[Oe List ...] Fred's Completed Life

[LAURELCG at aol.com]

Dear Ones,
Fred completed his life this afternoon at 1:25.   It was quite awe-filling to 
witness such a "graceful passage."  It became  clear 20 minutes before his 
last breath that it was near.  He had been  working very hard to breathe.  
Suddenly, his face flushed very dark, and  his breathing slowed to 3 or 4 per 
minute.  We were listening to a cd  called "Compassionate Transitions." 
(_www.wisdomoftheworld.com_ (http://www.wisdomoftheworld.com) )  It is  beautiful poetry, 
with wonderful readers set to exquisite music, and  specifically designed for 
end-of-life care.  I'd love to share all of the  seven we listened to during 
those last 20 minutes.  (Titles and authors are  at the end of the e-mail.)  
Here is one:  "In Your Blessed Hands"  by Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, a Jewish 
Rabbi:
 
"God, You made me.
>From before I was born,
You took me through my life.
You supported me.
You were there with me when I wasn't there with  You.
There were times when I felt betrayed and I could  still turn to You.
 
It was a wonderful life.  I loved and I was  Loved.
I sang.  I heard music.  I saw  flowers.  I saw sunrises and sunsets.
Even in places when I was alone, You, in my heart,  helped me turn loneliness 
in precious solitude.
I look back over the panorama of my life,
What a wonderful privilege this was!
 
I still have some concerns for people in the  family,
    for the world, for the  planet.
I put them in Your Blessed Hands.
I trust that whatever in the web of life that needed  me to be there is now 
completed.
I thank You for keeping me in the Light.
As I let go, and let go, and let go...and let  go."
 
Fred did let go, and it was just beautiful that his  face that had been so 
strained with the effort to breathe, was now so smooth and  at peace.  He wasn't 
in pain, though he had oxycodone the last day to try  to ease his breathing.  
The hospice nurse came back, pronounced him dead,  groomed his beard (got a 
little compulsive about nasal and ear hair) and  disposed of the oxycodone.  We 
kept him here for 6 hours, as  allowed.
 
Ritual plans are not complete.  Fred's  body will be at home for visitation 
Saturday and Sunday.  I am hoping  that it will be possible to have a graveside 
service followed by a reception on  Monday, but it will probably be Tuesday.  
I will let you know.
 
Our son Scott, our friend and healing colleague Pam  Roome, my mother Willie 
Mae Hale, and Fred's nephew Tim Fike, were all  with us this afternoon.  Barry 
arrived just as the funeral home  came to take his body.  (Drove through 
blizzards to get her  from Idaho.)  Patrick was here yesterday.  We have been so  
supported by prayers and actions.  I am amazed at the love I have  
experienced, springing from my heart for Fred, and being received from all  of your 
hearts.  We exist in abundant love.  Thank you, thank  you, thank you.     
 
Eulogy for Fred McGuire

Alfred Uel McGuire Jr.,  who, like his father, was always known as Fred, was 
born in Porterville,  California, on March 28, 1932, and completed his life on 
Earth on January 31,  2008.  He was the first born child of Fred Sr. and Rosa 
Ellen Wilhoit  McGuire. His birth was greatly anticipated and warmly welcomed 
by his parents  who had married when they were 32 and 40 years old.  Fred’s 
sister Patricia  was born when Fred was seventeen months, and Caroline came 
along when he was  five.  Their family life was centered around the Church of 
Christ, of which  Fred and Rosa were founding members. 

Growing up, Fred was active in Boy  Scouts.  He graduated from Strathmore 
High School in 1950, where he  lettered in football, basketball and track for 
four years and played trombone in  the band.  He held several valley-wide track 
records well into the  1970’s.  Summers he was a firefighter for the U.S. Park 
Service in  Sequoia.  He ran track at California Polytechnic College in San 
Luis  Obispo  and at Abilene Christian College, Abilene, Texas, for one year 
each  before joining the U.S. Navy in 1953.  He was  on the Navy track team,  
running the marathon and other distance events.  He received the National  
Service Defense Medal.

Following military service, he returned to Abilene  Christian in 1955, where 
he met and shortly thereafter married Jann Claire Hale,  having swept her off 
her feet.  They were married on February 17, 1956, and  continued their 
schooling.  After Fred received his Bachelor’s Degree in  Animal Husbandry in 1957, 
he received a scholarship to study for a Master of  Vocational Education at 
Sam Houston State Teachers College in Huntsville, Texas,  which he completed in 
1958.

Fred brought Jann and their precious baby  daughter Suzanne back home to 
California in 1959, where he taught at and was  later principal of Martin Memorial 
School, on the grounds of Springville County  Hospital.  Fred and Jann built 
their dream house on La Paloma drive in  Springville.  After the hospital 
population declined, Fred taught science  at Porterville High School and was head 
of the Agriculture Department at  Porterville College for two years.  Sons 
Scott (1961) Patrick (1964) and  Barry (1965) were born in these wonderful, happy 
years.  During the summers  of 1960 through 1965, Fred was the fire guard for 
the U.S. Forest Service in  Mineral King, which allowed him to hike, fish and 
swap stories with campers all  summer long. 

