Pat Mullins, Born: March 17, 1937 ? Died: September 8, 2000
Pat Mullins, age 63, died instantly of a heart attack on Friday morning. Pat is one of the most inspirational people many of us have ever known. How fortunate we were to know someone who truly was living the life of Jesus. His life made us all understand how real it could be to love as Jesus loved, to give as Jesus gave. He lead a charismatic prayer meeting for the past 28 years called Eph 1:4 Prayer Community in his home in Dublin and published the Burning Bush, a Catholic charismatic newsletter for the diocese of Oakland. He dedicated his life to sharing the special relationship that we all could have with the Lord and helped many of us in the first steps of our journey to getting there. Now, we must continue that walk, with him by our sides, in the spirit.

My dad knows that I am not a person who enjoys speaking in front of a lot of people, I am a one-on-one type person, and yet he has put it on my heart to stand in front of all of you and share with you the incredible gift he is to me.?? Dad, if you really want me to do this, I???m going to need your help ??? so give me strength, Lord.

How do I do justice in describing a man who touched so many?? people???s lives in such a profound way? Each of you have your special stories, some of which were shared last night, that will live in our memories and our hearts for the rest of our lives. But let me try.

I learned about my father???s past based on the stories he would tell as I came to him for wisdom over the adult years of my life. So, much of what I will share is based on the lessons that I have learned from him. As painful as some of the discussions were, I always knew that he was going to give me some piece of understanding, a perspective on the situation/challenge I was dealing with that was going to help me see it in a way that I couldn???t see prior to talking with him. But let me start by giving you the history that shaped the man that he became.

Dad was born in Washington to his mother Noama Sutherland Mullins and father Rex Mullins. When he was 2 weeks old he had spinal meningitis, among other things, and almost died, but he had a grandfather who was a strong Pentecostal minister who prayed that he would live, and he did. His father wanted to name him John, but his mother wanted Patrick since he was born on St. Patrick???s Day. He was named John Patrick, but never really went by the name of John so — his mother really won.

His father was a merchant seaman and was at sea most of the time that Pat was growing up. Pat, his mother, and sister Kathy lived in Portland, Oregon and his mom waitressed to raise her children. Life was very difficult for her, so from time to time Pat and Kathy, were in foster homes or on the street. Dad didn???t share many things from his childhood ; I?? had to learn what I know from my aunt and mother.

He later went to live in a boarding house with Mrs. Fletcher, who became a dear friend to him as an adult. One of the first memories/lessons he shared with me is the following: He was a young boy sitting at the dinner table with a group of older men.???? One of these men was very depressed and drunk and had horrible habits. That man defined for my father the man he was to become based on who that man wasn???t.?? Dad made a decision when sitting across from that man : ???I will never be like him, and my family will never go without.????? I remember the conviction in my father???s voice and the determined look in his eyes when he shared that statement with me??

The times he would share that story would be when I came to him, after getting beat up at the office, and I would sit down and tell him what a jerk I had to interact with that day.?? Then he would smile and say, ???Did you learn anything from that person? How much of your ego got in the way when you talked with them? There is good in every person you work with and your challenge is to find the essence of that person and focus on that when talking with them, because innately everyone wants to do ???good.??? You just have to understand what that means to them to be able to communicate with them on their terms. And if you can???t find that, then at least learn what you never want to do based on the way that person treats you.??? He would go on to say, ???There is good in every situation, Dianna.?? The question is whether or not you can rise above the obvious and see the invisible and what is really going on and how you can interact in a way that influences the positive and combats the negative.??? That was one of the first lessons I learned from him based on his early childhood.

At 17, he asked his mother to sign papers to get him into the airforce even though he wasn???t of age. He found himself in Biloxi, Mississippi in basic training. By this time he had made the decision that whatever he had to do, it was going to be the ???best ???always??? He was stationed at a remote radar station between Albuquerque and Gallup New Mexico. He was now a flyboy and as all flyboys would do, he went to the minuet town 30 miles away for entertainment. A friend at the base had a girlfriend and had asked him to double-date with him. Pat went, but he knew that he wasn???t looking for a girlfriend; he was looking for his wife. He had already defined who that woman would be: a woman who would love him, and care for him, a nurturing person that had certain values that matched with and?? complimented his own. When he went on that date, he discovered that his date was from a big family and that her cousin was a girl who caught his attention. After observing her and her family for a time, he met that girl???s mother first and then arranged to meet the girl at a St. Patrick???s day dance. How appropriate! Well, unknown to Rose Marie, she was brought to the dance by the cousin that Pat had dated once.?? All had been prearranged for Rose Marie to meet Pat Mullins. She met a handsome, curly haired, blue eyed young man that had already decided?? she would be his wife. He had a criteria of what he wanted and she met that criteria exactly. As time went on, she introduced him to her mother, but she learned that her mother already knew Pat and that they had become friends. He had helped her prepare turkey for Christmas and talked to her many times to learn about the family. Months went by.?? Rose Marie was a senior at Sacred Heart Cathedral High School and Pat became one of the ???group.????? There were 21 kids in her class, and Pat fit right in. Flyboys and local boys don???t usually mix, but Pat worked hard at making it work ??? he was determined to win everyone???s heart in order to take Rose Marie???s hand in marriage ??? and on June 16, 1956 the day after Rose Marie???s 18th birthday and high school graduation, they married and went on their honeymoon to Disney Land with Rose Marie???s parents and grandparents. J

