Good morning. I am David Rietz, Annabelle’s second grandchild. I have the privilege of saying a few remarks on behalf of the family of Annabelle Stuart Schwer, who I only knew as Nana.
How do you summarize a life in a few moments? The short answer is that you can’t. And the truth is that I didn’t know Annabelle for most of her life.
Much of Nana’s life was spent during days that we of the internet generation have a difficulty even comprehending, from her days in Golden Colorado and farming in Alberta Canada, living through a World War, a Great Depression, a Second World War, the Civil Rights Era, the Cold War, the dot-com boom and bust, and even now through the recent historic events in politics and our economy. Nana truly witnessed and was part of the “greatest generation”.
Nana was a devoted wife, married for 61 years to George Schwer, my grandfather, who I know as “Pop-Pop”. I’ve been told that I share the same sense of humor and mentality as Pop-Pop, so I can tell you from personal experience, that this, I’m sure, took a great deal of patience, devotion, resiliency, and vast amounts of love from deep within Nana’s heart. Their 61 years of marriage is certainly took a lot of work, but was a source of deep joy for them both.
Nana was also a mother of two very intelligent and successful girls, Carolyn and Barbara, both Ivy League educated, and married to loving husbands.
And while I can’t speak with much insight to the complexity of a mother daughter relationship, I can see in both of their eyes the deep love and affection that both daughters felt for their mother.
Nana was a brother to Herb and Raymond Stuart, and an beloved Aunt Anne to many nieces and nephews, including Pam who is here today.
Finally, Nana was a grandmother beloved by 3 grandchildren: Bill, myself, and Jon, who with a heavy heart was not able to be with us today.
The Nana we knew was the Nana from Whispering Pines, North Carolina. The Nana that would teach us to eat grapefruit on the screened in porch for breakfast, who would take us to swim at the club pool, and who would always have oatmeal cookies on hand.
We knew the Nana who was an expert in writing long newsy letters to us at camp and for birthdays, and would send packets and packets of newspaper clippings from the local papers to keep us appraised of coverage of Duke Basketball and the Charlotte Hornets, or whatever other topic that she knew that we were interested in at the time.
We knew the Nana that lost her precious companion of 61 years, and though full of life, yearned for the time when they could be reunited again.
And so how do you summarize a life in a few moments? I don’t think you can. Because Nana’s life will go on. Life continued for Nana last Sunday, as she left this life and passed into the next, as she passed from the limitations that human frailty imposes on us all, into the unknown wonder that awaits us on distant shores. “The thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.” I have no doubt that this is what Nana felt as she left us last Sunday, fell to her knees, heard the angel voices, and experienced her own night divine.
But while we celebrate for Nana, we still feel the loss – and it is a deep, deep loss. And while we grieve, we know that Nana will live on with us as well. She will be with us with all of the great memories, and the things that remind us daily of the ways that Nana shaped our lives, from little things like her love of chocolate covered cherries, in the name of a precious great granddaughter who bears her name, to the passed down diamonds that are in my wife’s wedding ring, to the sound advice on the first tee that “short and straight, is always better than long and in the woods”. The measure of a good life is that it lives on in memories of those that it impacted. And Nana lived a good life.
In this season of giving, I recall a gift that Nana once gave me once as a teenager. It was a simple gift, a small frame, with calligraphy written in Nana’s hand. I’m sure at the time I threw it aside and paid more attention to the video game or other toy that has years since been thrown or given away. There comes a time in your life when you start to realize the wisdom of your elders, and this gift has been hanging in my office at home for the past several years. At some point Nana specifically chose these words, because they had meaning to her, and I truly think she lived them every day….
I shall pass through this world but once.
Any good therefore, any good that I can do.
Or any kindness that I can show
To any fellow being, let me do it now.
Let me not deter or neglect it.
For I shall not pass this way again.
Fourteen years ago, I had the honor of speaking at my grandfather’s and Nana’s husband’s memorial service. I closed with a quote, from a film called the Shawshank Redemption. In the film, the quote is about the loss of a friend, who, though in difficult circumstances, was a source of joy and light to all that knew him. I use liberties with the names, but the quote applies to Annabelle Stuart Schwer as it did for me to George W. Schwer…
Sometimes it makes me sad, though,
myself that some birds aren't meant
to be caged…their feathers are just too bright…
...and when they fly away, the part
of you that knows it was a sin to
lock them up does rejoice...but still,
the place you live is that much more
drab and empty that they're gone.
I guess I just miss my friend.
I guess I just miss my friend.
We miss you Nana, we love you. And thank you for showing us all, a life well played……
Touching eulogy by Dave. Wonderful tribute to a wonderful lady. Sorry for your family's loss.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful - so eloquent and what vivid memories. Loss is so hard, even when you know it's best for your loved one to move on. We are thinking of David, and your families!
ReplyDelete