John 5:24-30; Romans 8:31-39; Isaiah 43:1-3a, 25
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
It was a little over eighteen months ago that were gathered here together to remember and to give thanks for the faith and life of Melvin “Beach” Trimble. And here we are gathered together yet again today to remember and to give thanks for the faith and life of Melva “Lois” Trimble. It’s not all that uncommon for aged saints to die relatively close to one another. After all, they’d lived together as husband and wife for just shy of seventy years, and they did nearly everything together, it’s hard to imagine what it must have been like for Lois to live without Beach for very long. Who is there to laugh at your inside jokes? Who is there to finish your sentences? Who is there to make you smile when you’re feeling a little down? So many of the things Lois and Beach enjoyed in life they enjoyed together: Collecting Sad irons, antiquing, spending time with family and friends, and so much more.
I remember saying of Beach that he was “a quiet and humble man, a man of few words having an unassuming, somewhat dry sense of humor.” Well, Lois complimented that. Now, I don’t mean to suggest that Lois was loud, brash, or rude, nothing could be farther from the truth, but she was witty and sharp as a tack. Where Beach would likely let something go without saying a word, Lois would more likely have something to say. She was a strong, capable, and determined woman, but she was kind, thoughtful, and always loving. After Beach died, Lois was determined to remain independent and stay at her home. She was determined to keep driving, and she did for a good while. She joined us here at St. John for the Divine Service on Wednesday afternoons. Instability on her feet ultimately took her independence, but it didn’t quell her spirit. Lois remained strong, capable, and determined to the end. She was a spunky little spitfire to the end, and she always had that smirky little smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye.
The Trimble home was always open to family and friends. The coffee was always on and hot. Lois loved to serve her famous cinnamon rolls, breads, and pickles made with fresh dill from the garden. Kneading the dough for cinnamon rolls and bread was stress therapy for Lois, but she loved doing it, and she loved that her family loved her cooking. Family dinners at the Trimble’s were never potlucks. Lois made everything, and she made everything taste good. Though Lois was an excellent cook and baker, her favorite food, surprisingly, was French fries, extra crispy. She didn’t like the nursing home fries; they were too soggy. She and Beach loved going to Cracker Barrell when they were out antiquing. Whenever a new restaurant opened in town it was always a sub or pizza shop. “Why can’t they open a Cracker Barrell,” Lois would complain. One time in Des Moines Lois and Beach went to Cracker Barrell with the family, and what did Lois want to order? A baked potato that she could have made any time at home. They talked her into ordering the Chicken Pot Pie. She at the buttery crust on top and took the filling home. She got three more meals out of just the filling!
Lois had an excellent mind. One of thirty Bock cousins, she remembered everyone’s name and could likely tell you where they lived, even at age ninety-four. Foremost on her excellent mind was – the weather. Lois should have been a meteorologist. Most conversations began with a conversation about the weather. Truth is, she was deathly afraid of thunderstorms, wind, and tornado warnings. She’d get mad at Beach because he would sit on the front porch and watch the storms roll in, while she thought they should be in the basement. Growing up, the family spent many hours in the basement, even though the kids were more akin to Beach’s way of things.
Lois enjoyed a cigarette now and then. Kim shared with me a funny story of her time at the Shell Rock Nursing Home. Lois had taken a fall and had broken her wrist, which was in a soft cast with cotton wrap underneath. One day, as she was set to enjoy her cigarette, she accidentally caught some of the stuffing on fire. Thankfully Kim was there and, out of the corner of her eye she saw Mom waving her hand around and suddenly realized that she was on fire! Quickly they had the fire out. But there was Lois, with burnt cotton hanging out from her cast, and she and Kim looked at each other and started laughing. A quick snip with a pair of scissors and the damning evidence was disposed of, just before the social worker walked in unaware that anything out of the order had happened at all.
Of course, these stories were shared with me by Lois’ loving family, and I am pleased to share them with you all. Here’s just a few more comments to round it off: Lois was cute as a button. She was a trendy dresser for a woman of her time and age. She was thoughtful at sending cards. She was a great sister and a lot of fun to be around. She was an all-around excellent cook and baker and, in addition to her cinnamon rolls and bread, she made a delicious apple pie. She loved garage sales, reading Amish novels, doing word-search puzzles and jigsaw puzzles, playing 500 and Cribbage. And she enjoyed watching Daniel O’Donnell on Sunday nights. There is of course so much more that could be said. I hope you’ll remember it and say it, give thanks for it and celebrate it today, and tomorrow, and for always in remembrance of our dear sister in Christ Lois.
The Lord blessed Lois and Beach both with long, full lives of love, family, and happy memories. And the Lord made Lois and Beach a blessing to their family, their friends, their church, and their community. We are so very blessed and thankful to have had them in our lives, to have known their love, and to have loved them in return. Truly we give thanks today for Lois, and also for Beach, and we take comfort that they are together again in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ who loved them and us and gave up his life that we could be his and live with him in his kingdom forever.
Our Lord Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed over from death to life.” What does this mean? This means that Lois began living her eternal life, her life that cannot and will not ever die, not this past Tuesday, but ninety-four years ago when she was baptized and our Lord Jesus claimed her as his own, forgiving her sin and giving her his life that cannot die. Lois’ faith, faith that she was graced with and blessed with as a free and perfect gift of God’s grace, made her the mother, grandmother, sister, and friend you knew her to be, bearing the fruits of faith in her life, words, and deeds in service of others to the glory of God. Lois’ faith is also the source of her confidence and strength, and even that spunky, fiery personality for, as St. Paul has written, “If God is for us [and he is], who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” I mean, if God’s got your back, what have you to fear? Absolutely nothing. And, to have no fear, that is freedom; freedom to love and to bless and to share with others, filled with God’s own love, knowing that you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Perhaps Lois wouldn’t have put it in those words, but that was Lois nonetheless. And that is why Lois’ death is bittersweet. It is bitter, because there is nothing sweet about death; death is unnatural, evil, and the final enemy. But, in Jesus’ death and resurrection, death has been defeated. Jesus lives, and because he lives those who die in him shall live also. And that is the sweet part. This is not the end, but a temporary parting for we who love and miss Lois. We have this promise: We will see her again with flesh and blood eyes; We will hear her voice again with flesh and blood ears; We will hold her again with flesh and blood arms. And no one will take your joy from you ever again.
In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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