Pat moved into a very close Spanish family that was definitely run by the women. There was Rose Marie as the only child and her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother all living together ??? along with the father and grandfathers of course!?? It took awhile for Pat to adjust to the ???family.????? He was expected to take over the family business, but that was never to happen.

Needless to say he wanted my mom all to himself, but he stayed in Gallup, New Mexico as long as necessary.???? Then he quickly moved my mom to San Francisco where he could raise his family without the close influence/interference of his in-laws. They had their first child, Beverly, 11 months later, and their son Pat 12 months after that.?? Dad was working full time at Safeway and going to school. Mom???s job always was and continued to be to raise the family and care for our emotional needs. Dad???s job was to ???provide??? for the family so that we would never financially be without.?? Those first few years were extremely difficult on my mother, who was use to a very large extended family network. It took my father many years before he understood the isolation that my mother was going through. But mom dealt with it by commuting back to Gallup every 3 months for a month???s stay with her parents (grandpa worked for the railroad so her trips were free).

Dad went on to learn lots of lessons from his early jobs: at Safeway: He had the worst boss a person could ever have and felt it one of the most valuable experiences of his life. Most of us are shaped by the mentors we have in our life; dad was shaped by the broken people that tried to control his life. He managed a Safeway store and then went on to become a top salesman for many companies. His first sales job was with Kirby Vacuum Cleaners, door-to-door. Ouch. But he broke sales records there selling $400 vacuum cleaners to middle class American families in the 60???s. He said, that if you learn people???s deepest desires and dreams. you can find how your products or services will help them realize those dreams. But if you don???t listen, truly listen to them, and instead put your needs out there, you will never truly succeed. His first thoughts walking into any client call was that he truly cared and loved that person and wanted for them only that which they wanted for themselves. If he couldn???t see how he could help them to meet that desire, he would leave them with just his best wishes for a successful life. That was another lesson I learned from my father.

After Kirby came Pacific Bell Yellow Pages, where he again became top salesman. And then, finally, the cable industry, where he helped define and rollout cable companies across the nation due to his relationship with Time-Life,?? He met with their top executives and committed to helping them bring back many of their limping cable companies over a very short period of time. One of his final secular ???jobs??? was with HBO, helping to create the new definition of cable television. He was at the top of his career, bringing in around $10,000 a month in 1969, and he knew?? he had accomplished his goal of being the best and providing for his family.

Somewhere during those years, I showed up, 8 years after Beverly, in 1964 to be the surprise third child in the family. I truly had a different childhood from my brother and sister because my parents were now in their late 20???s, and my dad???s career was only moving up. I quite enjoyed the life of a baby girl in a house that had no other babies in it and two older siblings. I was the spoiled baby sister. I never really knew my dad, other than the quick goodbye in the morning as he went off to work. I try to remember if we ever ate dinner together, and I honestly don???t know if we did. But he was a busy, important man, who took control of his life and I was going to be just like him. That I always knew.

In 1972, an event happened that would forever change the dynamic of my happy family life. I???ve always referred to it as the ???The God Thing.??? Another way I???ve described it is ???The Dark Ages.??? I was perfectly happy with our little life in the governor???s mansion in Burlington Township, New Jersey.?? I could see how that life was going to work out well for me. I had my mom all to myself, my brother and sister would play with me when I wanted, and then would go off to do fun things with their friends. Life was good.

And then, we ended up back in Dublin, which was fine.?? But next thing I knew, dad was turning into a Jesus freak. What was he doing sitting in his room reading this same book all day every day for years? Why wasn???t he out doing something? Why was mom always crying and leaving the house while we watched out the window, wondering if she would ever come home?

