To Grant

First, I would like to thank everyone for coming today, my family and I truly appreciate each and every one of your support. Grant Gallagher, my brother, was the most amazing person any of us will ever meet. He was an incredible inspiration to hundreds, and touched more people’s lives in 16 years than many can hope to touch in a lifetime.

As I watched everyone walk through the funeral home last night, I realized how many people truly cared for my brother. He was an inspiration to so many. For the past few days, I’ve read countless pages of messages, to him and myself, describing how much he impacted people’s lives.

Everyday, he was a shoulder to lean on, an ear to whine to, and a smiling face for so many. It was impossible to start a fight with Grant. No matter how hard you tried, he’d always break your anger with a laugh. If he couldn’t get you to laugh, he would blow you away with raw musical talent.

The first love of Grant’s life was music. He could play anything he wanted to. I remember leaving for a friend’s house, or to play Frisbee or football, and telling him he should learn this song or that song. By the time I came home, he’d be playing it from memory.

As I sat thinking about what I was going to say today, I stumbled upon a few quotes that I thought might help me express my feelings, because I feel sometimes, if you can’t seem to find the words, someone has already said it better.

Amelia Burr once said, “Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.” I believe this quote says a little bit about Grant’s take on life. He never, ever missed an opportunity to make people laugh, or to make people happy. And because of this, I believe we should not have sorrow, but celebrate, because he truly loved life.

I’ll end with a quote by Charlie Daniels, which he wrote on his way to the funeral of one of his friends, and one of Grant’s heroes, Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

"A brief candle; both ends burning,
An endless mile; a bus wheel turning,
A friend to share the lonesome times,
A handshake and a sip of wine,
So say it loud and let it ring,
We are all a part of everything,
The future, present and the past,
Fly on proud bird, You're free at last.”

Thank you.