[Oe List ...] Fred Buss's Memorial

[Isobel and Jim Bishop]

Dear Herman,
We appreciate so much your sending this tribute to Fred.
I do feel as if I was present.
In Australia we remember Fred as giving himself wholeheartedly to us - 
and to the people he encountered- during his year he spent amongst  
us. 1968.

Sincerely,
  Isobel BIshop.

On 03/08/2011, at 12:57 AM, Herman Greene wrote:

> We held a moving memorial to Fred in the Kemper Building (which I  
> understand is now simply called “4750” by the locals) on Saturday.
>
> Joe Thomas did most of the planning for the service with Paul  
> Schrijnen providing significant input. Both Joe and Paul were very  
> caring to Fred, Lindsey and Sarah throughout this final period.  
> Lindsey has a wonderful wife, Dr. Betina Franschini, a  
> pediatrician. I think the service meant more to Lindsey and Betina  
> than any other people present.
>
> The memorial was held on the first floor in a large room adjacent  
> to the entrance called the Martin Luther King, Jr. Room. How  
> appropriate since Fred was very involved in the civil rights  
> movement and was even jailed once with Dr. King in Albany, GA, in  
> 1962.
>
> I didn’t count the number of people present, but it was around 50.  
> I will send a copy of the service in a separate email as I know it  
> will be held up for approval because of the message size  
> limitations on this listserve.
>
> Fred’s history goes very deep in the life of ICA. (At many levels  
> it will always be the Order or EI for me, but I have come to  
> understand the evolution that has occurred and our place in history  
> now goes forward as ICA. I learned so much more about this history  
> last weekend.) He joined the Christian Faith and Life Community at  
> the University of Texas in Austin in 1956. (I believe this is the  
> right year.) His roommate in the community was Don Warren. Don  
> Warren’s wife was part of the women’s branch of the Community and  
> both Don and his wife were among original six families that came to  
> Evanston in 1962 to become the Ecumenical Institute of Chicago.
>
> Don was the lead liturgist at the memorial service. He also gave an  
> unexpected, extensive eulogy at the end of the service as he was  
> not listed on the order of service to do a eulogy. Other eulogies  
> were given by Kaze Gadway (I learned that the name Kaze was how  
> children in some country in which she served pronounced Kay Hayes),  
> Lindsey Buss and Paul Schrijnen. Bettina said a Buddhist prayer on  
> behalf of Meta Karuna (formerly Elizabeth Buss and presently a  
> Buddhist nun). Charles Hahn was the other lead liturgist.
>
> They were surrounded by a could of witnesses including Doris Hahn,  
> Patrick Moriarity, Marsha Hahn, Jim and Karen Troxell, Charles  
> Lingo, Joyce Townley, Laura Spencer, Terry and Pam Bergdall, Frank  
> Knutson (formerly Bob Knutson), Paul Noah, Marge and Paula  
> Philbrook, Sally Fenton, Carol Pierce, Dick Alton, distinguished  
> friends of Lindsey, Karen Sims, Roy Stansbury and many others.  
> (Terry has the complete list.)
>
> We brought our Order memory into the service without repeating our  
> Order liturgies.
>
> Following the service, we went to the Guild Suite on the sixth  
> floor. We sat in a circle and told stories of Fred. Apparently Fred  
> was better than anyone at doing the sex section of the Missional  
> Family course. Lindsey inquired whether he should leave the room  
> while this was being discussed. Paul recounted that Fred’s frequent  
> greeting when he was in Australia around 1968 was “Are you keeping  
> despair at bay?” I reported that he advised priors of religious  
> houses when giving their reports in Chicago should imagine  
> themselves as German commanders giving reports of progress on the  
> western front during the last days of World War II.
>
> Following the conversation we had au d’oeuvres and fellowship.
>
> Many of us then went to Fifth City to spread Fred’s ashes on the  
> playground behind the Fifth City Pre-School (the hanger). When the  
> pre-school began in Fifth City, EI obtained a grant for playground  
> equipment. Fred found rocket ship/slide he wanted for the  
> playground. He insisted that the rocket ship be part of the  
> equipment, was overruled at least twice, he agreed to let it go,  
> and then put it in the budget anyway. Allegedly Fred said, “Lincoln  
> has his memorial, Grant has his tomb, and I have my rocket ship.”  
> Now Fred rests under it. It is still part of the Fifth City  
> Preschool. (Fred had two pictures on his wall at his death. One was  
> of the rocket ship. Kaze Gadway wrote Zoom, Zoom Astronaut in honor  
> of the slide.)
>
> While in Fifth City we encountered Ray Fox, the son of Lilly and  
> Ray Fox, now 50 and just back from serving in Iraq. How wonderful  
> it was to talk with him. He was pleased also.
>
> The Iron Man still stands. The Program Center stands . . . empty  
> and abandoned. Many of the buildings we knew have been cleared and  
> there are vacant lots now—with grass. Fifth City is less tense, or  
> so it seemed. It abides. 341 Trumbull has been tuck pointed and is  
> ready to stand for another 100 years. The Bethany Brethren Hospital  
> occupies the ground of the EI campus.
>
> On a personal note, I went to this memorial because Fred and Al/ 
> Charles Lingo sustained me more than any other people during my  
> years on the Westside in Chicago. I wasn’t very aware of Fred’s  
> flaws. He was one of my heroes.
>
> He embodied the risen man to me--the best of EI for he brought  
> life, abundant life to others. He was that part of Christ who was  
> the Lord of the Dance—and we did sing this during his memorial.
>
> Lindsey was asked late in the afternoon how he was feeling. He  
> paused and said, “Wonderful.”
>
> Betina and Lindsey both were able to understand in a new way the  
> part of Lindsey’s life and our lives that is sometimes so hard to  
> tell to others. The Spirit lives.
>
> Herman
>
>
>
> _____________________________________________
> Herman Greene
> 2516 Winningham Drive
> Chapel Hill, NC 27516
> 919-929-4116 (h)
> 919-624-0579 (c)
> 919-942-4358 (f)
> Skype: hgreene-nc
> hfgreene at mindspring.com
>
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