Fred was an adventurer, and in 1968, he and Jann ventured  to Belo Horizonte, 
Brazil, where they taught and Fred was principal of the  American Cooperative 
School.  They returned to the U.S. in 1970, and joined  the family religious 
order that made up the staff of the Ecumenical Institute  and the Institute of 
Cultural Affairs.  During the next five and a half  years, they were assigned 
to San Francisco, Chicago, St. Louis, Japan, Korea and  Hong Kong, teaching 
adult seminars and doing community development  work.

In 1976, they returned to California to be near Fred’s aging  parents.  Fred 
and Jann started teaching for Lindsay Unified School  District.  Fred taught 
science and social studies at Steve Garvey Junior  High, Lindsay High School 
and Grove High School.  As a teacher, he was  memorable and was loved by many 
students, who never failed to greet him warmly  in his later years.  His face 
lit up during his final hospital stay when  one of the nurses remembered having 
been in his class.  Fred worked for the  job corps during the summers, leading 
young people in doing housing rehab and  other community service.

Fred and Jann continued to volunteer for the  Institute of Cultural Affairs 
for many years.  They worked in Richgrove for  the community development 
project that brought a dependable water and sewer  system to that town for the first 
time.  In 1979, Fred and son Patrick,  aged fifteen, delivered a donated car 
to a village project in Guatamala.   In 1980, he participated a Global 
Research Assembly in Nairobi, Africa, and  worked in a village there to build 
terraces for better crop  production.

In 1987, Fred and Jann acquired almost twenty acres near the  top of Blue 
Ridge, elevation 5000 feet.  After his retirement from teaching  in 1990, he 
spent much time happily working on projects there.     

Fred and Jann were active members of the Lindsay United Methodist Church  
from 1977 to the mid-90’s, when they began the study and practice of Native  
American Spirituality at the Sequoia Center for Holistic Studies in Springville.  
Fred came to appreciate that all creatures are our relations, and that human  
kind needs to take a more humble stance toward them, and to work toward the  
healing of our Mother Earth.

Fred worked for a time as a counselor in  alcoholism recovery for Kaweah 
Delta Hospital.  He acknowledged that the 12  Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous had 
saved his own life, and believed there was no  spiritual program more profound.  
He carried this message to others for 21  years.

In 1999, Fred suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage after a fall  off a 
ladder.  He was in the hospital and rehabilitation center for three  months, and 
made what his doctors considered a miraculous recovery.  He and  his loved ones 
were grateful for the “last gift of time” he was given in the  years since 
then.  The children and grandchildren have been extremely  helpful and 
supportive during this time.

In 2000, Fred and Jann became  active in the Lindsay First Presbyterian 
Church, and eventually became  members.  Fred served as a deacon.  The family is 
very grateful for  the congregation’s love and support in Fred’s final illness.

Fred and his  children were very close.  They loved to backpack and fish 
together in the  Sierras.  Daughter Suzanne, one of his favorite hiking partners, 
died in  2002 at the age of 43.  He missed her terribly.  Mineral King was the 
 family’s favorite place, and it was there that they celebrated Fred and Jann’
s  50th anniversary.  Scott and his wife Rachel are blessed with sons Sam, 
Sid  and Rory, and daughter Jaimee.  Patrick and Tami are the proud parents of  
Joseph, Courtney, Bryan and his wife Lacy.  Scott and Patrick both live in  
Arroyo Grande, California.  Beloved son Barry and Roxanne and their son,  
Jonathan, live in beautiful Idaho, near Boise.

In addition to his  immediate family, Fred is survived by his sister and 
brother-in-law Caroline and  Chuck Fike and their sons Tim (and wife Debra and 
their 3 sons), Terry (Nancy,  and three daughters and one son), Ted (Heide and 
two sons and one daughter) and  Trace (Holly, and three sons and one daughter.)  
Fred’s sister Patricia  Cadenhead died in 1980, and is survived by her son 
Randall (Debbie and one son  and one daughter) and her two daughters Karen (Dan, 
and one son and two  daughters) and Laura (Mike, and one daughter.) 

Recently, when it was  clear that their “days were dwindling down to a 
precious few,” Jann asked Fred  what he hoped for.   He replied, “Peace.  Comfort.  
And  love.”  May it be so.
 
  Thich  Nhat Hanh, "The End of Suffering," Maximillian Mizzi, "Franciscan 
Blessing,"  Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, "In Your Blessed Hands," Elisabeth 
Kubler-Ross  "Unconditional Love," Arun and Sunanda Gandhi, "We Are Not Alone," Ram 
Dass, "Be  Here Now," and finally Michael Stillwater, "The  Welcoming." 
 
Love and  blessings to you all,
Jann





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