I get home I'm going to buy some land for my underground bunker."
He's the only person I've ever known to have 5 dollars in his costanza wallet, at any given time, made up entirely of loose change. Along with receipts from 2005.
He was good with words, which is probably why he grasped poetry so well. One of his favorite 'po-eems', as he called them, reads "I should be telling this with a sigh, somewhere ages and ages hence, two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that's made all the difference."
He also loved Emerson's quote: "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path, and leave a trail." And that's how he lived his life. Much of the time doing things the hard way.
Stephen was simply out of control, in all of the best ways. He never took himself too seriously, and always reminded me when I was. I loved that about him.
He wasn't one of these people who loved every aspect of life, either. Mainly because he knew we were made with a better place in mind.
One of the inscriptions I found this past week that seemed to mean a lot to him was in Latin, and it said, "Remember that you will die, because worldly things are fleeting." Stephen definitely carried himself that way.
A family member of mine spoke of death as a candle flickering out as dawn is breaking. While I am not much for metaphors, Stephen I'm sure would appreciate such a poignant picture of our time here on earth. Life is temporary; take advantage.
Stephen died a hero, while working on two of his fellow soldiers who'd been wounded from small arms fire. He went out serving others, and doing what he loved. Very few of us are ever given such honorable circumstances.
You're going to be terribly missed. Stephen you were, are, and always will be a great part of my life. No one will ever be able to fill your shoes, and I will always be grateful for the influence you had on me.
You are loved, brother. So in stealing your typical parting phrase, "Fare thee well, Friend."