%		    The family newsletter, 1991

		 	
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\centerline{The Grayson Family}\centerline{Christmas, 1991}\bigskip

Dear Family and Friends,				\medskip

As many of you already know, our Mother, June Grayson, whom we all loved, died
peacefully on November 9, the result of complications which set in a few days
after a seemingly successful coronary bypass surgery.

She always loved life, and she loved what she accomplished during it.  Dad
brought all of her notes, books and photos to the hospital, together with a
new lap top computer: in the week before her surgery she wrote a thousand
word article on angel collectibles, with nine photos.  That article appeared
this month in the Antique Gazette, and was the last in a series of at least
115 illustrated feature articles written for twenty one newspapers and
magazines nationwide.  We were all proud of her new and increasingly
successful career as a photojournalist, and we know that her success was due
to hard work, careful planning, and her natural and pleasant literary style.
Undoubtedly, the recipients of this letter will miss that literary style,
because she was the author of it these last twenty five years.

The most important thing in her life was always her family.  She worked side
by side with Dick in his medical practice for many years as his office
manager and nurse.  We remember her getting up at 6~AM to work on the books
and bills in her study.  We all told her to take it easy and not to work so
hard, but she seemed not to know the meaning of the word ``rest''.  When Dad
managed to put all of that office work onto the computer, she chose
photojournalism as a second career that would allow her to travel and to meet
people.

She was proud of her children and followed their careers avidly.  The birth
of each new grandchild was an important event in her life: this year she saw
the arrival of two more: James Robert Hestilow was born to Kris and Gary last
December 21, and Jacqueline Leigh Ream was born to Janelle and Randy on April
21.  We know that she enjoyed seeing her eleven grandchildren grow and
develop, and that she loved each one deeply.

She was a church organist, and committed to paper a complete program for her
funeral service in St.~Mark's Lutheran Church.  The order of service was the
Vespers service, but with the Venite from the Matins service:

{
\sl
\narrower
Oh, come let us worship the Lord, for He is our Maker.  Oh come let us sing
unto the Lord, let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation.  Let us
come before His presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto Him
with psalms.  For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods.  In
His hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is His
also.  The sea is His, and He made it, and His hands formed the dry land.  Oh,
come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker.
For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His
hand.
\par
}

She specified the Nunc Dimittis as Canticle:

{
\sl
\narrower
Let my prayer be set forth before Thee as incense,
and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.  Lord, now lettest
Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word; for mine eyes have
seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a
light to lighten the Gentiles, and the Glory of Thy people Israel.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the
beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen
\par
}

\noindent
Here is the homily she chose for Pastor Baerwald's sermon, from Isaiah 30:29.

{
\sl
\narrower
But for you there shall be songs, as on a night of sacred pilgrimage, your
hearts glad, as the hearts of men who walk to the sound of the flute on their
way to the Lord's hill, to the rock of Israel.
\par
}

Mom gives the following instructions about the funeral service.

{
\narrower
Mood shall be joyous, full of praise and triumphant, about the beautiful world
God made and how it is all in harmony, beginning when even the morning stars
sang for joy.  (I have the feeling that the most important thing in the
universe is the audible and inaudible harmonics.)
\par
}

The passage from Isaiah is enlarged upon by Mom in an older version of her
funeral service as follows.

{
\narrower
Pilgrims take with them only what is necessary.  They make special provision
for their trip.  They have a certain goal in mind, and a true pilgrim will
allow nothing to deter him from making steady progress toward his goal.

A pilgrim is always a stranger, passing through one land after another, living
by values different from those of the people he passes; and yet, in a sense, he
possesses the world.  A pilgrim is driven by something he believes to be
greater than himself, something that draws him like a magnet.

Throughout history, people have made pilgrimages to places they considered
holy: Jerusalem, Rome, Mecca, Lourdes, Canterbury, Santiago de Compostela.  And
when they arrived, they did the things customary for pilgrims to do, and they
returned home.

The Bible speaks of us as pilgrims.  The one great difference between pilgrims
of history and believers is that when we reach our destination, we will be
home.

The writer of Hebrews 11:13-16 speaks of Old Testament believers who died in
faith:  

{
\sl
\narrower
They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them
from a distance.  And they admitted that they were foreigners and strangers on
earth.  People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of
their own.  If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would
have had opportunity to return.  Instead, they were longing for a better
country, a heavenly one.  Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God,
for He has prepared a city for them, the city of the living God.  Therefore,
since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, for
here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is
to come.
\par
}
}

\goodbreak

The postlude Mom chose was {\sl Now thank we all our God} (Karg-Elert), and she
wanted it to be played with lots of trumpets stops on the organ.

\goodbreak

Mom often referred to the following bible passage from Isaiah 40:31.

{
\sl
\narrower
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount
up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk,
and not faint.
\par
}

We will always miss her, and memories of her will live on in our hearts and
minds forever.  The pilgrim has reached her destination.

\bigskip

{
\sl
\narrower
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\obeylines
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Alone unto our Father's will
One thought hath reconciled:
That he whose love exceedeth ours
Hath taken home his child.
\par
}

\bigskip

We gratefully thank those of you who provided some special help for us during
these last few weeks.

\bigskip
\centerline{
The Grayson Family
}
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