Dear Mac and family, 
What a beautiful eulogy, thanks for shairing with the wonders of modern technology. I remember meeting your father once and marveling at his mobility and balance, particulary interesting to me as a physical therapist. It was a brief meeting but even so I could tell I had been blessed. My heart and prayers go out to you and your very special famliy. Much love, Sheddy Goebel

Hi all - My dad was simply an amazing man.  Below is the eulogy I was honored to give at his service.  David

Eulogy for Clifton Douglas McCauley
18 September 1917 – 4 February 2013

Good evening family and friends of Clifton Douglas McCauley.  As I look out across this room, I see so many people that my dad knew and loved and I see so many people that knew and loved my dad.
Many of you knew him as Mac, Mister Mac, C.D. McCauley, Cliff, Clifton, granddad, grampa, great hoppy, papa or other nicknames but for my sisters (Sharon, Faith and Pam) and my younger brother (James) we just knew him as dad.  For those of you who don't know me, I am son David but widely known as Mac also.
Many of you knew him well but over the next few minutes, I would like to share a glimpse of the man that perhaps you didn't know.
My mom (Dorothy Gean McCauley) and dad have been married 69 years.  Mom is in a long term care facility in Friendswood, Texas dealing with Dementia and due to her health cannot be here today.  Mom is 89 years old.  My sisters, brother and I are extremely grateful to have enjoyed them in our lives for such a long period of time.
Dad's mom and dad moved to Waco, Texas from Holley Springs, Mississippi.
We didn't really know dad's father Jesse James McCauley as he died relatively young, but his mom, our grandmother, Rosie Callie Ann McCauley, lived to the age of 98.  I remember asking my dad one time if we had any royalty in our family and he replied son, with your grandfather being named Jesse James do you really need an answer to that question.
Dad had three brothers, Elijah, Paul and Herschel and one sister Flora and two sisters that died very young.
Dad was born in Waco, Texas on 18 Sep 1917.
From what dad told us collectively it sounds like he had a childhood like many here have experienced in life. One of growing up interacting with his sister, brothers and friends, going to school, farming, chores at home and caddying to pick up a few dollars and play golf when possible at their local golf course.
That normality of life changed in an instant when dad was 15. The year was 1932.
Dad and some of his friends were playing at an old closed down theme park. As we understand it, one of the attractions had a water wheel attached to the side.  Dad and his friends began taking turns manually turning the wheel giving each other rides carrying them beneath the water and back up. On dad's turn his leg got caught in the wheel cutting his leg from the knee down to his foot. 
Transported to the hospital by horse and buckboard, by the time they arrived gangrene had set in requiring the amputation of dad's leg at mid thigh. The gangrene continued to spread resulting in further amputation of the leg to the hip.
Dad told us his mother lived night and day in his hospital room for the next several months sleeping on a roll away bed and never leaving his side.
Because the technology did not exist at that time to provide a prosthetic that attached to a hip joint, dad began the process of learning to walk on the crutches you see leaning against the side of his casket.
We can only speculate as to the trials and tribulations dad faced in mastering those crutches over the next several years. We do know those crutches became as much a part of his body as any other limb for the next 80 years.
When I think back to special moments shared with my dad, many of those memories are touched in a very special way by the presence of those crutches.
Let me share some examples of what I'm talking about.
Dad always wore nice dress suits and loved Florsheim and Nunn Bush shoes.  When he would come home from work the first thing he did was change into casual slacks and hang his suit up.  Once in a while he would show me a place that was becoming worn under the arms of a suit and remark to me how hard those crutches were on his shirts and suits.  Dad's crutches were Mahogany wood covered in Cherry fiberglass.  When the shoulder and handle pads would become worn he always had them recovered and always replaced the rubber tips at the first sign they were becoming slick.  I remember watching and thinking even such minimal tasks as putting on pants and tying shoes were that much more difficult because of having one leg. But not once did I ever hear him complain about simple or major tasks during his lifetime.  For a long time he knew a man in San Antonio who had lost his left leg and dad would always give him the left shoe.  That man died about 30 years ago.
