To the Editor:

Our most sincere thanks to the Altamont Veterans of Foreign Wars Post for hosting the memorial and arranging the military honor guard held in honor of our beloved husband, father, uncle, grandfather Edward Paul Cowley. 

Our gratitude to Darlene Stanton, Ginny Woods, and the ladies’ auxiliary for all their help and care in putting the memorial together and a most delicious meal, Sherry and John Sands for the beautiful floral arrangements, Mary Jo Doherty, Wanda and Jim Gardner, Gay Gill, Melissa Hale-Spencer, Fred LeBrun, Cindy and Jack Pollard, and the many friends who joined us to share their love, memories, laughter, and tears.

We thank you all and would like to share with you this bittersweet poem written by Melissa Hale-Spencer. 

The Cowley Family

Elegy for Ed Cowley

May 29, 1925 to October 11, 2014

I woke at six o’clock today

To find that all the world was gray:

The leaves, the trees, the sky and I

Were held in bleak October’s sway.

But when you paint a sullen sky,

There’s more than gray to greet the eye.

Your subtle hues are rich and vast

As radiant light makes hope feel nigh.

Your wife plucks treasures from your past:

Your life has ended — what will last?

Your grace, your words, your wit, your art —

These are the things we will hold fast.

Shamrock, horseshoe, Bronze Star, glass mart:

Of the whole, each were a part.

But from the start, it was your heart,

What matters most: It is your heart.

Melissa Hale-Spencer

Oct. 12, 2014