Well, what happened during those early years was the following:?? My mom wanted to make a Cursillo (A four day Catholic retreat) and had a significant spiritual experience. Dad went only to make her happy — as he was immersed in his business life. Soon after mom wanted?? to go to a Charismatic prayer meeting. Dad went along only to keep her happy, again. Only this time, In a 6-8 week period from that point, my dad???s life was turned around by a God that had given him great success in the world. Now God came knocking and said, ???Come follow me.??? Dad wrestled with that and his conversation with God went like this:?? ???Lord, now my family has what I never had; I???m at the top of my field.??? And God said, ???Pat, you know what you can do.?? Now let me show you what I can do through you. Your family will be provided for.???

He heard the Lord call his name and he dropped everything and said, ???Yes, Lord, I will follow, I will obey, just show me the way.???

My mom and dad began a journey that was exciting, yet very painful in the beginning years. As Dad learned to hear and obey only God ??? not his own ego and self or his wife ??? he would not lift a finger to save himself unless he heard a command from the Lord. This was a walk in faith, a trust in God for all provisions that many of us would never be able to do. God had told Pat never to tell anyone of his or the family???s needs, that God himself would provide. There were tough times as trust and faith were being worked into a stronghold. Once, we were literally hours away from losing our home; then, an envelope showed up on the doorstep that would pay all back taxes and mortgage payments. Dad learned quickly that God could be trusted, boy mom struggled with her faith.?? It took about 3-5 years for mom to learn that God truly could be trusted with her family???s needs.

Dad opened up his home to people who needed help 24 hours a day. Eph 1:4 Charismatic Prayer Community was formed. ???To be full of Love??? was its motto. Last night, September 12, 2000 was its 28th year anniversary. Many of you here over the past 2 days have experienced that community, 28 years of Tuesday night prayer meetings where people could learn to praise and thank God for his love and goodness. The prayer group grew and people would move away to different states and prayer groups would begin there as seedlings from its rock base. Praising God and lifting up Jesus were utmost in my dad???s heart. Every thought, word, and song that came from his mouth had something to do with the Lord. My friend Pati reminded me the other day of a situation 10 years ago when he was screwing in a showerhead at our house and she watched him as he took the fixture out of the box and said, ???O.K., we can do this, Lord. Praise you, Jesus.?? Let???s get this light threaded properly the first time.?? Thank you, Lord??????? Everything was like that with dad, right down to the simple screwing in of a fixture.?? He lived, ate, and breathed God, he never had a sentence with ???I??? it was always ???We??? ??? he and Jesus.

Most of dad???s time was spent one-on-one teaching people, how to get out of the way, out of self, so that Jesus might live through them. He was sought out by many through the years as the Lord would bring them to him. He NEVER imposed the Word on someone who didn???t approach him first. People thought, ???Pat, you should go out to the world and talk to thousands ??? but Pat heard the Lord say, ???I will bring the people to you.??? His teachings were to people seeking new life, teaching them that they needed to die to self-centered nature and be reborn with Agape love ??? God???s love –replacing our human love with the love of God. Years went by as dad spoke God???s word and transformed slowly into a selfless man of God who loved Jesus so much that all he wanted was for others to see not Pat, but the Jesus that was now living through him. This last statement was very important to him.

It took me many, many years to appreciate what my father had done with his life and our family???s lives. I experienced those prayer meetings behind my bedroom door as an adolescent, through a bottle as a teenager, and through resentment as a young adult. I could not understand how he could take my mother from me, and talk about love, yet not give any of it to me. What I came to learn later in life was that he honestly believed that I didn???t need him, that he had no idea what he could give me other than what he had done financially in the early years. He didn???t know how to relate to children since he had never had the chance to be one. If I needed anything from him, he thought I would have asked. Again, he never imposed himself on anyone ??? including me.

And so, at age 25, I began to ask for his time. And there was never a moment when he didn???t give it. All I had to do was walk in the back of the house, say I was there, and he would make the time for me. Never judging, just listening to the person I was struggling to become, helping me to understand how to feel in my early sobriety, and later helping me to understand how to set my ego and self aside to work in true servant leadership and with unconditional love to my friends, colleagues, and teams at work.

Through the lives my parents led, they were showing me a kind of love, and a set of values that never could have been taught to me in any other way. The courage, faith, and love that they live is like no other I have seen. So many people try to teach their children values through words; my parents taught it through actions only. I have been wired with a belief that I can trust the unknown, never worrying about the next week or month, both emotionally and financially. It has given me a freedom worth more than any other thing I have got in my life.

