My father was buried today. I’ve shut off all business and visitors for thirty minutes – to have that much time, by myself, to think of him. He had a full life. He left six boys and, most fortunately for him, Mother survives him. He was not quite 79 years old, but for the past year he has been extremely old, physically. Hardened arteries, kidney trouble, etc. He was a just man, well liked, well educated, a thinker. He was undemonstrative, quiet, modest, and of exemplary habits – he never used alcohol or tobacco. He was an uncomplaining person in the face of adversity, and such plaudits as were accorded him did not inflate his ego.
His finest monument is his reputation in Abilene and Dickinson Co., Kansas. His word has been his bond and accepted as such; his sterling honesty, his insistence upon the immediate payment of all debts, his pride in his independence earned for him a reputation that has profited all of us boys. Because of it, all central Kansas helped me to secure an appointment to West Point in 1911, and thirty years later it did the same for my son, John. I’m proud he was my father! My only regret is that it was always so difficult to let him kmow the great depth of my affection for him.
DAVID J. EISENHOWER 1863 – 1942.