Memorial Service

Yesterday, I attended a Memorial Service for Margo, one of my students. She had died suddenly after receiving one event of chemo-therapy. She was in her late fifties and her husband survives her. Upon entering the Church I was greeted by an individual with a beard and long scraggly hair. He said his name was Jack, I shook his hand, introduced myself then walked to sit in one of the pews. As I looked to the front I found a strange sight. In the center there was a pair of skies, to the right of the skies was a board with purses hanging from it, to the right of the purses was a picture of a beautiful catamaran sailboat. To the left of the skies was a display of crocheted items, to the left of that was a picture of a beautiful Corvette Convertible, to the left of that was a book with which to sign your presence. The service started with Jack walking to the podium and talking about Margo: how he met her, liked her, what a nice person she was, what she had accomplished in her life, what she had owned in her life, her knitting and felting skills, how she had taught first grade at many military bases around the world, where she had sailed with the sailboat she loved (picture on the right), how she came to appreciate Corvette cars and bought one (picture on the left) how she liked to ski and where she went to ski (skis in the center), what a fun loving, quick witted person she was. He then talked about how she met Howard and how they married soon after. They had three children and that two were not there. By this time I realized Jack was the Minister of this Church. He finished by asking anyone who wanted to say something to come up. He then sat down. A woman came up and began to talk about how wonderful Margo was and how she had learned to knit from Margo. She then pulled out a scarf about 12 feet long, the Minister got up and helped her display the length. She was proud of her skill and told how Margo had helped her with the colors and type of yarn. She said she would miss the discussions they had while knitting. Another lady got up and talked about how she enjoyed the group discussions with Margo present and how funny she was and laughed often. She said they were all liberal democrats and had much in common. She became very emotional and said how much she would miss Margo. Three other persons got up with similar comments on her life. One told how he had gotten Howard interested in Corvettes and Margo fell into line with them. She finally bought a Corvette of her own, picture on the left. Then the Minister got up summarized the talks, announced that some piano music would play some of Margo's favorite music. After the music was over, so was the service. Most of the people got up to leave, I went to sign the book. This was very new to me, a service covering: accomplishments, things owned, places visited, conversations had. There was no mention of God, Christ, or an after life. The name of the Church: The Unitarian Universalist Church.