These last eight weeks have challenged me in ways that I can???t even begin to describe, testing every ounce of who I have become — and now, in the past four days I have been left without the one human that fully understood?? everything that made me tick.

The moment that I heard of my father???s death, I went into a blind rage like I???ve never known before until I practically passed out. He was not suppose to leave me alone.?? He was supposed to help me through the challenges with my sister???s life. And yet, he chose to go now. Why now??? He had a direct connection to God, couldn???t they negotiate the timing??????? ??But what comes to me now, in the silence of my mind as the keys click away as I finish this eulogy early Tuesday morning, is that he had already negotiated an extension with God last November when he had been so sick, and had been able to stay with us for a few short months longer to hold my hand as the worst of my sister???s illness happened. And that he was now letting go, trusting that we would be OK, now that we had learned to have faith that she is healed ??? in God???s time.

And so now, ironically, at the same age as my father was when he was faced with the most challenging events of his life, I am being forced to walk alone and trust only God to walk me through the maze of the next few years of my life as it is redefined and molded into a new journey.

Thank you, daddy, for giving me the gift of your life as a role model for me to live the rest of my life from.

And so, 63 years after the birth of a baby who wasn???t suppose to live past one month of life, a small insignificant man goes to meet his maker, and I believe that God said to my father in his last breath, ???Well done, good and faithful servant.???

Eulogy give by Pat’s Grandson Jacob Mullins

???Praise the Lord!????? Those are the words with which Pat would always use to answer the telephone.?? There are so many small things that we have relied upon him for: help, counsel, support and countless other things.?? It is those things that we will remember him for the most.
Life can sometimes be referred to as a race.?? Acts 20:24 says, ???However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me???the task of testifying to the gospel of God???s grace.????? We should run this race the hardest that we can, keep our eye focused on the goal, and we will be successful, and win this race.
It is those small things that I will miss the most about my grandpa.?? I loved hearing him stroll down the hallway wearing his blue embroidered shirt yelling, ???Glory, Glory,??? before each prayer meeting.?? I loved it that in whatever he would do, he would sing or hum a praise song.?? He was way more than a grandpa, he was more like a friend.
I will always remember the times we have spent together and the memories we have shared.?? I remember him letting me help him set up chairs for the prayer meeting, when I was only 6 years old.?? I remember him teaching me how to the mow the lawns and wash the cars.?? He would lift me up (when I was younger, of course.) to place the angel on the top of the Christmas tree.?? He would always shine my shoes for me before an important event.?? I will also never forget how whenever we got into the car, he would offer up a prayer for the road angels to keep us safe and watch over us.?? He always said that there were tons of angels just sitting around, and all we needed to do was to ask for their help.?? He was always in the mood for a good joke, he taught me how to golf, but more importantly, he taught me how to be a man.?? I always knew that he would be there for me, no matter what he was doing or whatever I needed, he was there.
He was the wisest man that I ever knew.?? He would always talk to me and give me advice that I could take out into the scary world as I grew up.
One thing that I always admired about my grandpa is how much charisma that he had.?? People were attracted to him right and left.?? I didn???t matter if we were at the bank, or on the golf course.?? Everywhere he went he would befriend new people.?? Everywhere he went he wanted to share the gospel, thus he wore his blue ???I love Jesus!??? hat, his Jesus is Lord belt buckle, and of course, he didn???t go anywhere without his beautifully embroidered shirt.
One acronym that I will never forget is LAFPDL.?? It was on grandpa???s license plate, it was his email address, but mostly it was the motto by which he lived.?? The L stands for Love, the A for Acceptance, the F for Forgiveness, the P for ???Pray for??? the D is for ???Do good for,??? and the last L is again for Love.?? That is the most perfect acronym to describe him, he did everything out of love.
We shouldn???t be bitter or mad about his death, but we should rejoice for he is in the one place that he would ever be the happiest.?? I mean, think about it, we all were greedy for his time, we wanted to hang out with him, and we had the opportunity for 63 great years.?? However, now, Jesus wants a turn and took him home to party with him.
In this we need to understand one thing, we have not lost a grandpa, counselor, friend, or brother, rather we have gained a saint in heaven that is and will be rejoicing and interceding for us always.?? He is in the most happy place with the most awesome person we could ever imagine.?? Pat dedicated his life to the service of Jesus Christ, and now it is time for him to be rewarded.?? As he crossed the finish line and looked at Jesus face to face, I know what Jesus said, ???Pat, you have finished the race, well done, and welcome home, my good and faithful friend!!!???