Church Reading

A few people wanted to know what I wrote and said at the Church, so here it is...


Firstly I d like to say thank you to all of you, for your kind words, text messages, phone calls, emails and even post, we have enough kindling in the form of discarded envelopes to keep the log burner ticking over for days! Every word spoken or written comes as a huge comfort for me and undoubtedly mum and matt. So thank you.

These are just a few memories that I have of dad that I think sum up the kind of person he was, hopefully it will spark off some of your own memories of him.

Stephen Hugh Wetherbee,
He always mowed the lawns at stupid o’clock in the morning, giving us no time for a lie in, as there was always something to be done , he was always fixing up or doing something to the house, though it was really just any excuse to get the ladder out. He shouted at that TV when the F1 and Rugby was on, he snored every night without fail, loudly enough to allegedly loosen rivets in Bruces yacht, He used to sit with me when I was ill and wouldn't leave till I was asleep, or at least until I had my eyes closed and felt better!

He Drove like a madman but was always in control, over taking cars at any opportunity,
he worked hard for his car and indeed his cars, and he enjoyed every minute he spent in them, whether stopping off at a river he used to fish at when he was younger, trying to find his dads favourite fishing spot in Tavistock, Going in search of floods after heavy rain fall, and of course what he spent a great deal of time doing in his car was visiting all of you guys at various farms to sample grain, do business or simply to stop by and say hello, as long as you didn’t have dogs that would jump up and scratch his beloved car. Exploring in his car was always fun, though for some reason he never liked going home the same way.

Salcombe holidays were very special, year after year, we went, ate silly amounts of boiled sweets from Cranchies, walked until our feat hurt, went crabbing, often not stopping until either the sea was empty or the tide had gone out! (I caught a seagull) Mum and Dad even returned from Salcombe one time listening to Pendulum, though I think that may have been mums influence of music, a far cry from abba

Even Fishing on the river arrow, I personally fell out of a tree in an attempt to retrieve a fly which i had hopelessly cast up there, that was all i caught that day. Of course there were no such issues for dad, how he cast so straight is anyone’s guess?
The very first time he let me leave the end of the road on my bike...freedom at last! Sneaky trips to the burger van when we knew full well mum would be rustling up a roast dinner for when we got home, we had some fun getting through those roast dinners

Teaching us to wash our own cars, he was so meticulous, I never washed my car to a good enough standard, Matt got close, but it bugged him so much he ended up doing it for us.
Breaking the news to dad that I accidentally parked my car in a hedge was an interesting experience, the fact that I just happened to have laid down the best set of skid marks you could imagine, was nothing to do with the fact that I was trying to adjust the heating in my car. I ended up dragging my car off the hedge with a lorry driver before parking my car as out of sight as possible and stuffing the rubber splitter that had ripped off in the back where dad wouldn’t notice.
Dad didn’t seem too angry, just more concerned as to whether I had learnt my lesson or not. Needless to say my driving style has changed, all thanks to Frontier for employing me. Frontier brings fond memories, mainly through sheer frequency is the various phone calls I made when I had got hopelessly lost trying to find a farm in the middle of South Wales, Cotswolds, Shropshire the list goes on! He knew all the farms, all the names, all the lanes, for he had been to them all before, such knowledge, he was the human sat nav for farms. And of course the many times he tried to explain the ins and outs of grain trading, but I was just too young to grasp it!
Waking up early to wave good bye to him every morning when he went to work, he'd flash the lights of his car and usually wave out of the window.

His bizarre love for Abba, his bizarre love of Bag Pipes, he certainly kept those close to his chest and I have a feeling we haven’t heard the last of the Bag Pipes.
And not forgetting his cheeky smile and wink which never failed to reassure, and of course his infamous raised eyebrow.

As clichéd as it sounds, dad was a fantastic man and will leave a massive whole in many peoples’ lives, but we all have something to take away from knowing him, he was the sort of man that without even trying, just gave you motivation, goals and something to aim for in life, he had an uncanny ability to make everything seem ok, a positive spin for everything, he always made you feel better. Dad will certainly remain as the driving force in my life and I hope many of yours, I think it’s safe to say he was a true inspiration in every respect.