Held in the Plain City Meeting House April 7, 1933
Opening Prayer by Patriarch Levi J. Taylor
Solo by Alta Hodson “Beautiful City”
Duet by Bernice Carver and Lawrence “O My Father”
William Knight: There are few people in this world who will miss Brother Skeen like I will. With the exception of close relatives, I will miss him more than any person on earth.
We lived seventy-four years in Plain City together, and our parents and grandparents were friends. He came here with a small company of men and women on the 17th of March and camped out here a little southwest of this building. I came with my parents in the fall of the same year and we lived together here ever since, and have been friends and neighbors.
The next spring there was quite a number of people came and made settlements. Just across the street from this building an adobe house was built. This was used as the school house and dances and all public affairs were held there. All our buildings were adobe.
In our early boyhood days Brother Skeen and I rode the range together. We went to dances in the school house and took our girls. In the winter we would ride in sleights and the summer we took them on horseback and I think we had just as good times as the young people do today.
When Lyman got married he built a house right where his home is now. I got married a few years later and built on the next spot south of his home.
He was a natural leader among men. He was the best learned man I ever knew. Many times he took contracts from the railroad and handled them. He had more respect for the Sabbath day than any man I every knew. He took an active part in every public improvement that has been made in Plain City and I can state that Plain City is better for Lyman Skeen having lived here.
I ask that our Heavenly Father bless and comfort all of those who are left without a father. Amen
Henry T. Maw: Brothers and sisters it gives great pleasure to be able to say a few words on this occasion.
Brother Skeen has done as much in this community as time would permit. I remember Brother Skeen ever since I can remember talking. When I was a boy we used to go down on the hill to play with our sleds and ride up and down.
I am going to say this: In all those years of experience in my life with him I have never heard him swear. Yet he worked with men who no doubt were rough. On account of conditions that surrounded him, he was associated with rough men in his youth, yet he never used tobacco. These were his characteristics. The body of his has withstood many ordeals.
The scripture says, “Show me our faith by your works.” As the body is dead without spirit, so it faith without works. It isn’t the many words that we use in life that builds character, it is what we do. I don’t believe there was ever a thing erected in Plain City but what his hands assisted. Even in his youth he took part in everything.
When I was a bishop, we needed a new fence around our cemetery. I went to Mr. Skeen personally and told him what we wanted. He asked me what kind of fence we wanted. I told him we wanted a good fence but didn’t have the money to get it. He said, “I am going to Ogden tomorrow, and I will select a fence.” That cemetery fence was put up and paid for without the bishopric of this ward assisting. I know how it was built. We built a railroad here and we all took so much out of our beets to pay for it. There was a little money left and he used that money to build the fence you see around our cemetery. The fruits of his labors can be seen all over. He was not a man who said many words. I remember his saying to a group of men of who were going to do something and were talking a great deal about it, “Let’s not talk about it, let’s do it.”
When this building was put up I was a young man. I remember how we toiled to build this structure. They had a fair here. He took an active part in it and after the building was completed there was a little money left over and we erected an amusement hall.
The year when I was in the bishopric we had this building and little room at the back. The bishopric desired to make an improvement, we made out the plans that now is the south of this building. After we got the plans for the building we called in Mr. Skeen and said that we wanted him to supervise the erecting of this building. He hesitated because he was beginning to feel he was getting up in years. He said, “I will select two men for a committee and I will see that it is complete” So there is some more of his labors in the South part of this building. So it has been all his life, he has been a good worker, which means something. It is all right to talk about big things, it is another to do them.
I was very much touched upon one occasion when I went to his home. He had one of his daughters on a mission at the time and had received a letter from her, which he very much desired to have read. In reading it I observed tears rolling down his cheeks on both sides because of the things that she had been suffering concerning the work she was engaged in. He said, “She will make good in this work, or she will not be a Skeen.” I have remembered these things. That determined character.
I believe if we had a true history of his work we would find that he was one of the host who planned and designed the playground which you see out in front of this building. He enjoyed a ball game. He always had time to see a good ball game , and like to see it played in a manly way.
While talking to him one day on the public square here, I said, “Mr. Skeen, you have lived here a long while. I have heard that you amused yourself on this square in dancing and other things barefooted, because shoes were so scarce, poverty on every side. Now you are living in luxury everywhere.” He said, “If I want true happiness, I will go back to the barefoot days, in those days we were all poor, and as sure as one family had food, we knew we would all have something to eat, because we shared and shared alike. Selfishness was not known at first, after a while selfishness begins to creep in, presently we begin to see how much one can accumulate, then that spirit which was so beneficial to us, vanished and selfishness took its place.”
I know, my brothers and sisters, he desired to do that which was right. He not only desired, but he tried in every way to carry out that desire, to make the community he lived in, better for us to live in.
What is he going to receive for all his work? Is he going to die and that is the end? No. He had complied with all that God has given him. There isn’t any of us perfect. I don’t believe there is a man living today who is perfect. He has complied with the laws and commandments that God has given to him, to entitle him to an inheritance upon this earth. Not for today, for tomorrow, but forever. This earth, if we understand the scripture right, was a celestial degree of glory, where God’s children should dwell forever. Has he prepared himself to continue as God desired his children to? Yes. He had complied with the commandments of God. He went to the Temple of God and was sealed to his wives. Latter-Day Saints understand all the laws and commandments of God. God has given his celestial law, and if I observe them and comply with them, that will entitle me to an inheritance on this earth. By observing that law, I am independent when I go home to that God who gave us life. We are told in the scriptures that when the spirit departs from this body and we are through what we call life and leave our body, the spirit returns to God. The wicked are passed out where this is weeping and wailing.
