 St Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri Wednesday, May 11, 2022 Even at the grave we make our song,Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!   Lowell Korber Feb 7, 1935 – April 7, 2022 (These remembrances are from the words written and read at today’s funeral by Lowell’s daughter, Pam Bonebright.) She wrote how her dad had met her mom when he worked at a gas station in Lincoln, NE where she took lunch to her step-father. Later he went to California with the Navy, and Jerri moved to CA to stay with other relatives: “Dad asked if came up there on leave if she would go out with him, and she said yes. Dad hitchhiked form San Diego on leaves and weekends to date mom. He proposed to her during this time. He hitchhiked back to Lincoln for the wedding in 1956. For someone who always said not to hitchhike, he sure did it a lot.” “After the Navy, Dad joined the State Patrol. After he had completed his training, the family moved to his new post in Blair, NE. During that move, Mom and their first child, Timmy, got in a car accident. Four-month-old Timmy was killed, and Mom was severely injured. They were told she would never walk, and that she should not have any more children, Did our parents listen? Absolutely not. She got well, walked fine, and had four more children!” “The day after my first birthday, Dad was on patrol and he pulled a car over for running a stop sign up by Ft. Calhoun. He did not know the car was stolen, but the driver took Dad hostage, and made him drive to a field. There he shot him once in the hip and tried to fire again, but his gun jammed. He threw that gun in the field. He then pulled Dad’s gun, walked up to him and shot him once in the head. He left him there to die, Did he? Absolutely not. He woke up, broke a heavy wire fence to free himself, drove himself to the hospital, all the while calling in the description of the man and reporting what had happened. He recovered, and kept working for state Patrol for several more years”. Eventually, Dad, Mom and the kids moved to Lincoln. Dad worked a few different jobs, sometimes two. He finally got a job at Goodyear. During his time there he was hit while riding his motorcycle. When he opened his eyes, the first thing that he saw was the other driver’s tire right next to his jaw. Did he stop riding? Absolutely not. Dad just kept on going. He even got Kris and me involved in riding motorcycles as well.” “Dad was afraid of heights. But for his family he overcame this. He drove a motorhome up Pile’s Peak with sheer drop offs that completely scared him – but did he refuse to go? Absolutely not. He wanted us to have the adventure. “He showed us work paid off. As a family we all worked toward a pool in our yard. We dug the hole for the pool, all the family as well as friends, and it was worth it. Dad taught us you worked for what you wanted. I remember dad swimming laps daily. Mom always said her part of the pool was the bottom, because she couldn’t swim. But she taught herself, so that she could swim laps with dad.” Dad and Mom traveled all over the United States together to bowl. They traveled to take us to swimming meets, to go camping, fishing and to see the sights. It was always Dad and Mom together. Through Mom’s chemo, his own heart attack, mom’s continued fight with cancer, it was always Dad and Mom together. Now they are together again. Even though we will miss Dad, it is great to know that he is back with Mom, where he always wanted to be.” A few pictures from today’s service As you know, every burial service in the Episcopal Church is an Easter celebration. We do not deny the pain and the loss, the grief and the suffering, but through it all the liturgy insists that,“Even at the grave we make our song, Alleluia Alleluia! Alleluia!” And we did. We sang and sang – “How Great Thou Art,” “I the Lord, of Sea and Sky,” “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light,” “Alleluia! Alleluia!” and even the children’s hymn, “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God.” That last was particularly poignant to me in it we sing about all sorts of people who are named, saints – and then acknowledge that there are many among us right now – “For the saints of God are just folk like me, and I mean to be one too.” And Lowell was. And is. Alleluia!   The beautiful hardwood urn for Lowell’s ashes was made by Deann’s husband, Joe Megonnell. He was interred in the outdoor columbarium at St Albans beside the ashes of his beloved wife, Jerri. The birds were singing this beautiful Eastertide morning as we laid him to rest. And Jennifer Smith did a wonderful job with all the music we asked her to play – Becca Cox sang that magnificent descant to the “Alleluia!”, And Paula Shepard served as reader and with me at the altar and during Communion.Thanks to everyone who came, who prayed for the family, and who will continue to do so.   All of the children and their families at the Memorial Service in Lincoln on Monday. |
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