The obituary notice of David Norman GREENOUGH

Ahhh bless So sorry to hear really nice genuine man thinking of you all
From Carys x

So sorry to hear. A really nice genuine person. Thoughts are with you all.

 
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Thank you for my brothers – a ready made set of friends for life, there for me when I was born.
 
Thank you for the hours and hours and hours of catching practise, batting practise, football matches, birthday parties.
 
Playing French cricket until it went dark. Carrying on after it went dark. Catching tennis balls in the black Holyhead night.
 
For, just about, seeing the funny side when I spray painted the car.
 
Thank you for Fats Domino, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis.
 
Thank you for dancing on tables, and falling off them sometimes.
 
Thank you for America, and aeroplanes and adventure.
 
Thank you for swimming in the sea, lakes and rivers.
 
Thank you for being quietly proud of all of us.
 
For the mischief in your smile and the twinkle in your eye.
 
For the road trips, the quizzes, the capital cities and the thirst for knowledge.
 
Thank you for showing me how to be a good dad.
 
Thank you for understanding whenever you could, and for not judging whenever you couldn’t.
 
Thank you for making the world a better place.
 
More fun, more tolerant... just more.
 
Thank you for the most important business tip I ever had in my life. “Sometimes when there’s so much to do, all you can do is go home and come back again tomorrow!”
 
Thank you for the very occasional hug, the endless games of golf, nips of whisky and firm handshakes.
 
Thank you for coaxing our dog Prince back to life when we came back from Canada.
 
For teaching me how to skim stones and sink German submarines.
 
Thank you for answering the phone and picking me up in the middle of the night, with no – well very few questions asked.
 
Thank you for showing me that there are two sides to every story.
 
Thank you for the family. It is the most important thing in all of our lives.

Thank you for showing us how to live a good life.

For Dad
 
“Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there.” (The Big Lebowski)
 
It feels impossible not to start with a quote from a film or a song when I think about dad.

Using lyrics and one-liners, usually slightly out of context, is something that is so much part of my DNA now that I couldn’t stop doing it even if I wanted to.
 
Every joke I’ve told that’s got me out of trouble, and all the irresistible comebacks that put me into trouble all go back to him.
 
You know what they say… two in the hand … gathers no moss.
 
I’ve felt a need to write about dad since he died. But, his life was so big – the safety net of family and love stretched so deep and so far, it felt impossible to start.
 
That and because my knowledge of dad really was only a tiny fraction of his story. Before he was my dad, or a grandad or a great-grandad, he was a son, and a brother and friend – a mad keen cyclist and cricketer and a footballer. And a smoker and a skiver from school and snooker player and a rogue and a mischief and an Elvis-wanabe. And I always feel bad that I don’t know enough about those things.
 
And then he was a husband and a businessman and a driver of fast cars.

Someone so incredibly devoted to my mum that it is difficult to describe, especially today.
 
I look forward to keep filling in all those gaps of who my dad was before he was my dad. Because I know one thing for certain, at the end of each story I’m going to end up laughing.
 
Dad has brought so much laughter into all of our lives.
 
I loved his sense of the ridiculous, embracing the absurdities of life, something we all need to hang on to right now more than ever.

For now, I just wanted to say thank you.

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Memories of growing up with my big brother.

Walking to school when I was five,
“Don’t be sad but the King’s just died”
Christmas morning “What you got?”
“An Eagle Annual and an Airfix kit!”
Bogeys made from pram wheels,
Fishing in the pond.
Cricket in the garden, pebbles on the beach.
Monopoly and Ludo, Rummy and Cheat.
Billy Cotton and his Band Show
And Journey into Space.
Going to see the Dambusters, listening to the Goons.
Elvis and the Everleys, radio Luxembourg.
Bert and Eck and cycle rides,
“Hey, where you going to?”
“To Malham and Kettlewell oo-oo-oo!”
(Nobody will understand the last line apart from Dave – but that’s alright!)

a wonderful man and the best grandad there could be we’ll miss you forever but you live on in everyone and will never be forgotten,

Love you

My much adored younger brother, warm, lovable and always the comedian. Sending you all our love Barbara, Mike and family xxx

David was a genuinely lovely, kind and caring family man and a true gentleman. A wonderful Grandad to my children and great-grandad to theirs. It has truly been a privilege to have known you and for a time have been part of your family, of which I have many fond memories to treasure, you will be greatly missed x