Dad made his living in restaurant equipment and hotel supply sales. He helped grow Glastov Restaurant and Hotel Supply into an extremely lucrative company.  The owner of Glastov, Harold P. Shutze hired dad as Sales Manager in 1965.  Dad was extremely knowledgeable in his craft and had a large sales area which included north to Fredricksburg, south to Beeville and the Texas Coast and all of San Antonio and the surrounding area. As a young boy, he would take me with him a lot on his sales route and especially during the summer months when he would let me travel with him on his overnight trips. Many times, walking through those restaurants and hotel kitchens, I saw dad successfully navigate those slick floors and stairs as he would take orders and advise on kitchen needs or design. On occasion I would see him slip but not fall and was always amazed at his balance and strength.  I was not alone in that feeling as I observed the respect and admiration that many of the owners and managers held for dad as well. They spoke in a language I didn't understand as they would verbalize orders, “I need six cases of #240 or let me get five dozen #1408s.  I can still hear dad saying, you can buy a six burner but I believe if you review your requirement you will definitely see the need for an eight burner.  More often than not they would go with his recommendation. 
Those trips were always full of fun and adventure for me as I was always treated extra special by all the people just because I was his son.  A lot of them would greet dad with, “I see you've got the boss with you” or “the apple doesn't fall far from the tree”.  Didn't even know what that meant at the time but it always seemed to get a smile from dad.  Every place I went would result in offers for a slice of pie or cake or a soft drink.  When we would eat breakfast, lunch or dinner there always seemed to be a little something extra as a treat.
Sometimes while traveling, dad would let me sit where his leg would have been and steer the car and he was always pointing out a landmark or showing me something in the countryside.  Sometimes we would stop at a produce market and he would teach me how to pick the ripest watermelons, cantaloupes, tomatoes and peaches.  On the southern run, he would find time at night to drive the coastline showing me things or letting me experience a ferry ride.  Sales trips to the bases in Texas were always fun and there was always something new to see. Over the years I became accustomed to hearing many people comment to me or pass someone else's comment to me about how amazing my dad was.  Equally amazing was that I never heard any negative comments about my dad.  Dad was recognized for his work in implementing the San Antonio “Taste of the Town” which really put the restaurant industry on the map.  For his efforts he was made an honorary member of the Board of Directors for the Texas Restaurant Association.  For many years he was also an honorary board member for St Phillips College in San Antonio.  Dad received recognition by numerous vendors for annual “top sales awards” including General Electric. 
Equally amazing, but in his off time, it was really something to watch him work out on parallel bars.  That was about the time I began to realize his true strength and just how good his balance really was.  He taught me how to punt a football with a spiral, ride a bicycle, swim and shoot pool.  It was a lot of fun going to the driving range and watch him hit golf balls but even more fun watching the surprised look on people's faces that didn't know him.  Growing up, many of my friends would tell me what a neat dad I had.  I remember thinking they don't know he's handicapped either.
Long ago, the PGA played the Texas Open at Pecan Valley and he took me to watch the pros. Arnold Palmer was playing one hole in front of us and dad wanted to follow Arnie so he told me to come on and started running on his crutches. I couldn't go as fast as he was running but it turned out to be okay as I got to watch all of the dropped jaws of the people he was passing. We caught up to the group and followed Arnold Palmer for the rest of the round. 
My sister remembered another time my dad ran.  I was now a typical teenager (knew everything but didn't know anything) obviously feeling my oats, my dad told me I wasn't going somewhere and I told him I was.  I took off running and about three houses down I glanced over my shoulder to see how my dad was processing my new found independence. My sister says she can still see the terror on my face as I realized my dad's crutch was fixing to support me in a whole new way.
My dad's favorite golfer is Phil Mickelson. Beginning on Thursday this past weekend Phil shot rounds of 60, 64, 65 and 67.  His accomplishment tied the PGA low 72 hole record in route to winning the tournament.  Given the circumstances I was so glad that dad got to watch his favorite give possibly the best performance of his career. Even though dad was in the hospital it was good to see how much he enjoyed watching that performance.
Another memory was while I was at football practice at Longfellow Junior High and spotted dad watching me from outside the fence. He had one crutch turned sideways and had both hands on the top of it just resting on it.  Why was this a precious memory for me, I guess it was because he was there just to watch me.

