Family, friends remember former WRAL weatherman, professional wrestling announcer Bob Caudle
I am the resurrection and the life
Sayeth the Lord
He that believeth in me though he were dead yet
shall he live
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die
Friends we gathered together on a beautiful day
Uh in this beautiful sanctuary with that faith lodged deeply
and securely in our souls as we uh claim our
eternal hope in Christ and as we come together today
to celebrate the life and mourn the death and honor
the memory of Bobby Ray Caudle whom most of us
knew as Bob
We come together today to give thanks to God for
the gracious gift of his life
A life created in the glorious image of God and
we saw that image of God of God aglow in
him
Such a kind man so genuine so humble
Such a fine person
We come together today to give thanks to God for
his life
We come to remember him
And we'll have an opportunity to remember him in many
ways but we won't be able to share all of
the stories not in this one service
That's why we're happy that after the service we'll be
gathering in the fellowship hall
And we hope that you can stay and share stories
because uh they are beautiful stories and stories that ought
to be shared but we'll remember him and we're very
happy that Dick Bourne who knew him well uh will
also help us to remember Bob uh later in this
service
We've come into this place because this is a house
of faith and uh when we come to the house
of faith we declare our faith and we talk about
the things that matter most the things that we believe
uh most deeply and so we'll share our faith with
one another and uh we'll worship together and then of
course we hope that this will be a time of
comfort for this dear family
Uh that you will feel the the comforting presence of
your friends and uh even more the comforting presence of
God in your lives
So we gather together with that in mind and we
hear the words of Jesus as he spoke to his
disciples so long ago and he continues to speak to
us today when he said let not your heart be
troubled
You believe in God believe also in me
In my father's house are many mansions
If it were not so I would have told you
I go to prepare a place for you and if
I go and prepare a place for you I will
come again and receive you unto myself that where I
am there you may be also
Even so may it be to God alone be the
glory
Amen
Will you bow with me for prayer Lord we're grateful
that we have the opportunity to be here
And we're grateful for the one in whose memory we
gather
We're grateful for his life and for his love for
his work and for the way that he had a
positive impact on so many his family his friends and
then of course the larger community a community larger than
any of us can number but he made such an
impact and had such a voice and we're grateful for
it
We thank you for Bob for his life uh we
thank you that it was a long life and that
it was a good life
And now as we enter into this hour together we
pray that you would guide our words and our thoughts
our songs and our prayers that all of these would
bring honor and glory to you and be a benefit
to these who are here as well as those who
join us by way of our broadcast and we pray
that uh most of all that we will uh worship
you in spirit and truth as we gather together here
in your house this day
This we pray in the name of Christ our Lord
who taught us to pray when he said Our Father
who art in heaven hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as
it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us
our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us
and lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom
and the power and the glory forever
Amen
Our opening hymn is number 185 and we'll stand and
sing stands as 12 and 4 of the old rugged
cross
Let us stand
You may be seated
I have already apologized to the family but I'll apologize
to the rest of you that I
And very hoarse today and I know that one of
the most uncomfortable things in the world is to be
in a place where someone is upstanding and speaking in
their horse
I find that when I clear my throat the whole
congregation does so uh uh I apologize for that but
uh this is where I am today and this is
where we are we're grateful that you are here with
us and uh I'm happy to say that uh
This service that we have planned is very much in
keeping with the very service that we had for Jackie
just back in May
She died of course on April 24th and we gathered
in this sanctuary on May 8th and of course we
feel that it's so fitting that we're here again within
the same year
These two that have been together for so many years
married 76 years um now together again and we give
thanks to God
I uh call your attention to the reading of scripture
and when we gathered uh for Jackie's service one of
the verses she wanted in the service was John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his
only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not
perish but have everlasting life
Beautiful verse of scripture
And then I selected a different text for the next
one
I was listening to uh Michael and Bob their sons
and uh this is the text that came to mind
