Michael Dana Prewitt
May 21, 1944 – July 12, 2014
eulogy by Bob Prewitt, brother
Son of Joseph Sydney Prewitt and Charlotte Ann Feaman Prewitt.
Like my brother, I tend to tears so bear with me.
The Reverend Doctor Michael Dana Prewitt. I love saying that.
Michael Dana Prewitt was an Eagle Scout.
A young Eagle Scout – barely 16 years old when he completed the requirement for Scouting’s highest honor. He had 46 merit badges (you need only 30). He attended the National Boy Scout Jamboree at Valley Forge in 1957 where he was designated as Scout of the Year for the state of Pennsylvania. In younger years, when he participated in scouting in Mansfield, Ohio, he made those slides that cinch up the scout neckerchief out of buckeyes. Really. Buckeyes.
Thus began a life of accomplishment. An unending series of wide ranging accomplishments that defined him. From Student Body President at Fox Chapel High School to Rector Scholar at DePauw University. To starting a student magazine in Ethiopia while in the Peace Corps. To starting a weekly newspaper in Key West (Solares Hill – still in existence). To winning 3 consecutive professional bicycle races in Key West. To founding Dana Communications here in Hopewell. To graduating from Princeton Theological Seminary. To earning his PhD from Columbia Theological Seminary.
The story goes on and on.
The backbone of this life of accomplishment was his four great loves – his passions. If there is anyone who was ever passionate about life it was Michael Prewitt.
I have often been accused of seeing the glass as half full - with Dom Perignon.
Michael saw the glass as half full but with Holy Water.
I am referencing these four passions in no relevant order.
I will start with this one.
The Church. He loved the church – the church where the rubber meets the road. Not like the United Presbyterian Church of the USA but like here – the Hopewell Presbyterian Church which was a huge part of him.
He flourished within the greater church but what he really loved about church was that it created a venue in which to celebrate life and a community to support those that needed help.
Forget the dogma. What he really cared about was the bringing together of human beings to worship God and celebrate and support. He loved going to church and presiding over church service. He loved being apart of something that has a goal of goodness.
It was a love of community – a church community.
Love #2
A passion for the pursuit of knowledge. Thus The Reverend Doctor Michael Dana Prewitt.
He loved to learn. His mind never stopped. He loved to read. He was a voracious reader.
And he had an obsession with book buying. Last year, we dropped off his collection of religious books at Jared’s house (the presiding minister). Over 40 boxes of esoteric theological writings. Seriously. It has to have been 500 books about religion.
At last count, all the Prewitts were moving around 1500 boxes of books.
Barnes, Noble & Prewitt
By the way, his love of the pursuit of knowledge combined with a memory that resembled a steel trap to make him the smartest person I ever met. He was a walking encyclopedia. We should have nicknamed him Wikki.
Love #3
Golf
Schulyer Bishop wrote a book called A Passion for Golf. It should have been about Michael.
He inherited this love from our Dad who was a 3-handicap player who loved the game. We had a 5-foot wide picture of the 16th hole at Cypress Point in our den at our home in Pittsburgh. If you are a golfer, you know how special that is.
His love of the game went far beyond just playing with the guys on Saturday morning. To him there was a magic, a feng shui about being on the course. He used to love to leave work around 5 and go up to Bedens Brook and play until twilight – just him, a five iron, putter and three wood and the smell of cut grass and the shadows stretching across a fine golf hole. He found spirituality in that.
At his best, he played to a five handicap but that didn’t matter. It was that Scottish shepherd spirit of the game – its gentlemanliness and integrity - that he loved.
He went to the British Open one year and came back with a Royal Troon golf shirt for me. It was blue. I wore it constantly. I finally threw it away when I couldn’t figure out how to sew it back together when it came out of the dryer in 3 pieces.
#4 Family
This was Michael’s greatest passion. He loved family. This includes his parents and Grandparents, me and my children and our other relatives like Peter Feaman and his son Louis and Carolyn Cramer Sanford and her daughter Caroline who have come from Palm Beach and Pittsburgh to be with us today.
And the Mulhern clan who took him in like one of its own. He loved the big family thing – our family was so small. And Maureen’s Dad became a second father to him since our Dad died at such a young age.
Particularly it included his children - Joseph, Catherine and Christopher. And now Austin – Catherine’s brand new husband. He loved each of his children so greatly that there are no words that work to describe how he felt.
But he saved his greatest love for Maureen Mulhern Prewitt. He worshipped her. From the moment they met – he in a blue blazer and she in her blue suit at the Pennsylvania Ballet - it was destined to be.
Michael always felt he was the luckiest man in the world to have met and married Maureen.
Maureen – I offer a tribute to you. You have been a remarkable person all of your life, but particularly remarkable over the past 22 months.
Michael was correct in his assessment that he was a blessed man to have found you.
I love you Maureen.
***
Michael Dana Prewitt was a man of many accomplishments.
But perhaps his ultimate accomplishment was what he did over the past 22 months. The manner in which he fought the great battle against the insidious disease called cancer should be documented and shared with every single person alive today.
No one – I mean no one – brought more passion to a battle than Michael brought to this battle.
As the disease took its progressive toll, he woke up every day with a “can do” attitude.
“Another great day to be alive. Let’s go! Let’s get it done today!”
He never once expressed sorrow for his plight.
Watching my brother do this made me so proud of him – so proud to be his brother. As Hemmingway so eloquently said it, “Grace under pressure.” Michael – you were a tough and gracious guy.
His spirit and that of Maureen were uplifting to me and many, many others who had the fortune of being with him over these last months.
Our mother’s nickname was the General. And let me tell you, the General is right now all smiles up there – so proud of her eldest son. You done good, Kid.
I need to tell you one more story.
Michael had a fantastic oncologist who coordinated all aspects of his treatment – a young female doctor named Dr. Desai.
About 2 months ago, Maureen, Michael and I met with her to discuss what would happen going forward. We discussed what to expect at the end.
Maureen and Michael had developed a very special relationship with Dr. Desai – a relationship beyond just normal patient and doctor.
At one point during this meeting, after a long but comfortable silence, she said to Michael,
“You know I have come to love you Michael Prewitt. I am amazed and in awe of your peacefulness, your centeredness and your willfulness. You are a very special person.”
Dr. Desai had come to know the accomplished person that we all knew as Michael Dana Prewitt.
I will miss you my brother.