Elizabeth O’Neill Memorial
Service; Saturday, June 2, 2012
The Bustle in a House
(Dickinson); John 10:11-16
Sermon preached at St.
Stephen’s Episcopal Church
I
knew Elizabeth the last five years of her life. I remember one of the first times I visited with her in her
home on Trafalgar Street. We were
sitting in the living room. We had
been talking about her early years.
Elizabeth had lots of stories.
She had lived a long life.
She had told me about her father, who was a doctor, and what it was like
growing up. She had
told me some about her early teaching experience and meeting her husband and
their marriage. We had come to a
natural pause in our conversation.
We were both taking a moment to sip our tea, and enjoy the quiet of the
house. Her eyes drifted down, and
I waited for what I thought would be another pearl of a memory. She pointed
downward and said, “Those are not particularly attractive shoes”. And she was right, they weren't very attractive shoes! “You’re right”, I answered. “But they are particularly comfortable
ones!” I knew then, that I really
liked this woman. She stated the
obvious truth that most of us are too polite to utter. Elizabeth did not use words
loosely. As a teacher of English,
she knew the power of words and stories.