after I heard you talking about your dad and so
it uh is from the apostle Paul's letter to the
Philippians and it's found in chapter 4
Hear these words as I share them together with you
Rejoice in the Lord always
Again I will say rejoice
Let your gentleness be known to everyone
The Lord is near
Do not worry about anything
But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
your request be made known to God
And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will
guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus
Finally beloved Whatever is true
Whatever is honorable whatever is just whatever is pure whatever
is pleasing
Whatever is commendable
If there is any excellence and if there is anything
worthy of praise think about these things
Keep on doing the things that you have learned and
received and heard and seen in me
And the God of peace will be with you
I think those words in that last verse
I I want you to hear
Your father
Or a grandfather
Or good friend
I want you to hear
As if he were speaking them to you today
Keep on doing the things that you have learned and
received and heard and seen in me
And the God of peace will be with you
May God add his blessing to the reading and the
hearing of His holy word
Amen
As I promised Dick Bourne is here today and uh
he wrote a beautiful piece
Come on Dick beautiful piece in the Mid-Atlantic Gateway website
uh in honor of his friend Bob Caudle and we
are just delighted and so very fortunate to have you
here to share with us today
Thank you Dick
God bless you
Thank you Doctor Haley
Mike Bob the entire
Caudle family um it is such an honor to stand
in front of you today
I'll try not to get emotional but I can't promise
that
Uh I love Bob Caddle
Uh we've been friends for about 20 years good friends
for the last 10 or so of that time
And Bob was one of my heroes long before that
Uh I grew up a wrestling fan like several other
people in this audience um did and Bob was there
on television every Saturday
Bob wrote the soundtrack to our Saturday afternoons
He was the voice
He was the voice of our childhood
Um Tony Shavani is also in the crowd David Chappell
two good friends
Of mine but who both love Bob
We're all the same age Andy McDaniel as well
We all love Bob because when we grew up the
wrestlers came and went
Wrestling wasn't like it was um
Like it is today a national type presentation
But wrestling was very territorial and so as David wrote
on our website um the day after Mike texted me
and told me Bob had died Bob was the one
constant that you could always count on on that show
The wrestlers came and went but Bob Cole was always
there and I was we talked about I think in
the 30 years that Bob hosted that program at WREL
and then elsewhere I don't think he ever missed a
show
I mean I'm sure he did
I had to have missed one or two but I
don't ever remember it if he did
Bob was the constant and um
He was what made things special
Jackie used to laugh and tell us Bob had a
secret life as a wrestling announcer uh and it wasn't
a secret of course she knew Bob was going to
WREL every Wednesday night to do the show but she
didn't really know the impact by her own admission did
not know the impact Bob had until 2004 and it
was at a wrestling convention in Charlotte North Carolina for
for wrestling fans at the Hilton in Charlotte
Hundreds maybe over 1000 people were there for that first
one
And the line stretched out people waiting to get in
that morning all the way down 3 different halls around
a big escalator
And people were waiting to go in and Bob and
Jackie got on that escalator and started coming down and
the Bob had told me before that event he said
I don't know why they want me there
It's been so long since I've been on television and
no one will remember me what they did and they
broke out in a big cheer and even a chant
of Bob Bob Bob and Bob being the humble person
that he was just kind of looked down and smiled
but Jackie
I'll never forget this image
She had her arm around Bob's and uh she started
smiling and then began to wave at the at the
fans like she were in a parade you know and
uh it was the sweetest moment um I'll never forget
and later that weekend uh Jackie told David and I
that um she never knew what a big deal her
husband was and uh she was right
Bob was a very big deal
Uh for me and so many others as I mentioned
before Bob was our voice
Um everyone that worked with Bob loved him too
Uh David and I talked with so many different members
of the wrestling fraternity uh that had retired and moved
on but everybody
To a man or to a woman uh love Bob
Nobody ever had a bad thing to say about Bob
Caudle
Uh Bob was well liked by everybody in his uh
business that he did with pro wrestling um and was
well thought of his professionalism and behind the scenes his
friendships that he developed
Uh one of the people here this uh morning or
this afternoon that can testify to that better than I
can
Certainly as Mr
David Crockett
David's here this morning
Um David is part of the Crockett family that promoted
professional wrestling for 50 years and not only pro pro
wrestling but all sorts of events music events other sports
events
David
David was a loyal friend to Bob especially
