Christopher honestly wanted very badly to speak on his friend's account, but couldn't for the life of him trust himself enough not to make an utter fool of himself. Eliza didn't dare speak because she felt, even though she knew him very well, she didn't know him deeply enough to say anything more than, [i]I had picnics on his farm?[/i]. 

As the others pondered what they might say, Allen Turner raised his hand, his expression somber as he stood and walked up to the front. 

"I'm not sure about the rest of you, but Mr. Rustler, I still can't bring myself to call him Marcus though he told me several times to do so, was as much a father to me as my father was." He began, garnering a few chuckles here and there. "Mr. Rustler was everything I aspired to be, though if you told him that he might smack you for it. He always was a very modest man. I remember once having a talk with him, after I sort of... uhh.. let all of his cows out of their pen as a joke." Allen paused for chuckling, "If you want to talk about a come to God moment, that was it. Mr. Rustler didn't yell. He didn't swing his fist. The look of disappointment in his eyes was all I needed to whip my rear end into shape. He was someone I looked up to and I think that I could have handled it had he gotten angry. He didn't. He just..." Allen paused, getting his emotions together as tears threatened his resolve to keep speaking, "smiled and gave me the bell to ring them all together, grabbing another to help." 

Sighing, Allen continued, "Just a few days ago, he came into the Inn and asked me something. I should have known in that moment that he knew he didn't have too much longer left. I'm sure others have similar stories to this one. He was a father and grandfather to us all. He asked me, 'Allen... Are you the man you want to be right now?' I... I didn't have an answer then and I still really don't know. But I'm thankful for this man who was willing to ask questions like this, to really make us evaluate our lives in a way that mattered." He scratched at the back of his head, feeling nervous now. "I'll stop there. I'm sure others wish to speak..." He finished, going to sit with Christopher again.

A few others spoke for Marcus, telling funny stories, moments they shared with him days before, and the value he had in their lives.