Helene St. James

Detroit Free Press

The eulogy celebrated Gordie Howe for his legendary career, his equally legendary humility and his radiant joy.

Howe's funeral service lasted two hours and was attended by dozens of hockey dignitaries, reflecting how many lives the Detroit Red Wings legend touched. One of the most touching moments came near the end of son Murray Howe's nearly half-hour tribute to the man known as Mr. Hockey.

"I asked my dad a few years ago what he would like me to say at his funeral," Murray said today at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit.

"He said, 'Say this: "Finally, the end of the third period."' Then he added, 'I hope there is a good hockey team in heaven.'

"Dad, all I can say is, once you join the team, they won't just be good, they will be great."

Gordie Howe died Friday, at age 88. On Tuesday, he lay in repose for a dozen hours at Joe Louis Arena, as an estimated 15,000 fans paid their respects. Gordie Howe played for the Detroit Red Wings in 1946-71, leading them to Stanley Cup championships in 1950, 1952, 1954 and 1955. He is the longest-tenured player in Wings history.

"How do I do justice to the life of a living legend, my own hero?" Murray began in front of a crowd that included Steve Yzerman, Wayne Gretzky, Scotty Bowman, Chris Chelios, Guy Lafleur, Mike Babcock and Gary Bettman, among many others.

"I still pinch myself at the realization that he was my father. What more can be said about a man who has been celebrated with his own international bridge spanning from his adopted hometown of Detroit across to his homeland and the town of Windsor, where his mother first settled after leaving Germany in 1912?"

Murray used anecdote after anecdote to demonstrate how Gordie Howe lived an outsized life.

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"There are endless superlatives that come to mind when describing my dad," Murray said. "Humble. A man came over for an autograph, and a woman saw him signing something, and she rushed over and said, ‘Are you somebody famous?’ And he said, 'No, I just used to babysit that guy.'

"He was tough. Even when it was negative-50 in Saskatoon, he would say there’s no such thing as cold weather, only cold clothing. I was helping him do a hardware project up at our cabin, and he smashed his thumb with a two-pound hammer, and blood was just squirting everywhere. He shakes his thumb a little bit and then he just keeps on going. It was broken.

"Dad was wise. He was a man of few words, but everything he said was worth hearing. Such as, 'A good bodycheck will be remembered.' Wayne Gretzky at the age of 10 was at an awards banquet with my dad, and the emcee mistakenly asked Wayne to say a few words to accept his award, forgetting that Wayne was only 10 years old. Mr. Hockey grabbed the microphone and said, 'Anyone who scores 378 goals in a season doesn't need to say another word.'

"Mr. Hockey was graceful. He always looked so effortless, whether he was skating, swinging a golf club, chopping wood or wielding his favorite tool, a sledge hammer. Even in his last years, as his balance waned, the few times that he fell, he rolled gracefully and popped back up with a grin.

"He was powerful. Who else do you know could crack open lobster claws with their fingers? Or bring any man to his knees with a handshake?

"He was prompt. He was never late for anything. To him, it was courtesy. He made it a point to show up early and chat with whomever he happened to meet. It was not surprising to find him helping the servers to set up tables at events where he was the featured speaker."

There were funny stories of what it was like to grow up with a man legendary for his backbone. Gordie and Colleen Howe, who died in 2009, had four children: sons Murray, Marty and Mark and daughter Cathy.

"I never heard him complain about anything, ever," Murray said of his father. "The downside to that was, as kids, we were never allowed to complain about anything. So if we lamented about raking for four hours straight outside, he'd just bring out his miniature, invisible violin and go, 'So sorry for you.' Stopped us whining in our tracks.

"He was eternally positive. He always had a smile on his face and a song on his lips. He once told me, 'Don't ever gripe about the cards that you've been dealt. Don't worry about anyone else’s cards. Just play the cards the best you can and be thankful that you get to play.'"

The eulogy hit just the right balance of reverence with a dash of irreverence, such as when Murray described Gordie's selflessness.

"He never accepted credit for any of his accomplishments. He credited God, his family, his friends, coaches, his teammates. And he never had a bad word to say about anyone, except for referees.

"He was patient. No matter how bad the circumstances, never once did I hear him raise his voice. He didn't need to. If a fan told him a story, he would not interrupt, no matter how long they spoke. And he would not correct them, even if they insisted they watched him play in the Summer Olympics in 1906.

"He accepted everyone for who they were, unless they were a boy with long hair. Then they got a lecture."

There was a loving moment remembered from childhood, back when Mark would race Marty home from school. One time, Mark arrived to find Marty already seated in the kitchen. It turned out he'd been sent home early because a classmate had dissed Gordie, and Marty "turned around and cleaned his clock," Murray said. Colleen read the riot act to Marty, then to Gordie when he got home. When she left the room, Gordie walked up to Marty, smiled and whispered, "Good job."

Murray shared several stories from the past few years of Howe's life. He lived part of the time with his daughter in Lubbock, Texas, and part of it with Murray in Sylvania, Ohio. The two were out for a walk near a university one day, when Gordie commented that "this is the closest I’ve ever been to college," Murray said. Then there was the time Gordie was talking to a woman who worked for the FBI, and he told her he knew where Jimmy Hoffa was buried. Leaning in to make sure no one could overhear, Murray said, "He told her, 'In the ground.'"

Gordie was renowned for his helpfulness -- sometimes to humorous effect.

"He would sweep the neighbor’s driveway, and my neighbor came home and took a picture of him and said, 'How important am I? Gordie Howe is sweeping my driveway,'" Murray said.

"Sometimes his helpfulness backfired. He opened a door for a woman, and she said, 'I didn’t ask you to do that.' And he said, 'Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were a lady.'

"He shoveled his neighbor’s driveway with about a foot of snow, and the neighbor came out and said, 'I didn't ask you to do that.' So he shoveled it right back onto the driveway."

Murray recalled how when Gordie found out that the night watchman at Olympia Arena had been mugged, Gordie gave the man his watch. When the story became public, Gordie got 10 watches in the mail.

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Murray started by saying he was certain his mom was watching today. The service was closed to media but available to view via a live stream.

As he neared the end of the eulogy, the tone became touching.

"A stroke hit my dad so hard at 86 that I wrote his eulogy at that time," Murray said. "But the comeback came with an assist from some stem cells, and he decided to hang on for an unforgettable year-and-a-half victory lap."

Earlier this month, family members noticed that Gordie was declining.

"It was clear that he was no longer having fun," Murray said. "Dad always said, 'If it's not fun, it's time to do something else.' So we filled his final days, surrounding him with friends and family, and he knew he was loved. Mr. Hockey left the world with no regrets. And although he did not lead the league in church attendance, his life has been the epitome of a faithful servant."

Murray said farewell with two final blessings:

• "Shalom. I wish for you the Good Lord's eternal peace, comfort and joy, just as you gave us while you were in our midst.

• "Namaste. I humbly bow to you. Dad, for your magnificent example for all of us, we will do our best to follow your lead until we meet again. Thank you."

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Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.