(Last Thursday we gathered in the First Baptist Church, Clemson (SC) to say goodbye to a fine and courageous man. Walt Berry. He was quite a man and he crammed a whole lot of life into his 79 years. The last couple of years were very hard for Walt. He developed Alzheimer's and slowly slipped away. His wife Mary and his daughter and son-in-law did all they could to let Walt know he was loved and cared for. The following words are the tribute I gave at the church. )
We’ve come today to honor the life and memory of Walt Berry. A son, a husband, a father,aworker, a Christian, a friend. But none of these or all of these can capture this special life.
We are all a collage of a great many things. And this certainly true of Walt. Born in Greenville on a December day 79 years ago. He grew up in Greenville—went to Clemson University. Dropped out. Worked a while came back and graduated. Married Mary on a June day 48 years ago.
He wanted to get married six months earlier—but Mary wanted to be a June bride—and she was. They had two children whom he loved fiercely. Steve and Susan. Walt was Safety Coordinator for the University until his retirement in 1994. He lived on Strawberry Lane overlooking the lake with his family in the house that he, himself designed.
In the Broadway play “Rent” one of the songs goes this way:
“How do you measure the life
Of a woman or man?
In truths that she learned
Or in times that he cried
In bridges he burned
Or the way that she died.”
And the song ends
“Measure your life in love
Seasons of love…
Seasons of love.”
My, my Walt’s collage is interesting. There are so many parts to his collage of love. He loved his Karman Ghia. And for some reason it was orange. It’s still in the Garage. He loved Music and Motorcycles and Bicycles and Family and Church. He loved lunch every day—the same thing. A pimento sandwich and pinto beans straight out of the can. He loved to travel. He and Mary went to Bermuda on their honeymoon. And if you look closely at his collage you’ll not only find Strawberry Lane but Maine and the West and the North East. They loved to travel. Mary gave me a four page single-spaced document of one of their trips they took to Europe. Walt wrote in meticulous handwriting detailed of that particular trip. England and Holland…Germany…and Austria…and Venice and Rome and Florence and Switzerland and Paris. Seasons of love…seasons of love.
He wrote that one of their stops was Heidelburg Germany. We went there 20 years ago and walked up to the castle high on a hill overlooking the city of Heidelburg. 20 years ago the tour guide pointed to the entrance of one of the buildings there and said: “Do you see the twin angels?” And over the door were these two angels carved in stone. I called them goodness and mercy.
Last year we went black to Heidelburg and climbed the hill to the castle. I asked my wife,
“Do you think those angels are still there?” We didn’t know. But walking through the entrance sure enough there they were: goodness and mercy. Still there after all those years. And as people walked in and out—over their lives decade after decade were these two stone angels: goodness and mercy. I don’t know if Walt saw these—he didn’t miss much. We have read the 23rd Psalm which is a favorite of so many of us. It reminds us that the Lord is our shepherd—He watches over us all. And the Psalm ends: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in there house of the Lord forever.”
The Psalm says those twin angels are overarching all our lives. Goodness and mercy. And I would remind dear Mary and Susan and David and Mary’s grandson little Cliff—and all of us in this room. The Lord is our Shepherd—and those twin angels are with us always. Goodness and mercy. The Psalmist is right. They were with Walt all his life. And there toward the end when he was slowly leaving us don’t you think those twin angels were with him every step of that hard way. And Mary, too. And Susan and David that came back home to help take care of Walt. And we stop and say thanks to them for being with Mary in her hours of great need. Isn’t that what family is supposed to do?And in those hard days goodness and mercy was with them…and is with them still. When Walt moved to Clemson Downs—don’t you think all those nurses and aides that cared for him could have made it themselves without goodness and mercy, too. And then that last dark night Susan and Mary were there with Walt and as he slipped away and laid every burden down—I see in Walt’s collage two angels. Goodness and mercy.
And if I had one gift to give Mary and Susan and David and all of us it would be the great reminder that those twin angels are over all our lives—and they will not leave. And in the hard days of grief ahead and in whatever decisions they and we make—as we close our eyes and try to sleep—let us try to remember on good days and bad—goodness and mercy are with us all.
We thank God that those two angels followed Walt all the way to the end. And that promise holds for us all. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives and one day we, took shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Seasons of love. Seasons of love. Even here. Even now.
Langston Hughes captured this promise in his prayer-poem:
“At the feet o’ Jesus,
Sorrow like a sea.
Lordy, let yo’ mercy
Come driftin’ down on me.
At the feet o’ Jesus
At yo’ feet I stand
O, ma little Jesus,
Please reach out yo' hand."
A Benediction
"Into paradise may the angels lead Walt, at his coming may the martyrs take him up into eternal rest, and may the chorus of angels led him to that holy city, and the place of perpetual light." --from the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead.
--Roger Lovette / rogerlovette.blogpot.com
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