May. 02, 2007 ~ And Then There Were Ten�
Monday morning, I was not even in the door when frantic staff and church members begged me to say it wasn�t so, that the rumor wasn�t true.
�Call the funeral home and get it straightened out! It�s got to be a mistake!�
But it wasn�t. Our coworker was gone.
From that moment on we have been in funeral mode. Everything else stopped; all work concentrated on the service. A message was sent out to church members - all activities were cancelled.
He was not �just� a church staff member. He was also a teacher with the local school district, a youth leader, former Cub Scout leader� he touched so many lives that it would be hard to name all the ways. He was a second father to many, beloved by all. The school district made the decision to let school out early on the day of the funeral. We knew our sanctuary wouldn�t hold all the mourners, but the widow grew up in this church, and she, too, is our staff member. She couldn�t imagine having the service anywhere else.
We put extra chairs in the sanctuary, then set up several hundred chairs in another room, for overflow seating. One of coworker�s fellow teachers volunteered to set up a sound system in that room, so that those present would at least be able to hear. But he didn�t think that was enough, he really wanted them to have video, too. We don�t have the equipment for any of these things, but that didn�t stop him. He made phone calls, mentioned coworker�s name, and everyone wanted to help. They said it would be an honor. The cable TV company sent a crew, who set up cameras and video, and stayed there to operate it. Coworker�s teacher friend worked the sound in the extra room. We don�t know for sure, but we probably had 650 to 700 people in attendance, about twice what we can usually handle.
It was a tribute to a fine, good man.
Less than two weeks ago, we buried Dr. Susan�s husband. Both he and coworker died of complications of diabetes. It's been a rough few weeks here.
We are a small staff, just eleven of us.
But now we are ten.
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