Something Simple

As Art and I stood in the snapping Texas wind and sunshine, under the green tent that sheltered the family and casket of Uncle Ray, I had the sad sense that something wonderfully simple and wholesome was being buried along with that good man. 
We watched with tears in our eyes as the young men in our country’s uniform (Army) folded, in solemn formality, the flag which had draped the coffin of the 97-year-old World War II veteran. 
Kneeling before his wife of 68 years, they presented the flag with gratitude of our nation’s citizens for his long-ago service in our country’s defense. As a very young man, Ray had served in India with the railroad division and his naïve Texas good humor was strained almost to the breaking point with the horror of war. 
There was far more to the story of Raymond Lasater than military service long ago. He married his sweetheart, LaVern, and remained faithful to her and their three boys for all of his life.  Sixty-eight years of marriage demonstrates that simple virtue of loyalty.  Does one dare question that all those years were easy?  Of course not, but easy was not the qualifier. Marriage was about commitment and perseverance.
After the interment and the mournful sound of “Taps” had drifted away, the family and friends were invited to Ray’s and LaVern’s church where they have been members for 60 years. Sixty years also were spent in the same Sunday school class.
Those same people who had joined in so many Bible studies together and worked in so many charitable endeavors as a group joined in one last tribute to their fellow classmate.  They cooked a meal and invited us to join them as everyone remembered the good man who had left them. There was much laughter and tears, laughter because that was a defining part of who Ray was.  His ready laugh, frequently at LaVern’s quick wit, helped bind them together as a group.
This was a sad goodbye in some ways because it seems more than a loss of one man but also a loss of something simple from an earlier time.
Men and women of their generation had many hard times, war and depression are not easy for anybody, but in general, people knew what they were about and pursued it.
Patriotism and defense of country were expected, marriage and family were simply the next steps, and people walked it out.
There are many new ways and ideas of our new century and new generations that I love. But those old ways and defined paths brought a great comfort and simplicity.  We will miss that.
Patricia Hall
From the Bible:  I was young, and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. Psalm 37:25 (NIV)