Mike4Dothan.com

MikeHuckabee.com

memorial | obituary | photos
Eulogies: by Pete Davison | by Bobby Clampett
Articles: Golf Week.com | Golf Week Magazine

We are all here to celebrate the life of our friend, Dick Meckley.

Sympathy: We offer our deepest sympathies to David, Ginny and the rest of the family, and want you to know we all share in your grief.

New Place: However, we are all comforted that Dick is now in a place where he only makes pars and birdies and all of his shots are good ones.

What He Loved: Dick loved golf, the TPC at Sawgrass, the TPC Network and formed a special bond with many of the TPC at Sawgrass staff members over the years. He thought particularly highly of Fred Klauk and his fine sons.  We will all miss him dearly.

My Friend: I have had the privilege of knowing Dick for the past 20 years and have always considered him a great friend.  He was always a big supporter of me and my family and used to give me advice when I faced particularly difficult situations.

Rapport:  Dick had a wonderful rapport with everyone he came in contact with.  He was equally at home with young or old, low level/high level - rich or poor - and they with him.  He was an honest, hard working man who cared about people.

Lessons From Life:    He, like all of us, made mistakes in his life, he freely admitted them, he overcame them, and tried to use the lessons he had learned to counsel others, in a positive and beneficial way.  He has touched and helped many people along the way.

61-81:    Dick was one of the original 30 founder members of the TPC at Sawgrass.  He later worked for many (10-12) years on the PGA TOUR providing TOUR Players with golf equipment for Cleveland golf.  After retiring from ?life on the TOUR?, he worked with the golf course maintenance staff at the TPC at Sawgrass mowing
greens.  All of this after the age of 61 -- that tells you something about the man.

Hard Headed:   David will tell you that his Dad was known to be ?hard headed?.  While I rarely saw that side of him, it did occasionally emerge when I used to give him golf lessons -- 20 years ago.  He worked hard on his game in those years and would be frustrated by poor shots - but I will tell you, because golf meant so much to him -- I think I wanted him to do well as much or more than he did -- and he never knew how much it upset me when he wasn?t happy with his game. Life Measures?    I think one of the many measures of a successful life is the friends you have made, the people you have positively influenced and the standards you have set.  There are very few people in golf that have developed the broad spectrum of friendships and influence that Dick has -- as witnessed by this service and the countless calls, visits, letters, faxes, e-mails over the past several weeks.

Final:    We will all miss him, but we will all be better because of him, we will continue to benefit from his advice and counsel and we will continue to strive to reach his ideals of honesty, integrity and hard work.  And we will all be comforted knowing that he is happy and is shooting under par every day.