We were proud of what our dad could do and guess the reason we never paid much attention to his handicap was because he never paid any attention to his handicap.  About ten years ago dad was traveling from Friendswood to San Antonio and happened to stop at an outlet mall in Sealy for my mother.  A traffic cop cited dad for parking in a handicap slot with an expired handicapped sticker.  Dad continued on to San Antonio and on the specified date returned 185 miles to the municipal court in Sealy.    Dad's turn came at the bench.  The judge looked at the ticket and looked at dad and said she didn't know why he had been ticketed as he was obviously handicapped.  My dad looked her in the eye standing on his crutches and said “not really”.  The judge apologized profusely and dismissed the ticket.
But the best memory and vision that included those crutches was the day dad made the walk down the aisle to either accept the Lord as his personal savior or to rededicate his life to the Lord and join the church. (I honestly cannot remember). Dad usually sat about 4 or 5 pews from the back of the church. We were in the new and huge auditorium at Huisache Baptist church and they were giving the invitation when out of the corner of my eye I saw my father walking down the far right aisle. He was walking trapping his left crutch under his arm and shoulder, his right hand was on the handle of his right crutch his left hand was shielding his face from the congregation. I knew he was crying and knew he didn't want anyone to see. 
When he got all the way to the front, he spoke to and then knelt with the pastor at the altar. Afterward the pastor told the congregation that dad had accepted the Lord as his savior and invited them to come down and greet him. 
I remember how proud I was of him but I never asked him if the hand shielding his face was to keep the people from seeing him cry. We never talked about it. I didn't ask partly out of respect for my dad but also because I didn't want to chance him putting one of those crutches up side my head.
So, what is the definition of a crutch? The definition of a crutch is something providing help or support: something that sustains or supports somebody or something that is otherwise liable to collapse, fail, or falter.
There is so much truth in that definition for our family because while crutches helped support my dad, my dad was the crutch always supporting all of us.
I would like to share a couple of other things I think are interesting and allow a glimpse of dad from another perspective.  
First, after being around dad all of my life, I found that I had a real problem with compassion for people that seemed to have all of their limbs and faculties but just would not do for themselves.  One day I spoke to my dad about that and his answer surprised me.  He said son, don't fall into that trap.  Don't fall into that trap. When someone asks for your help, help where you can and if you can't explain that you can't.  This goes directly to the relationship you have with the Lord and also to the kind of person you want to be throughout your life.  I'm still improving in this area but definitely not there yet.
Second, I always wondered what was the catalyst that made my dad respond to his injury the way he did?  During my thirty's I would ask dad about it and he would just brush my question aside or change the subject but I continued to press the issue through my thirty's and into my forty's.  Finally on one visit home I asked my dad again as to who was the person that motivated him when he was injured.  Dad replied, son, I'm not sure what you want me to say.  Was it my mother, or a business man or this one or that one, no, there wasn't any one person I used as a catalyst.  During that time when something happened you just dealt with it.  Do you understand what I'm telling you, it wasn't out of the ordinary, you knew what you had to do and you just dealt with it.  Through the years, of all of the things that I learned from my dad, this was one of the most telling as to the man he was.  Just imagine how the world would be changed if more people who faced adversity, “just dealt with it.”  
Up to about five years ago our immediate family had not experienced much personal tragedy.  With that said, in rapid succession we found ourselves experiencing losses beyond belief.  Dad was my stronghold keeping me grounded in compassion and direction.  One silver lining to the loss of our dad is the realization that at 230 Monday afternoon our own eyes witnessed him draw his last earthly breath.  Our eyes of faith witnessed him draw his first celestial breath. What a gift for us knowing that immediately my father could be seeing and reuniting with my sister Faith's husband Rick Austin, my daughter and son Cindee May and Frankie McCauley, Rick Venable, Pearl and Sue, Uncle  Bob, Pastor Don Stone, my mother-in-law Mavis and others in our family who have gone before.  What a gift our Lord has bestowed on his people.
Throughout my career in the USAF and after as a Defense Contractor, I was fortunate to meet and serve under many powerful leaders both in the Air Force and in our government.  Even so, my dad, will always be my great “American Hero” and although I am genuinely happy and extremely grateful that he is experiencing the awe of being whole in the presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  With that said, I do recognize just how difficult the absence of dad in my life is going to be.  We talked by phone probably five times a week and visited three or four times each year.  He and mom visited for 15 days while Carol and I were stationed  in Belgium and we pretty well explored five countries during that visit.  Afterward, Dad told many people that trip was a highlight in their lives.  I can't begin to put a number or time to the many phone calls where we discussed solutions for most of the problems currently going on in the world fully realizing beforehand that we weren't going to solve any of them. 
I could go on with memories and lessons in life received from my dad but time is a factor and I need to close.  I sincerely appreciate all of you letting me share these memories with you.
If we had the time for an “open mike” I'm sure that many of you could easily share your own and just as special memories of my dad.  
Talking with you today I realize our family is definitely in for some dark days ahead.  With that in mind, I'm asking you from my heart to keep our family in your prayers as we continue forward during this difficult time.

