This was the talk given at Jeff's funeral by his sister Lynda Ann.
"Mindy, thank you for the opportunity to publicly honor my brother. And thank you for being you, and for making Jeff a great man. I know with all my heart and mind that we will be with him again, and until then he is happy and at peace. CJ, Justin, Maddie, Ryan and Grayson, hold tight to your happy memories. I hold very tightly to mine, sometimes I wondered if it was too much. I have wondered if it was unhealthy or strange, one time I asked your dad what he thought, and he assured me that it is a good thing.
I felt like I wanted to share my memories of Jeff as a kid, when I knew him best.
Jeff is the quintessential big brother. He found joy in tormenting me, but would beat up anyone who threatened me.
He made sure I knew how to throw a punch, and a football.
He practiced wrestling moves on me, and let me join him in harassing the neighbor boys.
He pushed me to be competitive. We raced across our front lawn hundreds of times. I was sure I could beat him because I wanted to so badly. I finally did beat him one time... he was recovering from knee surgery.
I wanted more than anything to do things as well as he could. It never occurred to me until now that this is where I get my fierce competitive drive.
I wanted to run faster, throw farther, and water ski better than my big brother, but never could.
I love that he taught me all about football and from the day he put on #53 that was my favorite number. That's the number I had to wear every time I played any sport. I still use 53 every day in passwords. That's my cool big brothers football number.
I can't talk about our childhood without sharing the Kool Aid stand story . . . (Lynda Ann related the story here so I have added what I remember she said. Annie saved her money for months so that she could send for a Kool-Aid stand. The kit came and on a beautiful summer day, Annie and her mom put the Kool-Aid stand together and set it up in front of the house with Kool-Aid ready to sell. Just as she got settled, around the corner came Jeffrey and Wade Phippen on their bikes and cycled right into her Kool-Aid stand and pretty much destroyed it in one pass.
Annie continued . . . .
A few years ago he did buy e a new Kool-Aid stand . . . and we could finally put the Kool-Aid stand incident of 1979 to rest.
One of his favorite pastimes was to lock me out of the house, and keep me out even if it meant using the hose. He threw my doll stroller down the stairs, made fun of me during those awkward, sensitive Jr.high years and he loved to try and get me in trouble, and poked at me relentlessly on car rides.
I wouldn't have wanted to grow up any other way.
He is part of who I am. And, as I would often let him know, I'm pretty great...and he would let me know how awesome he is. Always a competition.
Before I was married and had kids, I always hoped I would have a boy first. Every girl needs a big brother, it makes you tough and strong.
There are a few favorite memories I want to share . . .
Christmas mornings lining up in the hallway for the big moment to run into the living room, just the two of us, laughing that, is two kids really a "line"?
Riding our bikes to Cottonwood mall to see Rocky, all summer long. (Annie mentioned here that they saw that movie five times that summer.)
Playing basketball horse on the driveway.
Building fires in the gutter in front of the house.
Fighting over who got to lie in the back window of our big red Buick.
Playing kick the can.
Navigating our parent's room only by climbing across furniture, just like they did on an episode of Lavern and Shirley.
Motorcycle rides up Millcreek canyon.
And one of our most civilized moments as children who thrived on bugging each other, was naming a stray dog Jeff brought home, AJ, for Ann and Jeff.
Sharing season tickets to BYU football games. I don't know why he defected and became such a hard core Utah fan, but for the record, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Jeff Hintze was a BYU fan. I have pictures to prove it.
Jeff let me drive a car for the very first time. He did't explain to me to GENTLY push on the brake, so after I almost put him through the windshield when he said stop, and a few harsh words, my turn was over. After I had some practice, he did teach me the subtleties of stealing our parent's car. A big brother must.
Lake Powell, was a very special place for us. He loved to go underwater and then have me stand on his shoulders to push him down even further. He was fearless in the water. He was a beautiful skier. He even loved to just drag behind the boat by holding on to the ski rope and turn around, then a bubble would form over his head.
And best of all, sitting on the boat or up on the smooth rock and listening to music, just loving life.
And one more, listening to Nik Kershaw. An artist my husband swears no one has ever heard of, but Jeff and I.
These are small and some silly things, but they are the things that make up an amazing childhood, to build a great life on.
Even as adults we have raced across the pool. All it took was a glance at each other and it was on. I don't know how or why it started, but to this day, in classic big brother style he would tell me I stink, and I always returned the compliment. We both knew it mean, I love you.
We grow up and get busy with our own children, jobs and life, and this week it has become very apparent to me that Jeff had this whole adult life that I was not a part of. It has been amazing to meet his friends and read so many stories and comments from these people that are such an important part of his world. He is surely a unique individual' he has touch the lives of so many wonderful people. It says a lot about the man he is.
And I am proud to be Jeff Hintze's little sister.
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