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#604 – Dick Bernard: Lois Swenson

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Yesterday afternoon I went to a farewell gathering for Lois Swenson, a lady I hardly knew, but who I knew well through numerous intersecting ‘circles’ of relationships with others. Lois was unknown to me, but well known through others….
That hundreds of people would pack a suburban church on a pleasant Sunday afternoon was a testimonial to Lois’ place in the hearts of those who knew her.
(click on photos to enlarge them)

At the celebration of Lois Swenson's life July 29, 2012


There is no need to describe Lois and how it was we happened to gather yesterday. All of the information can be found here. The program booklet is here: Lois Swenson001
She was by all accounts a remarkable lady: one who made a difference by being engaged in the world in which she lived.
I thought of an e-mail I had received from a friend in one of my own circles the day previous to the service. It is here, and I think Lois and her friends would enjoy the five minutes of people dancing around the world.
I was most struck by one comment by the Minister towards the end of the service. He noted that a cameraman from WCCO-TV was there, with camera, and it wasn’t until the cameraman was there that he connected the dots: that one of his elementary school teachers had been Ms. Swenson. It was an emotional moment for him, the minister said. I noted later that the short segment on WCCO’s evening news had a piece of film showing those of us in the pews.
There are lots of ‘dots’ in all of our lives, and sometimes it is times like yesterday which help connect those dots.
The service opened with a song, “Simple Gifts“, that seemed to completely describe Lois’ life.
Not in the program, but mentioned by one of the speakers, was the Peter, Paul and Mary anthem, “If I had a hammer“.
We all have a certain amount of time in which to make a certain amount of difference.
Lois well used her time, it certainly appears, and in so doing gave us all our own marching orders.
We need to expand and open our circles, outward, beyond our own selves and comfort zones.
UPDATES:
from Melvin: Thank you. I was out of town yesterday and wasn’t able to attend. I knew Lois from the gardening-community. She was a beautiful woman with a big heart for all people. I considered Lois a Peaceful Love Warrior who respected and honored Wellstone’s everyday little guy and woman. She was an simple, yet outstanding advocate for Justice. Every time I saw her, she always greeted me with a warm smile and a hug. She was a joyful ally. Her spirit will be missed, however, her positive energy will be remember by those she touch directly and indirectly. Thanks again.
MPPOE![May Peace Prevail on Earth]
from Barb (comment is also at end of this post): Thanks for writing about my dear friend, Lois Swenson, and for reinforcing the notion of our interconnectedness. Yesterday it struck me that any friend of Lois’s was a friend of mine. Given her broad love for all humanity, I’m challenged today to be a better friend to the earth and all of it’s inhabitants.
Thanks again.
from Jim (comment is also at end of this post): The cups we used were purposely chosen for their capacity to break down in compost. I will be adding them to the compost bin in the community garden Lois and I have worked in with many people.
Please enjoy the words to a song that well expresses the spirit of the day: Somos el Barco [here’s Pete Seeger’s version]
Chorus: Somos el barco, somos el mar, Yo navego en ti, tu navegas en mi
We are the boat, we are the sea, I sail in you, you sail in me
The stream sings it to the river, the river sings it to the sea The sea sings it to the boat that carries you and me
Chorus
The boat we are sailing in was built by many hands And the sea we are sailing on, it touches every land
Chorus
So with our hopes we set the sails And face the winds once more And with our hearts we chart the waters never sailed before
Jim Lovestar

#596 – Dick Bernard: Dottie Garwick, and other deaths

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I’m of the age where attendance at memorials and funerals are a frequent activity, while marriages and christenings are uncommon.
We have quite a passel of grandchildren, so maybe this will change in a few years, but for now, that’s the routine.
Yesterday, it was the memorial for Dottie Garwick at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church. It was a large service. There were hundreds in the Church; they ran out of programs.
I knew Dottie, but not well. I knew her husband, Hank, better. They are (I still prefer the present tense) a remarkable couple who exemplify the phrase, mentioned by someone in the service yesterday: “much is expected from those to whom much is given.” They were almost as likely to be found in India, or Haiti, as in Minneapolis.
Dottie’s obituary says it better than I: Dottie Garwick001
Of course, Dottie’s is not the only recent death.
A few hours before driving to Minneapolis I was reading about the unspeakable tragedy in River Falls, where an estranged Dad, for reasons known only to himself at this point, killed his three young daughters.
One can understand a passage like Dottie’s.
There is no understanding events like the one in River Falls, though it is tragedies like the one in River Falls that get the news…and that has probably always been the case.
We attempt to understand the impossible to understand.
I do family history, and River Falls brought to mind an old very long and virtually impossible to read newspaper clipping I found in a box of old postcards at my grandparents farm in North Dakota. (It’s here, if you want to try to decipher it: Kieler deaths001
It recounted at great length an event in rural Kieler WI, near Dubuque, well over 100 years ago, where, as the news reported it, a farm housewife whose husband was a carpenter killed her four young children with a butcher knife, and then killed herself.)
One of Grandma’s sisters likely sent her the clip from an incident that happened in a neighboring town, and it was one that Grandma allowed to survive, for reasons known only to Grandma.)
For all of us, there is the same destination. All we don’t know with certainty (thankfully) is the when and the how.
(Someone said Dottie and family were told she had two months to live; it turned out to be short weeks.)
July 29 I hope to go to a memorial for an elderly lady, Lois Swenson, who was murdered in her home a few weeks ago. I gather she was much like Dottie Garwick, a pillar of kindness who someone took advantage of.
Where do I – where do we – fit in all of this?
How we live today is an important question.
As Dottie’s service closed on Friday, we sang the hymn “Abide with me”, which was said to be Gandhi’s favorite hymn, and a national favorite of England. A youtube rendition here.
UPDATES:
Lydia, July 14: You pose some important questions, Dick. Lois Swenson’s murder & the deaths of 2 young children by stray bullets in the last 6 months have really thrown me. As peace activists, we focus on the terrible violence perpetrated by our government in other countries…but, what about the “war” in the streets of our cities? What can we do about that? I don’t have an immediate answer…but, the question weighs on me heavily.