In the last few years uh I would talk to
Bob on the phone about every 3 weeks or so
And he'd say David was here he picked me up
from the hospital
He took me home
Uh David was here
He took me to run to run some errands took
me to get some money out of the bank
Um Bob loved David and they had a long relationship
and worked together for Crockett Promotions um for 40 years
or so um
One other thing about David David was responsible for stretching
Bob's wrestling career into its 7th decade if you can
imagine that
Only 3 years ago at the age of 91
David arranged for Bob to do the introduction for a
big nationwide pay per view event that was honoring Ric
Flair's last match
And at 91 years old he stepped to the plate
and he knocked it out of the park
That voice was the same as it was in 1975
when I started watching him on television
Um his delivery his cadence it was amazing
It's on YouTube if you can look it up I
hope you all could see it
It's a uh amazing testament to a man who even
at that age
Suffering the infirmities we all will at that age uh
did that presentation
It was amazing to see
Um Tony Schavani who is also uh for those who
might not know uh kind of was tutored by Bob
in the 80s uh began his pro wrestling career um
working under Bob and and working with Bob on the
television shows
Tony said recently on his podcast that if there were
a Hall of Fame
For pro wrestling announcers
Bob Cale all to be the first one in
He was the best
He closed every show every week for 30 years with
the same line
He would say All right wrestling fans that's it for
this week
We'll see you next week
And until then so long for now
So long for now was the way he ended one
Mike told me that his dad was ready to go
And I'm sure he was looking forward to seeing Jackie
again
And I think if Bob were here he would tell
us all that he would look forward to seeing us
all again but until then
So long for now
Like
Thank you so much for that
That was so beautifully done
And uh you painted a wonderful picture and we've been
blessed by that
Bob and Jackie were blessed with 3 children
Two sons Michael and Bob
And a daughter Lisa
Lisa was blessed with a uh a beautiful voice and
uh our minister of music for many years was a
woman named Carolyn Brockwell
And Carolyn discovered that voice and she became Lisa's coach
in coaching her voice and and uh and Loreta Callison
uh has played piano for us for many years and
Loreta would play for Lisa and uh they would go
all over all over this community uh and Lisa singing
Loreta playing and Carolyn being the encouragement and uh
We've asked Loreta to come and play today and so
this piece that she's going to play would have been
right up the alley of what Lisa would have uh
provided uh a program she would have presented uh in
years gone by
Loreta thank you
I hope you could hear Lisa see
truly What what the spirit
I could hear her singing Loreta I could hear it
Beautifully done
Thank you
Thank you so much for that
There's a verse of scripture that I wanted to share
in addition to what I've already shared with you today
and it comes from the uh the book of Genesis
chapter one and of course you recognize I'm sure that
uh Genesis chapter one includes that great story of creation
Wonderful poem And uh at the end of that chapter
It says this
God saw everything that he had made
And indeed it was very good
If we've grown up in Western tradition We've probably heard
those words so many times that they don't mean uh
as much to us anymore because we're they're so familiar
we we expect to hear them
But if you would have grown up in other traditions
particularly back in that ancient time you would have seen
the striking contrast to what many other people believed
They believed that the world was evil
And that the best thing for us to do was
be everything we could to separate ourselves from the world
to to live in a kind of a spiritual existence
and to deny anything of physical value
But the Hebrew people said no that's not true
The world in which we live is a good world
God created everything
And God saw that it was good
Bob had a bit of that notion in his mind
didn't he He loved life
He enjoyed life
He thought that that this world in which we live
that we've been privileged to be born into that this
is a good thing
Life is good
I don't know if he ever wore one of those
t-shirts that has that goofy grin life is good
I'm not sure probably not but he could have he
could have because that's how he approached life that life
is good we should be grateful for it
Life is good
And that includes our work
The work is not a curse
Work is a blessing
And what we've heard from Dick just a few moments
ago uh Bob received his work as a blessing
He was he was the voice of wrestling for so
many years but he was also the a newscaster and
a weather man
He was the kind of person that people
Tuned into on a day by day basis and they
were comforted by the fact by by that voice uh
that was so so beautiful and always in the right
cadence and so forth that it was so good to
hear him
Uh he loved doing that
Life is good work is good and he wanted to
portray that to the people in his life
Work is good and so it ought to be done
with all that we have and all that we are
