The hard northwest winds and bright sun kept the flags blowing and lit up for those that came to see Bob Popovics buried with honors yesterday. His funeral marked the end of a good life, lived by a good man, who touched the lives of so many good people. It was a good day.
His mass was held at St. Catherine's Church in Seaside Park which is located just blocks from his home in one direction and from the Boulevard where his accident happened in the other. It also sits blocks between the Barnegat Bay to the west and the beaches of of the Jersey Shore to the east. Both bodies of water were he spent so much of his time while here on earth. As we walked in it was fitting to see the trucks of anglers who had taken time off of the sand to come and pay their respects. He touched so many fishermen on this spit of land, and beyond, both fly and spin alike.
Funerals aren't easy and most attendees sit and watch and wait for their own personal floodgate of emotion to open up in remembrance and sadness for the person, the family, or themselves. The celebrant, Father Lorensten, gave everyone a pause when he opened his homily with references to fly fishing. The family had chosen Luke 5, verses 1-11, which is the story of Simon Peter and fishing on Lake Gennesaret. It was there Jesus directed Simon to redeploy his fishing nets a little further out from shore after a night of not catching a fish. Simon did so and went on to fill his boat until it nearly sank. When Simon, and the other fishermen, who would go on to become the first apostles, claimed they were sinful men and couldn't be with Jesus, Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching men".
Bob caught us all and one of his greatest gifts was his ability to connect good people to each other. While Theresa and I sat in the pew before the service two women in front of us were talking and said, "He was such a good boss". That was repeated many times over the last few days no matter what setting you knew Bob from. When Father Lorensten repeated the question so many have asked over the last month, "Where was Jesus that night in front of Klee's, or in the ICU at Jersey Shore Medial Center?", he answered, "He was with Bob for every minute". And I believed him.
Fittingly, Bob was buried with military honors at the Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veteran's Memorial Cemetery in North Hanover Township. Opened in 1989, it sits on 225 acres and will accommodate 171,000 of New Jersey's bravest, on average there are 13 burials each day.
If "Ave Maria" didn't get you in the church then "Taps" pulled on your heart strings while you stood and watched the flag-folding ceremony. Again the flags were blowing in the wind and some people were able to catch the glimpse of an American Eagle in the distance. When it was time to say good-bye attendees were asked to come up to the casket in a single file line. It was then I saw the Pop-Fleye's sticker on his casket, placed there fittingly by his dear friend Joe Carey.
If there was one image that captured the day it was that. That sticker has adorned everything that Bob has touched, from at the restaurant, to his vehicles, and to the hats and t-shirts he has made up and has given away for years. That was a job well done.
And like so many funerals before it was time to exhale and share some food and drink with those who were in attendance. No matter where that was or who you were with it was another time to be surrounded with good people celebrating the life of a good man.
As we said our good-byes I was asked if I would like to take one of the photos that had been displayed throughout his service. It looked like a Tom Lynch photograph, a friend of Bob's who has captured so many good images of Bob of the years. It's a picture that is worth 1,000 words. You can go around that image and pick out so many things that Bob has given us in the fly fishing world. From that room, to the videos, to that shirt, and to that vice. He wasn't just a good man, he was a great man.