You never said “I'm leaving”; You never said “goodbye”; You were gone before we knew it; And only God knew why. You were our foundation; When times were good and bad; Someone we could turn to; The man we called Dad. And through the years; Like a hero you stood; Your presence was important; Working to give all that you could. We thought of you with love today; But that is nothing new. We thought about you yesterday; And days before that too. Now all we have is memories; And your picture in a frame; God has you in his keeping; Our family will never be the same. And so dear Claude, Our memories will remain; And although it hurts so bad; We will smile when we hear your name.