+ George Marthaler, age 58
Father Fitz's God Son, RIP
Survived by wife Joann,
Children: George, Jessie, Lucy and extended Family
To sign Guest Book, click here.
Wake, 4-8 pm, Friday, and Funeral Mass, 11 am, Saturday at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, Hastings MN
Excerpt of Funeral Homily by
Father Fitz, George's God Father:
"This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased."
MT 3:17
These are the words God the Father spoke at the baptism of Jesus.
Indeed these "well pleased" words are the words that could have been spoken over each of us at our baptism, And surely over George at his.
"This is my beloved child in whom I am well pleased."
For at his baptism, George was joined to
Christ, and he died with Christ in Baptism, so that he may rise with Christ to new life.
So we gather this morning around the Easter candle, symbol of the risen Christ to be consoled by the Holy Scriptures, and to give thanks in Eucharist for the blessing that George IS to each of us.
And I say IS because the love
George gave so generously to each of us,
and the blessing he is to each of us,
REMAINS in all our hearts, and will continue to remain.
I recently read these words of
Helen Keller which express this truth so beautifully. She wrote:
"What we once enjoyed and deeply loved
we can NEVER LOSE!
For all that we loved deeply becomes a part of us.".........
So dear Joann and family and friends--George IS our REMAINING blessing.
And would not George want me to say to you:, Joann:
"Oh Joann, you are my beloved bride in whom I am well pleased, so full of faith, so valiant, always at my side, as I passed through the dark on the way to the light."
Joann, Lucy, Jesse, George, Rosemary, family, and friends, George was a light,
And now he has moved through the darkness of coma into the greater light............
And the song that comes to my mind when I think of George, my beloved God
Son is "YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE,"
Praise God, he did that for all of us, for as you said Joann:
"He didn't have to decide to do loving and helping acts,
he just did them for every one."
And as Dan Scott his fellow worker said, "George helped us all to want to be better persons."
At his baptism, George was given a lighted candle, and told:
"Receive the light of Christ...
This light is entrusted to you,
To be kept burning brightly..
So that when the
Lord comes, you may go out
To meet him."
When we observe lit candles,
We see some flames that flicker,
Some flames that bend in the breeze,
Some flames that are very dim.
And some that burn brightly,
And never dim.
That was the kind of light
That burned in the heart of George.
Joe Heinz who worked with George, for 27 years, said of him:
"He loved his work, and he made LIGHT of everything."
"HE MADE LIGHT!" .........Indeed.
************
The second reading today from Phillipians was chosen by the family,
And is so applicable to this time...
Saint Paul writes: "Christ will be magnified in my body whether by life or by death.
...For to me life is Christ and death is gain."
May that be so for George
Litany of Thanksgiving
So we always come to Eucharist to give thanks, and so we praise and thank God for George's presence in our lives, Lucy, Jessie and George summed up their gratitude in these words:
We thank our God that dad possessed what the
French describe as the "joie de tie!"--'the joy of life,
...living in the moment, always ready to enjoy anything bringing happiness to those he loved.
...we thank God that he was such a talented, yet humble man, and was always such a patient teacher.
...we thank God for his overflowing love for his grand children.
..and that he too was a "hunter gatherer"--always gathering people together
And always looking for the best in everyone.
And surely that is lesson he left for his siblings and for all of us: "Come together! Come together,"
And last but never least we praise God for the beautiful love of George and Joann that shone in their lives for 41 years!
In his last day of consciousness, George took his mom to the airport, one last act of kindness, and with that happy smile of his he said, "Bon voyage Mom!"
And now it is our turn to say, Bon Voyage George!
Bon Voyage!