Merna Davis
Memorial Service
November 6, 2000
Eulogy by Rev. Jim Keyser, pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church, Grand Island, Nebraska
Merna McGlasson was born in June of 1909 at Wood River. It was the first year of the presidency of William Howard Taft who had soundly defeated Nebraska's own William Jennings Bryan for that high political office. Teddy Roosevelt had chosen not to run after serving his last term which ended in 1908. In 1909 the population of the United States was just 90 million people and in that same year Admiral Robert Peary discovered the North Pole.
World War I with its deadly mustard gas and senseless slaughter would begin in 1914 when Merna was five and she had just turned twenty years old in June when the Stock Market crashed hard in October of 1929. At her death at the age of 91, Merna's life had spanned nearly all of that infamous 20th century. A century of so much creativity... with the invention of automobiles, telephones, jet airplanes, spacecraft, miracle medicines, and computers. But we must also remember that this was the same century which brought us two World Wars, A Holocaust, atomic bombs, and the Killing Fields of Cambodia, Rwanda, & Bosnia.
All of this is to say that those, like Merna, who had the chance to live in one of the most creative and destructive centuries of recorded human history must have felt at times truly charmed and blessed; and at other times, no doubt, confused, baffled, and utterly lost in this wasteland of a violent and destructive century.
Maggie said that she felt one of the toughest times for Merna was probably Larry's three years away during World War II. I think the character and the values of thie GI Generation, as they are called, were shaped and formed by military service during the way....for the young men, there was this willingness, even eagerness to sacrifice themselves for their country ...while for women...the wives, like Merna, there was a genuine dedication and commitment to their husbands which was patient, strong, and long-lasting...providing the glue which kept these marriages together for years and years.
Ben and Maggie both said that to understand Merna...one had to understand Merna and her husband, Larry, together as a couple...as two and yet as one. This kind of closeness characterized marriages of their generation especially when it came to Larry being a pastor and Merna, the wife of a pastor. Their years of serving churches in Nebraska, including this one here at Trinity, were years when it was assumed that a "two for one" deal was being made when a pastor was appointed to the church. The pastor counted as "one" and his wife (and it was wife then!)...counted as the "two."
Clergy and spouses in my generation have resisted and rejected these old stereotypes at every opportunity. But for those of an earlier generation like Larry and Merna's...there could be an accommodation, even a "settling in" to this two for one arrangement. Apparently Merna and Larry made this arrangement work for them quite well...they seemed to fit with these expectations and I suspect that it was a measure of the strength of their relationship which allowed their "two for one" identities and roles.
We celebrate Merna's life today and give thanks for all that she meant to family and friends throughout her 91 years. We gather today to remember Merna and to affirm her presence now within God's everlasting arms. We are here to remind each other that Merna is held there in God and all the redemption, peace, and rest that Merna will ever need are hers now in God's everlasting, infinite love.
Ben and Maggie and I, along with Jeanne and Tom by proxy...talked about Merna's life and they tole me how, when she and Larry were visiting, Merna would always come down for breakfast and say "GOOD MORNING...GOOD MORNING" which was her trade mark way of exclaiming: "This is the day that the Lord has made...let us rejoice and be glad in it."
This one who was the wife of a pastor but still with her own life, this one who was a wonderful host, this one who taught Bible study classes, this one whose marriage to Larry for so many years was a role model for long term relationships, this one who was a volunteer in church and at the hospital, this one who loved to sing Christmas Carols at the piano, this one who knew that love and food go together, this one who cherished the Fall of the year with leaves changing colors...this one, Merna...was a woman of faith and we mourn her death but celebrate her life today as we trust God tohold onto her forever and ever.
Ben & Maggie told how Merna was so pleased when finally Larry retired at 80 years old and they went off, like two young kids, to Hawaii. With the pressure and daily obligations behind there was more time and it was good.
They also said that Tom, when visiting Merna in her assisted living arrangement in Tucson, would, when he left...say to Merna: You behave yourself! And Merna would always respond with a mischievious smile: It won't be easy!
They remembered how Larry's death was eased whtn Merna heard that a great grandchild was coming to visit...it was a confirmation that even in death there is new life and birth and she would be holding this small child soon.
There are lots of good memories and stories about Merna and with Merna...keep telling them and keep her alive in hearts and minds so that she will live on here in you.
I like this Matthew passage which reminds us of Jesus calling disciples. He called and people responded in their own way. He called and people left what they were doing to follow. I think this was an appropriate passate for remembering Merna even though in the Goispel we're not told that Jesus calls women here. Of course, I think Jesus called women as well as men even in the first century.
Surely we would be on solid ground to say that Jesus has called women throughout the centuries. And I am convinced that Jesus called Merna to follow in her own way, in her own time, in her own life. All those ways she responded in the local church...worship, volunteer work, hosting events where food was served, accompanying Larry to District meetings, supporting a variety of ministries (including outreach and music)...these are responses to God's call in Merna's life and we give thanks for the way in which God, in Jesus, called...and Merna answered.
The Romans passage in that 8th chapter also tells us there there is nothing that can ever separate any of us from God's love. Nothing in this life or the next4 can ever come between us and God. We rest assured that nothing will ever separate Merna from the love of God which is hers in Jesus Christ...that this relationship will go on and on until the end of time.
Maggie told me recently she had a dream of Merna running through a field of wild flowers. She was running to meet Larry who was running toward her...both with a new found freedom. It was a good dream.
Merna is laid to rest there in that old Cameron Cemetery, out in the country where Larry is burried and many of Merna's people too. Compared to the hustle and bustle and "hurry-up" and NOISE of our own lives...this little cemetery is very peaceful and quiet...tall trees, green grass and grave markers...some very old indeed.
Maggie tells how Merna would go to that cemetery on Decoration Day as a child when Merna's old civil war grandfather would parade with an American flag and sing songs there on tyhat sacred burial place. It's hallowed ground where family and this "communion of saints" (as Paul refers to the dead) are interred.
I wonder...on a cool, dark, moonless night...if you went there and stood silently in the middle of that graveyard...ifyou might hear whispering and talking and laughing and singing and storytelling...I wonder.
We give thanks for Merna's life and for all that she has meant to family and friends throughout her 91 years. We offer her into God's loving arms today and give thanks for this God of ours who is with us in life, in death, in life beyond death...we are never alone...thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jim Keyser
Trinity UMC
Grand Island, NE