We should pour ourselves into it and isn't that what
he did And I think that's why the people cheered
for him coming down that escalator because they knew that
he respected them he respected them enough to give his
best to what was important to them um it was
a good thing
Uh I think we could all learn something from that
to respect the people for whom we work enough to
give them our best
Aren't we glad that he did that He did that
for the many people that he would share a broadcast
with but he did it for others in his family
Yeah life is good and so is family and of
course uh we've already shared that uh he had a
wife of 76 years Jackie and he he and she
were quite a pair
They loved life they enjoyed uh living together and having
a family together and all the the things that they
did through the years
They lived a beautiful life in so many ways uh
it's good
And they shared that with their sons and their daughter
Life is good and they're grandchildren
Um it's a beautiful thing to see a person who
lives out his or her life in such a way
as to as to leave everyone feeling positively uh as
if life is a beautiful thing and they've seen someone
do it in a beautiful way
Life is good work is good family is good
Church is good
I met Bob and Jackie I guess back in the
late 90s early 2000s they had moved off
They've been members of this church before but they moved
up to the lake
Uh they said they had been through three pastors uh
in this church and so they they had had some
experience in this church but they came back and I
remember uh uh getting together with them and how it
was always so much fun on a Wednesday night they
would come to Wednesday night service and
And uh we have a meal and so forth and
uh it was just fun being with them sharing in
conversation with them and there were a lot of people
that were always around them uh people knew them and
appreciated them and love them uh they love this church
And this congregation loved them
It's a good thing
That's a really good thing
I come to this service today and Oftentimes I uh
I share a verse of scripture
That uh that occurs to me particularly when someone has
lived into their 90s
Uh a verse of scripture from Psalm 116:15 and it
says this precious in the side of the Lord
Is the death of his saints
I tell people that when I was a young man
And that's a lot longer ago than I'd like to
admit but when I was a young man I struggled
with that verse because it was hard for me to
put the word precious and death in the same sentence
I thought of of death as being a sorrowful thing
a tragic thing uh something that brings about grief and
sadness and of course it does
It's hard for me to figure out how do you
put precious in the same sentence but as I've grown
older
I've come to realize that the psalmist got it right
There really is something precious about this day today
About our being here today there's something precious uh precious
because here here was a man who lived a long
life
Not everyone is given that blessing
Uh we have many occasions here in this church and
elsewhere where we have to have a funeral service for
perhaps a child or a youth or someone in early
adulthood to live into your 90s to be old enough
to uh to have been a son and a husband
and a father and a grandfather and to have many
friends around the world that's a wonderful blessing there's something
precious about that
But it's even more precious when you take into account
that not only was he given a long life but
he was given a good life he lived a good
life and we've heard about that today we thank God
for that good life but even more precious than that
is the fact that he was ready
Ready for today
Ready in the sense that he had lived his life
and he was ready to make that next transition ready
in the sense that he had put his faith in
God and he had his salvation secured through Christ and
we're grateful for that today grateful that he has now
taken up residence in that place prepared for him by
none other than Jesus Christ our Lord
It's a beautiful thing to think about being together again
And of course he was right
He used to lean over to Jackie and say you
know we did pretty good
For a couple of kids from the country
I'd say how sweet the sound
You'll find it on page 587 where singing stanzas 1
through 3 and 5
Let's stand together as we sing
Please remember that we'll be gathering in the fellowship hall
immediately following this service
We hope you can join us
Let us pray together
Thank you dear Lord for bringing us to this place
Thank you for the privilege of having known and loved
Bob Caudle
And thank you Lord that we can say that we
were loved by Him
We thank you that we can now entrust his eternal
soul to your everlasting care and we can do so
with great confidence knowing that he is one of your
children and that you receive him gladly
We thank you that we can now go forth from
this place and that we can uh be blessed by
many wonderful memories and we can also be blessed by
the fact that we do not go from this place
alone we go together with one another and even more
we go with you guide and direct us everywhere we
go
That we might bring honor and glory to you through
Jesus Christ our Lord in whose blessed name we pray
Amen