Day 190 (555)

Honor and Respect

Today our community said a final farewell to a wonderful man, Paul Perez.  Big Paul to my family.  He had the biggest heart you could imagine.  If you lived here and your children were involved in sports, your family knew Paul.  

He coached football, basketball and baseball.  He refereed or umpired in all of these sports as well.  He also held some official position in each of these community sport organizations.

My oldest son had the honor to ref basketball with him and be his son's friend.  My youngest son and both daughters had the honor to have him referee their basketball games - to the best of his ability. (:  And my husband had the honor of being his friend and giving him grief as a basketball coach while Big Paul reffed. Isaac would give Paul grief about a bad call and Paul would always say "Sir, if you don't sit down and be quiet I will have to toss you from the game."  They would both laugh and the game would go on.    

The respect this community had for Big Paul was so unbelievable.  The young men and women who knew him through whatever sport they played as well as parents, city officials, coaches, etc. that showed up at the wake and the funeral was amazing.  Flowers came from the Little League Headquarters.

Coon Rapids has three Little League organizations, Paul was very involved with one of the organizations.  One of the "rival" organization's All Star team came to the funeral to pay their respects to Paul and his family.  Such a moving moment.  They came in their baseball uniforms which now have a patch with Paul's umpire number on their sleeves.  This entire gesture was the idea of one of the players, a 12 year old young man.  Amazing.

Rest in peace Big Paul.  You leave a very large hole in this world.