The Service
By Pastor McQuary at Jeff's funeral.

The first time I met Shirley before I even met Jeff, she began to  attend the church I was pastoring in Murfreesboro, TN back in the 80's and it  was there that Shirley showed tremendous amount of enthusiasm and encouraged   me to start a prison ministry at that time.

I was skeptical I have to admit  and several members & elders were skeptical...perhaps they had never been  forced to confront or deal with actual feelings of having to meet and   actually go to a prison and minister to people on death row.

 And Shirley helped to bring me back down.  She encouraged me to go and visit  Jeff.  I had never been to a jail..I was scared to death, I really was.  And  I kind of avoided her, I kind of procrastinated and finally I got up enough  courage .  I didn't want to do it and I went up there and it was a very comfortable experience having to go through being patted down..guards  looking at you as if you to are a criminal.
  I wasn't escorted, I wasn't even  given accurate directions and there I was in the old castle part of the TN  penitentiary finding my way.  I had no idea what to expect. The only thought I had, the only image in my mind was some horrible scene I'd either seen on  tv or seen on the news that was negative.

I remember I came around this big building and knocked on the door and a guard opened it up.  I guess your suppose to call them officers-the officer opened up the door and there was  Jeff, standing just as relaxed, just as calm..

.He was a human being. Nothing  at all what I had anticipated.  And that was the first time I had ever been  in a prison. Jeff, in a way, helped me work and process through those fears I had. And I reminisce now when I left that day, as I was walking down the sidewalk..

I can't explain it but I still feel it.  I felt so good..so positive..I felt so warm.

 In a sense it was Jeff, Jeff that helped me as a   pastor to grow a little bit more. To see that there was another area in our  society that desperately needed to be ministered to. I got excited.  Needless to no the whole time I was thinking I was going  to minister to Jeff and had to get my church to kind of support this and work with Shirley  and support this.
 

Needless to say, Jeff already was ministering to me and to everybody who came to visit him.
 And I remember a few members of the church  that visited him had such a good experience going
and fellowshipping and  having prayer with him.   And it wasn't until way years later that as I look
back, the irony of it.  These member that would go and visit him and visit  other inmates, ok thinking
they were actually going to Jeff    -Jeff in a sense  was actually there pastor.

He ministered to me.   He ministered to me in a  sense that he broke down some prejudices...some real apprehensive feelings  about this whole different world to where I went on , majored in counseling and got my masters degree and started working on my doctrine degree.

   But he broke the  ice...he ministered to me....We have no idea how God can work in our lives.
How God used Jeff and I accepted that and I worked with death row.  I  worked with every type
of individual you could think of for a solid year.   That's how Jeff affected me.  And we might say, you know how can anybody in a prison really have the ability to do much.

Those of you know there was a man named Paul in the Bible.  And at the end of his life he was  incarcerated, he was jailed, he was in prison and this is what he said at the  end of his life, months before his death.  " For I am already being proud, being poured out as a drink offering.  The time of my departure is at hand.   I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race..I have kept the  faith.  Finally there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the  Lord, the righteous Judge..the ONLY JUDGE..who'll give me on that day and not   only to me but also to all who have loved.

But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me so that the message might be preached truly through me and that all the gentiles might hear and I was delivered out of  the lion."

As I hear the family tell me all the courageous things that Jeff has  done during his 21 or 23 years in the ministry I can't help think that he   characterizes Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ.  Paul who continued to minister to people while he was in prison.  He even ministered to people in he house of Caesar and brought them to Jesus Christ.
 

  Jeff was always caring for other inmates.  I hear stories, countless  stories of how he would
call other people outside and encourage them to come and bring medication, whatever type
of needs these individuals had..  And I know what I am saying because during that 2000 hour internship that I spent I  saw a lot of people who had life sentences who just simply sat and laid in a pool of pity.

    And it was taking, not to say there isn't a need for  medication...but was on so many medications thinking they could not do  anything because of these physical walls prevented them. They had that mind  set and it's people like me who counseled them, trying to get them to see    that just because there is a physical wall doesn't mean they are limited from    doing something with their lives.

Jeff, like Paul, caught that vision along   time ago.  And he wasn't going to let physical walls impede him, prevent him from  ministering to others...as Paul did, as Jesus Christ our Saviour did.

Jeff inspired his mother, I don't even have them all here.  I think   there are six or seven books...I haven't published one book, and this is what  Jeff has inspired.  Other men would have laid in a pool of pity...but Jeff  inspired..

  But now we come to the end, we're not going say goodbye to Jeff,   for there will be a day when we all will reunite with him again in flesh. But as we leave this chapel today and we all go on our own ways , what is it  that we're going take with us that Jeff is speaking out? What is it that we  can take?
Because I know these organizations, I know these websites, I know these books that have affected
other people.  That his ministry will continue  to live out through other people. What a eulogy.  When we leave this world  what will people take ?

