Another hard loss

Rachel and Ted

Yesterday afternoon we received devastating news that our wonderful brother-in-law Ted passed away. He had serious surgery at the VA Medical Center in Gainesville, Florida and did not recover.  He will be dearly missed.

Our hearts are broken for John's sister Rachel, who has lost both mother and husband in just 9 days.

This is a poem Rachel spoke of when our family gathered at the cemetery for Dad in April 2015.

And now, so sadly and unexpectedly, this is for you, dear Rachel.

Death is nothing at all

Death is nothing at all
I have only slipped away into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other
That we are still
Call me by my own familiar name
Speak to me in the easy way you always used
Put no difference into your tone
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
Laugh as we always laughed
At the little jokes we always enjoyed together
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was
Let it be spoken without effort
Without the ghost of a shadow in it
Life means all that it ever was
There is absolute unbroken continuity
What is death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind
Because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you for an interval
Somewhere very near
Just around the corner
All is well.
Nothing is past; nothing is lost
One brief moment and all will be as it was before
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!

Canon Henry Scott-Holland,
Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral
(1847 – 1918)