We heard about Mr. McCauley's passing and wanted to tell your family you are in our prayers.

I can remember many a good time at the McCauley home when I would go over for visits with Sharon. I have a lot fond memories of your family.   I pray your fond memories will always give you comfort in years to come.  

May God be with you in the months ahead and remember the grand reunion is yet to come. What a day that will be.

Your brother and sister in Christ and your friends forever, in our hearts.
Michael and Shirley Hamm

God bless and comfort you. I have fond memories of all of you at church.

Mac was one of the kindest and most sincere people we have ever met, and we are so blessed to have known him and been able to be considered his friends.  We know your hearts are hurting now and only time can ease your pain.  However, we do pray for God to wrap his loving arms around all of you and give you comfort as you prepare to say goodbye to your beloved husband, father, and grandfather.  He loved his family and always took such great care of everyone.  We will miss him terribly, but we know he is soaring with the angels and will be waiting to greet you as you arrive at that marvelous place we all call heaven.  May he rest in peace until then.   Love in Christ Jesus

To all the family, Mac was one of the kindest and most sincere people we have ever met, and we are so blessed to have known him and been able to be considered his friends.  We know your hearts are hurting now and only time can ease your pain.  However, we do pray for God to wrap his loving arms around all of you and give you comfort as you prepare to say goodbye to your wonderful husband, father, and grandfather.  He loved his family and always took such great care of everyone.  We will miss him terribly, but we know he's soaring with the angels and will be waiting to be rejoined with each of you when you arrive at that marvelous place we all call heaven.  May he rest in peace ‘til then.   Love in Christ Jesus,

The friendship of Mac and Dorothy was very special to us.  You, their family, are also very special to us, and we are praying for God to comfort you as only He can.  God answers prayer. As a child, our daughter would ask God to give Mac a new leg.  He has that now.  God loves you.  We do too.  Mac will be
sorely missed.

Malcolm and Catherine Huggins (Rockingham, NC)

Papa was such a huge presence wherever he went.  When you were in his presence you always felt safe and loved.
There are no words to describe the heartache that I feel for each of you in his passing.  He was a grandfather to my kids always and he will be greatly loved and missed.  May the Lord wrap HIS loving arms around each of you and bring you comfort, strength, and peace.  I love you all!

Bro Mac will be missed he has always been a blessing to me and my family because of his steadfastness.He was really a Great man God Blessings to all the family

You are all in my thoughts and prayers.  Mac is in a better place now but will surely be missed by all of us.  God Bless!

We share your loss and offer our sincere condolences.  Mr. McCauley was truly one of the kindest persons I ever knew.  He was a great neighbor and friend and someone whom I always looked up to and trusted.  He is now with our Lord in Heaven, but he will be sorely missed here.

You are in my prayers!!! God bless! If there is anything I can do please let me know!!! Your father will be truly missed!!!

OBITUARY

C.D. "Mac" McCauley

September 18, 1917 – February 4, 2013

Sunset Memorial Park & Funeral Home

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