What will people remember about us ? I would like to   say that Jeff is saying to each one of us today:
 Continue to live out the  characteristics, the beautiful characteristics, the beautiful ministry, the love, the compassion, being able to be sensitive to anybody,  regardless of    there background, regardless of how evil or how good. I pray that each one of us today , when we leave, somehow Jeff can cause us to re-evaluate our life and say, "There is something in you Jeff that I want   to continue to live on, I want to continue to be."

   We Love You Friend    You have truly fought the good fight   You have truly finished the race  I pray that each one of us can keep the faith that this man has….

   

      

Jeff fought for the rights of all. He taught GED classes for his fellow prisoners, did legal work for those who didn't know how and was their friend.

He was wrongly convicted and sent to death row, but still he never wanted revenge. He was honest, kind and a man of his word. Whatever life dealt him, he took without complaining. He lived his life to it's fullest from behind the bars and concrete.

I am proud to call Jeff Dicks my son. His death will not be in vain as I started the Jeff Dicks Medical Coalition to help others in prison to get medical care and not have a death sentence because they become sick while incarcerated.

To My Son Jeff
I'll not say good by to you son, bur from the day you were born I loved you. As you grew older, I was so proud of you. Life dealt you a hard blow but you never once wanted revenge. Your sweetness and love always shone through. There was a bond between us that not even death can take away.
 

Your whole young life was spent in loving and helping others. You always had love for all the guys on the row and you had so much to give...you made a difference in a lot of lives and thousands of people loved you and were fighting for you.

You held on for that last visit and to call me on Mothers Day. It was as if you knew your time had come. I wish it had me that was called, we're not supposed to bury our children, but God wanted you up there.

They say your heart was enlarged, and that is true. No one had a bigger heart than you did. You were always there for me and I will always cherish our talks and the love you gave me. I'm proud to call you son.
You gave me the greatest gift of all by leaving me a part of you. Your daughter, Maria. So son, I won't say good bye and I know you'll be waiting to greet me when my time has come. I wish I could have done more. You were my life for twenty years and I don't know how I can go on, but I know you want me to. You are my angel, so baby till I see you again, I love you. MOM
 

Maria To Her Dad
As my father died, I was able to feel him more than ever. My father was a wonderful man, who spent 22 years of his life with helping others. I believe that God had a reason that my father was where he was. I think one of the reasons was that he knew our family and that my father was strong enough to stand it all. I feel that my father wants us to continue to fight.

Every time I feel bad I feel him and something tells me, that it is okay. I think he would want that my mother fights for the guys and cleans his name. I feel that he is now really free and I know that he is with god.

Sometimes I go barefoot through the grass, because this is something that my father could not doe for 22 years and will never be able to do again. I wish I could take away mom's pain. I know that my father loved her and he knew that it will be hard, but he knew, that she will not get herself down, but continue to fight.

---

We will continue to fight for all Jeff stood for. I'm proud to have a son that touched so many lives. I made Jeff a promise to take care of his daughter and I will not break that promise.

Maria is a beautiful young lady with a son and daughter of her own now. She named him after her dad, Jeffrey. He is my reason for living and I wish Jeff had been alive to see his grandson. Maria is ready to take her place with her brother Trevor and I as we speak out against the horrors that goes on inside the prison walls.

No matter if you believe in the death penalty or not, surely you do not advocate mistreatment of prisoners, of killing them by withholding medication needed to save their lives. We're asking that you join us in fighting for medical care for the thousands of men and women behind bars today. Join us in this humanitarian effort to stop the brutality that goes on today.

I ask everybody to support us in our fight for medical treatment in prison ... If you have a child behind the walls, it could happen to you ... My son did fight for care for those on death row ... Most people do not care ...
I want you to know about my son and how wonderful he was and how many cared about him, including some pastors, who visited him .... His heart was good and never in his whole life he raised his hand against anybody ... Jeff loved everyone...
 

While the service we let some white balloons fly and his father and I gave freedom to a white dove.  The white dove did fly four or five times over Jeff. Laurie was able to make a photo of it, as it flow above. The next day we went to the cemetery and planted flowers on his grave ... and we had a last visit with him. Laurie found a white bird feather on the grave.

For us that means that Jeff is free... and now he is not in pain any longer.

The Jeff Dicks Medical Foundation will fight for the medical treatment of those in the prison system. Everybody who wants to be a part of it, please write me an Email and help in the struggle hopefully we can change something in the life of others behind the walls.  This is what Jeff would have wanted .... he was that kind of man.

"Never have doubt that a little group of feeling people can change the world. It is the only thing we ever had." Margaret Mead.