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

[Richard Alton]

Dear Jann, thank you for taking the time to share with us the completed life of Fred. As we get older, it becomes all the more important to hear about how we close out our lives!
Dick

Richard H.T. Alton
International Consultants and Associates
'building global bridges'
166 N. Humphrey Ave, Apt, 1N
Oak Park, IL 60302
T:1.773.344.7172
richard.alton at gmail.com

Don't let the fear of striking out hold you back 
   Babe Ruth

From: LAURELCG at aol.com
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 02:11:19 -0500
To: Oe at wedgeblade.net
Subject: [Oe List ...] Fred's Completed Life








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)  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




Start the year off right.  Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year. 

_________________________________________________________________
Climb to the top of the charts! Play the word scramble challenge with star power.
http://club.live.com/star_shuffle.aspx?icid=starshuffle_wlmailtextlink_jan
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://wedgeblade.net/pipermail/oe_wedgeblade.net/attachments/20080201/c8203c00/attachment-0001.html