On behalf of Louis’ family, welcome and thanks to everyone here for gathering to remember and celebrate his life: husband, dad, son, cousin, friend and brother. I’ve gotta think we are all shell-shocked, even on this day, by this sad and sudden loss of a previously healthy and robust man. Jen, Max, Hallie and Gerald, Sally and Doug, and others in Louis’s grieving family, we are gathered here for you, to share your burden, your grief, but also to celebrate the life of a unique and good man. A good dude as we would say.
We’re going to cover a lot of ground in a relatively short amount of time today, but one immediate reminder for me is of the tentative and fragile nature of life on earth. The only guarantee we have is this day, even this very moment, so our loss is a stark reminder to value each moment and the loved ones we share those moments with.
I met Louis when we were little more than kids, working together at UPS. Oh ya…UPS. I was honored to stand up for Louis at his wedding to Jennifer, and it tickles me to recall the story about how not only did the bride and groom work at UPS, not only did the groomsmen all work at UPS, but the PASTOR, another good dude named Jim Spurlock, as I recall, also worked at UPS! Louis and I used to joke that we should have worn brown tuxes. Would not have been a winning color for the bridal party, however.
At any rate, at some point early in our friendship, Louis saw something in me, and offered to share an apartment in the ‘boro while we were both enrolled at MTSU. Yep, Louie saw something in me, a few years his junior, and so he encouraged me…to stretch, to do my best, to use good judgement, and importantly, to do the right thing. Though we were peers, friends, and a little later, brothers for life through Kappa Sigma, I can’t overstate how his encouraging influence helped to launch me into manhood.
No poser, Louis was the real deal. Oh my Lord, how he could see through the poser. He was an ambitious and spirited man, full of energy and enthusiasm for life. I gave him plenty of reasons to laugh with, and even at me over the years. I love how he could laugh at himself, how he could hear or tell the same story over and over, and laugh like it was the first time it was told.
We had a great time at the Kappa-Iota 50th anniversary celebration a couple of years ago. Doesn’t seem like that long ago. Susan and I met Louis and Jennifer at the Embassy Suites, and as a simple thank you for support he has shown to me and my family, I gave Louis a Kappa Sigma lapel pin, a cheap little thing, $15 bucks off of Amazon. Louis was so appreciative, so grateful, he said to me “Stu, when I think of someone I’d like to be more like, I think of you.” Stunning, right? The highest possible praise. Well, first of all, be very, very careful what you wish for. Right, everyone in the room who really knows me?
But my real take-away was, beyond being expressly humbled by this unmerited favor, here’s Louis again, nearly 40 years into our friendship, still being the encourager, still lifting ME up as a friend and brother.
I can summarize my experience with Louis’ character by recalling
our Kappa Sigma credo, the Star and Crescent:
"The Star and Crescent shall not be worn by every man, but
only by him who is worthy to wear it. He
must be a gentleman, a man of honor and courage, a man of zeal, yet humble, an
intelligent man, a man of truth, one who tempers action with wisdom and, above
all else, one who walks in the light of God."
Speaking of God. Let’s
talk about our Creator for a minute. That
would probably be appropriate at this place and time. It would be disingenuous to suggest Louis was
an expressly religious man. I do know
him to have been a respectful man, respectful of my and others points-of-view,
and respectful of God. I also believe
him to have a spiritual side, hope in what is beyond this life. I truly believe Louie was a “hoper”…I’d also
bet that there are a bunch of hopers in this room.
Jesus spoke to the hopers: “Do not let your
hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are
many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a
place for you; I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be
where I am.
I know a little about God and a little bible…enough to be
dangerous. But the God, the Jesus, the
Holy Spirit I have come to know…oh my, how our Creator loves the hopers. One passage I know as fact had special
meaning to Louis, in a story found in the Gospel called Mark, when Bartimaeus
pleaded with hope “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me”, and had his sight
restored. Again and again, our Creator
shows compassion to the hopers.
And so, permit me to lead you through a time of personal reflection.
- Take a moment and think about your relationship
with Louis.
- What are you grateful for?
- How did he impact your life?
- Lastly, if you’d like…share with God
where you need His help today. Our Creator can handle your anger,
frustration, confusion, and sorrow.
The Bible can
seem fuzzy, to me at least, about some things.
But on this topic, the Word is clear: that there is life beyond this
life. Death is not the end. The life we live here is a vapor; a puff of smoke
in comparison to eternity, and any number years is short in comparison to what’s
next. Scripture is also clear that God loves the hopers.
With the benefit of hindsight, what would Louis tell us
right now?
- Cherish
your family and friends.
- Enjoy life
to the fullest.
- Welcome
people into your lives.
- Take your
responsibilities, to family, job, friends, country seriously. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
- Leave any
should have’s, could have’s, and would have’s here. Don’t take them with
you when you leave.
Over the past several months, since Louis left us, I have had a few episodes where I’d be driving down the road or doing some other mundane task, and think of something and think “Hey I need to call Louis and tell him about…” before it hits me that he won’t be there to take the call.
But I am a “hoper”. And my
hope is in the promise that Louis is with God, and we’ll meet him again someday
in that place some of us call the Chapter Celestial, with our Creator who does
so love the hopers, and ultimately, whose name is LOVE.
