[Oe List ...] Emailing: index.htm A Prison Carol

[J&OSlotta]

On Saturday, January 7, 2006, at 06:57  PM, Lynda Cock wrote:

> Thought of our colleague Eric when I read this and all the persons 
> incarcerated at this season.  I hope you will be able to visit with 
> him soon and counsel him a bit.  Sounds like he might need some anger 
> management skills.  
>  
> Thinking also of our colleagues Ruthe and George today as they have 
> memorial service for Ruthe.  Wonder if George able to attend. 
>  
> Care to you dear folks.   Lynda
>  
>


Care to you as well, Lynda.

Lynda, I'm replying without scrolling down to experience the 'Prison 
Carol', which I know will be profound. Not much time right now, though, 
so want to let you know that George indeed attended the service.


I'm sending this to the OE listserve as well. (If Lynda decides to 
share "A Prison Carol with the listserve, she will.) Others of us may 
not know the Eric that Lynda speaks of above; he is Eric Webb, son of 
Craig, a Giant of a Local Colleague, a fact known by those who 
befriended him and were fortunate to know him.

Eric, like Craig, has led a troubled life. He is now imprisoned for 
many years, and several of us correspond regularly with him. Partially 
out of respect for Eric's Dad, but also because we see greatness within 
this man of circumstance, this imprisoned soul brother.

But this memo is not about Eric, but about the completed life of Ruthe 
Yost, a more well-known Colleague. I do not want my descriptive words 
to be the last said about the question raised by Lynda, which I take to 
be: "Please say some words about Ruthe's Memorial Service for those 
many of us who could not attend but were there in spirit."

Clarence and Shirley Snelling officiated--Shirley at Ruthe's 
insistence! Songs from the Methodist Hymnal, in the order they were 
sung:

Hymn #89, "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee", Stanzas 1 & 4
Hymn # 145, "Morning has Broken", Stanzas 1 & 3

(Special Music: "The Rose", sung by a daughter and her friend w/ 
guitar--Amazing affect!)

Hymn #657 (sung antiphonally), "This is the Day"--"This is the day that 
the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it"--Clarence sang his 
lines with deep elegance.
Hymn #117, "O God, Our Help in Ages Past", Stanzas 1, 4, & 5

Clarence read the Beatitudes, saying that the translation was "his". He 
brought the verses into the present tense, consistent with the theme of 
the service--that Ruthe, a, and George, but especially Ruthe, lived 
every day in the realization that it was all she (they) had. Living the 
moment.

A reception in the Fellowship Hall of Grace UMC, following the ceremony 
and  Committal of Ruthe's ashes in their Columbarium, allowed all of we 
gathered to mingle and experience community directly impacted by 
Ruthe's Living Spirit.  We recessed to the Columbarium to the tune 
"When the Saints Go Marching In" played in a "jazz" motif--very moving.

George powered his own wheelchair. He was reserved, conscious of those 
approaching him, and in my opinion in close communication with his dear 
wife.

The morning was over far too quickly. We parted group by group, 
intuiting that this had been an unrepeatable experience.  A final gift 
to us from Ruthe is the reminder that  this day is the only day that 
counts for us, and we must use it accordingly.

I do not want my words to be the only ones said about today in Denver, 
but if they are, I render them up as that.

Jim Slotta