The Day before I got married in 2000 I put together a speech for my Dad at the grooms dinner.  I spend about a week writing and re-writing a tribute to my father, Al.  I have always been so proud of Dad and wanted to do a public eulogy-like speech on his accomplishments.  When the night came, we were at the Chart House in Lakeville and there was no privacy.  It was loud, we were mixed in with the public and a band was playing.  I didn't give the speech.  Later that evening I approached him and told him what happened.  I gave him my notes.  He told me he had written a dedication to me and was unable to give it.  I got those notes.  Later on, after reading my dedication he told me his only prayer was for me to have a child that would write a speech about me, like that, some day.  I've attached the speech here.

Dedication to Dad at my grooms dinner. 6-19-2000

I want this speech to be a combine fathers day gift, dedication, thank you and recognition of everything that he’s done for everyone. When I was very young, I always wondered if I might have the chance to thank my father publicly for everything he’s done some day. Originally, I wanted to organize an appreciation/recognition gathering just for Dad, but this day was perfect for that.

I have always admired Dads many accomplishments and volunteer services.

• -Black Belt in Martial Arts.
• -Phd (Dr, Freeland like his brother, Kent)
• -One future goal is to be an ordained pastor, which he has completed many of the prerequisites for.
• -Over 30 years teaching Sunday school.
• -Has written many books.
• -Has owned his own company.
• -Canoed most of the BWCA.
• -Taught himself Norwegian.
• -Served on the Board of Directors of a public company.
• -Successfully raised a family.
• -Hospice Volunteer.
• -Rice County sexual assault counselor.
• -Suicide hot-line counselor.

Faith. I was at a rock concert a few years ago and someone approached me. I had never met this person before, but they asked if I was Andy Freeland's brother. He recognized me because people tend to think that Andy and I look alike. This person continued to tell me that he had my Dad for Sunday school class and that the spiritual education he had received on those Sunday mornings taught him more about life than anyone teacher in high school and college. He told me that Dad helped plant seeds that changed his life and made him the person that he is. I was quite exited and couldn’t wait to tell dad about this. To this day, I don’t know who this person was. When I had him as a Sunday school teacher, I was lucky enough to have him for 2 years in a row. The kids in my class really enjoyed him. He would always ask us what we wanted to learn about. I would challenge him with ridiculous topics and to relate them somehow to religion. He always did such a good job. Sunday school because a time to learn about the “cool” topics. He caught our attention with subjects like subliminal advertising, magic, ghosts and hauntings, devil worshiping, rock music, ESP (of course always making clear their relevance to God and Christianity). When I was a senior in high school, dad was voted down to the last 2 in the running for the parent-speaker at graduation. His friend Bruce Dennison beat him out. I was so darn proud that he was even considered.

Altruism. Definition in dictionary reads, “Unselfish concern for the welfare of others”. What are the odds that the 1 word that describes him best has his name in it. I don’t think his mother did this on purpose. I remember when we were young, he would take us out to eat and not order food to save money. At one time he was going to get a second job to pay for me and Andy’s piano and instrument lessons.

Letters from College. When I went away to college, Dad would send me a letter. At first they were hand written, and then he began to type them. He would always include some “corny” inspirational photo copy of an article or poem. He would always remind me of my heritage and Christ in my life. He always taped a small funny clip from Readers Digest to the outside of the envelope. He would always “recap” where I was in my life and encourage me. With that in mind, I finally had a chance to put together his letters. I knew that I would be able to retrace my college experience through these documents, as the topics would include what was going on in my life. In doing so, I thought I would make a copy and hand them out today but there we’re just too many. I think that I got one a week for 4 years. I must have 150 letters all unfolded and in order right now. Instead of copying them, I have them on a CD ROM, all scanned and ready to read. My goal is to go over each letter and write about the time in my life. I will use it to write a book someday.

Best Friend. Dad is truly one of my best friend and one person that I can go to for anything. Although he is a bit long winded when you get him going, he is the most interesting person to talk to. He is very wise and knows so much about so many topics. I can’t count how many times I’ve bragged to people about him. I actually have a “canned-script” that I use when talking about him to people that have never met him. I’m actually using part of this script right now. His spiritual guidance through Christianity and a set of great morals has shaped him into a great person, an awesome person that should be modeled after. Him complete dedication to helping others and caring for himself second makes him a very unique and very rare person. One can spend an entire lifetime without being fortunate enough to meet a person like him but look, I am so blessed to have this person be my Dad….and I know this. People tell me that I’m very lucky…believe me…I realize this. I’ve actually heard family members refer to him as a “Saint”. Now don’t let him fool you. Remember that he’s ALTRUISTIC and won’t admit or take credit for any of this. He will humbly take a compliment and play it off as nothing. He deserves praise, whether he knows them or not.

Pride. When I very young, I would show off my Dad and always brag about him. In my mind, what he said was gospel. If he told me something and a schoolmate said otherwise, I would become enraged and fight them because I was told the truth by my dad. I just remember worrying every time I heard an ambulance because I didn’t ever want to find out that something had happened to my parents. When growing up, specifically Chad and many other friends loved to be with my dad. I was so proud of this. Everyone would come to my dad when something would break and they needed help fixing it. I would brag and tell everyone that my dad had every tool in the world and could fix anything. Our friends of the family would always call him and he’d go and fix their problem. This was a model for me. I am like this today.

Tradition. My dad started many traditions and routines. At age 5, Dad would take me, Andy and Chad fishing every Saturday morning. We would go to the same place to fish. On the way home we would stop and he would buy us a piece of candy. It is these childhood memories that mean so much to me and helps me think fondly of being a child and walking in the footsteps of a father.

Trust. One time after I had left home, I told dad that I thought that one of his greatest parenting techniques was how he instilled trust in me. Because of his trust in me, I would never do anything to shame him. I wouldn’t lie or break a promise to him. I told him that when he would say “I trust you to make the right decisions”, I would go out of my way to do so. He completely trusted Andy and me because of this feeling of trust, we wouldn’t think to do anything to break this trust. Upon telling him this, he smirked and said under his brow “I knew that (technique) would work”. I could tell now that this was a parenting technique that he made an effort to use and it worked.