'If You Ever Leave a Legacy for Your Children, Let It be That You've Taught Them Friendship With God,' Says Kathie Lee Gifford
In a moving tribute to her late husband, NFL legend and former television personality Frank Gifford who died two Sundays ago, "Today" show host Kathie Lee Gifford said her husband, who "asked Jesus into his heart" as a young child, saw his relationship with God as the most important thing in life, and shared his legacy of faith with his children.
As she returned to the "Today" show set for the first time since her husband's passing Monday, Gifford thanked everyone who supported her family during their time of bereavement, then launched into a moving tribute to her departed husband.
"We laughed up to the very end. I just want everybody to know that this is a man who was at complete peace in his life," she said. "He might have been the happiest, most content person in the world at this point in his life."
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Gifford explained that her husband, despite his success, lived a very "grateful" life in which he always remembered to praise God. It was a value she said he inherited from his mother, who leaned heavily on her Christian faith during the heart of the Great Depression when Frank was born.
Gifford said her husband was raised in extreme poverty and was sometimes forced to eat dog food as his father scrounged for work.
"People who think that he was born with this silver spoon in his mouth? He goes, 'We didn't have spoons.' But it made him so grateful. Honestly, he's the most grateful human being I've ever, ever known, and that colored everything he did," said Gifford.
As for his faith, she said: "That remained with him for the rest of his life. He strayed from his faith on occasion but his faith never left him. ... His world got smaller as his God got bigger and he'd want you to know that, that he died in complete peace. He knew every sin he committed was forgiven."
She later recalled how Frank was transformed after he returned from a trip to Israel a few years ago.
"One thing I do know about him is when we went to the Holy Land (Israel) a couple of years ago, he came back a completely different person," she said.
"We went to a place called the Brook of Elah in the Valley of Elah, where shepherd boy David fought a different kind of giant named Goliath, and our friend Ray who took us there took us down to the Brook of Elah and he said, 'Alright, pick up a stone because that's what David the shepherd boy did. He picked up five stones because he thought he might need more than one,'" she continued. "He did that (swirling motion) the sling shot and slew the giant."
She then explained the reason behind the story.
"But as Ray pointed out to us, the miracle was not that the shepherd boy was able to kill the giant. The miracle was that the shepherd boy, who had all the skills he would ever need in life, trusted in a living God. Not a religion, but a living God," she said.
"And Frank came back with a completely new perspective, and toward the end (death) ... if somebody wanted to see his trophy room, they went into it, he didn't take them to the bust of the Hall of Fame, he didn't take them to see his Emmys or his rings … he took them straight over to the stone that we brought back from the Brook of Elah," noted Gifford.
"We got home from the Holy Land and Cassidy (daughter) graduated from high school. I don't know what she was expecting but she got a stone, and we said to her, 'Cass, where are you gonna throw your stone for the Kingdom of God? What is your stone and where are you gonna throw it?'" she said.
"A week later, Cody (son) graduated from college, USC film school. He got a stone, and if you ever leave a legacy for your children, let it be that you've taught them friendship with God. And you've taught them to find their stone and show it. Show it. Throw it hard and well and transform the hurting world that needs God's love so much," she added.
LISTEN TO THE COMPLETE TRIBUTE BELOW:
