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On Friday, October 8th, our good friend Anton (Tony) Eberhard passed
away. I had worked late that evening and arrived to an empty house
at about 7:40 PM. I was already late to the 7:00 PM band practice at
John Carl's home, but noticed a message on the answering machine. It
was from Russ Noel informing us that there had been an unexpected death
in the Ward. He left his cell phone number and asked me to return the
call to tell them what funeral home we had used when Stanford passed
away in 2007, and how we felt about their services. This was certainly more important than getting to band practice. I couldn't remember right off the name of the funeral home, so I checked in the yellow pages. It was confusing because it turns out there are two funeral homes on Locke Street. I tried calling Joyce's cell phone, but she didn't pick up. I then tried calling Heather's cell phone because I knew they were both at "Friday Night Knitting" at the yarn shop "Ewe'll Love It". I was able to get ahold of Heather and told her what was going on. She asked Joyce the name of the funeral home, which was Farwell Funeral Home. Armed with that information I called Russ to tell him. It was at that time that I learned that Tony had passed away. Russ was at St. Joseph's Hospital on Kinsley Street. Russ told me that Tony hadn't been feeling well earlier in the day so he decided to take a nap. He never woke up. From what I've heard from others, Pam found him and started CPR. She yelled at Phillip Eberhard to call 911 and get an ambulance. He was taken to St. Joseph's, but they were unable to revive him. All signs pointed to a heart attack. For years, since his youth, Tony has had a heart condition. Once or twice a year his pulse rate would soar over 200 beats per minute and stay there for long periods, sometimes hours. Knowing this, Tony was a dedicated fitness expert. He worked out almost daily at the Nashua Athletic Club. At 68 he was stronger than men in their 30s and was able to out run, out ride, and out lift them. Below are several pictures. The funeral was held Saturday, Oct 16th. The file names are self explanatory. I do want to explain a little more about the picture 08. When Joyce was in labor with our son Stanford on Aug 5th, 1988, I called Tony and asked him to come to Nashua Memorial Hospital to help give her a priesthood blessing. When he arrived at the hospital the staff asked him what his relationship was to Joyce. He said, "I'm a brother" so they let him in. Tony gave Joyce a blessing and in the blessing he stated that the hosts of heaven would be there in the room to help bring this child into the world. Stanford was born that evening. Picture 08 below was taken in 2007 on January 23rd, the day Stanford passed away after a 7 month battle with a very quick form of cancer. Tony was there that day as well. The picture is somewhat under exposed, but you can see him standing next to the clock. On that day several people who were there have told us that they felt the hosts of heaven again in the room as Stanford slipped from this life. So, Tony was there at both ends of Stanford's life. When I heard that Tony had passed away, after the stunned feeling passed a little, I had the sure feeling that Stanford had been there to welcome Tony, and that it was a very joyous greeting. I can't think of anyone more prepared to pass to the other side than Tony Eberhard. He was always a pillar of strength. His testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ was unshakeable. He was always ready to share the gospel with everyone. His life was filled with service to others. I admired Tony greatly. He was our home teacher for 3 or 4 years. He helped me with several projects. In 2002 I opened up access to the attic in our home. Tony came over to help me get the pull down stair case in place. He let me borrow his nail gun to make the job go easier. In 2004 Tony pressed his services on me again to put a new roof on our house. I am always reluctant to take on big projects like this, but Tony had no fear. He gently prodded me and I agreed to take on the project. He was there for several long days during that project. I couldn't have done it without him. Pictures 09 and 10 show him in action. I will miss Tony a lot. Paul Yarmo gave the Eulogy at the funeral. He posted it online so I copied it locally to this page so that it will always be available. |