My brethren and sisters, I wish you would understand that what becomes of the soul of man when they depart from this life, until the resurrection. There are only two classes of people, the righteous and the wicked. The wicked are they who so forget themselves that they had the spirit of God withdrawn from them. Then the rest of us are going to mingle and associate together. He has complied with these laws and he will go on with the work he started. When he has prepared himself so that he can step in and enjoy what he has labored for, he will begin. Imagine the joy when he meets father and mother, wives and children and friends. What a glorious meeting it is, my brethren and sisters. He will labor in that condition until the resurrection, then will be the time when the great separation takes place. If I comply with celestial laws, I will be entitled to the blessings, this will be my home here upon this earth. It is just what we prepare ourselves for.
My Brethren and sisters, saying these few words, I appreciate the privilege that has been granted me this day, to be worthy of saying a few words upon this occasion, although I am unable to express the things I would like to say for the feeling I have for this family.
May the Lord bless them. May the work of their beloved Father guide their lives. May peace and harmony reign. I know he was a man of peace. He loved to do what was right. Lord bless you all. Amen.
George E. Browning: My dear brethren and sisters and friends. I esteem this a special honor to be asked to say a few words upon this solemn occasion, to a final tribute of love and respect to a man whom I have known all my life
You know, young people often have ideals. Certain men and certain women are their ideals. As far back as I can remember Lyman S. Skeen was one of my special ideals. I always looked upon him as a great man when I was a boy. What a wonderful man he was. As the years passed by the regard I had for him then has only increased. The longer I have known him the more I have respected him, because I considered him a real man among men. No hypocrisy with Brother Lyman S. Skeen, you always knew where he stood. He was not a man to make a great show, but he believed in action and was always willing to do his share and more.
What a debt of gratitude we owe to Brother Skeen for what he has done for us. He came here when there was nothing but sagebrush, we might say. His noble parents came here with their children and worked long and hard to subdue everything for the blessing and benefit of their children. Brother Skeen certainly has done a wonderful work in this respect.
The Bridge Builder
An old man going a long highway,
Came at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm vast and deep and wide,
The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.
“Old Man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,
“You are wasting your strength with the building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day,
You never again will pass this way;
You’ve crossed the chasm deep and wild;
Why build you this bridge at eventide?”
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” He said,
“There followeth me after today
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm that has been an naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim—
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him!”
That was the life of Brother Skeen. It was not just to get through life. He wanted to do something of benefit to those who came after him, and how wonderfully well he succeeded. What a fine life has he lived. A large family survive him, they will go on, of course, and follow in the footsteps of their noble father and be a blessing to the community as they father has been.
About two years ago a dear friend of min sent me a piece of poetry, which he had composed on this 80th birthday.
Nearing the Harbor
Four score years from birth to present age,
Four score of fleeting years,
I’ve played my part upon life’s stage
Through sunshine and through tears.
And now I face the setting sun,
While shadows lengthen on the wall;
My span of life may soon be run,
Life’s curtain soon may fall.
Four score years on life’s tempestuous sea
My ship has weathered storm and tide,
And now my Pilot beckons me
As swiftly home I glide.
Soon Life’s billows cease to roll;
Then I hope my ship may furl its sail
In the harbor of the soul.
In fancy I can see the harbor light
On the dim and mystic shore,
When fall the shadows of Stygian night
As I sale the waters o’er;
And can hear my Pilot calling me
Where breakers never roll,
Across the calm and crystal sea
To the harbor of the soul.
But let there be no sadness of farewell,
No grief, no tears, no sighs;
No tolling of the funeral bell
When my ship at anchor lies
On the calm and silvery sea
Where storm clouds never roll,
And my Pilot welcomes me
To the harbor of the soul.
These words seem to me to be so appropriate for Brother Skeen. For that was the life that he lived. He looked forward to the future. He knew the life he was passing through was but a speck in eternity. I think he realized, as most of us do here, that our spirits dwell together in our Heavenly Father’s mansion before we are permitted to come here and take upon ourselves mortality. We hope to be again united when this brief life is over. If a man dies shall he live again? That is the great question that has always been in man’s mind, from the beginning down. Yet how beautifully he answered it, and how it coincided with the life and faith of Brother Skeen when he said, “Oh, that my words were now written. Oh that they were printed in a book, that they were engraved with a lead pencil in the rock forever, for I know that my Redeemeth liveth. After skin worms have destroyed my body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.”
Brother Skeen had that abiding faith. He knew that when he laid his body down that eventually the resurrection would take place, when his body and spirit would again be united.
Brother Lyman S. Skeen loved his God, and he tried to show by his life that he wanted to do everything he could while here in mortality to merit the blessings promised to the faithful. No man ever left a greater legacy for his children than has Brother Skeen, not in dollars and cents, in the wealth of the world. I don’t count a man’s success in life by the wealth he gathers around him. He has lived an honorable, true, upright, honest life. He was indeed one of the noble sons of God, and you sons and you daughters, as you travel along life’s pathway, you will realize what a wonderful legacy your father has left you, when you can hear those who have known him all their lives say that Lyman S. Skeen was an honest man. That is the greatest legacy that can be left to children by their father.
So I am proud that I have known this wonderful man for so many years. He could say, as Timothy said, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course.” Brother Skeen has fought a good fight, I have finished my course.” Brother Skeen has fought a good fight and he has kept the faith. He will receive greater blessings than mortal man can conceive. If we are faithful and true, if we live lives our Heavenly Father would have us live, when we pass from this mortal existence we will receive a welcome home.
May sweet memory of Brother Lyman S. Skeen every remain in our memories. May our Heavenly Father bless his children that they may be determined to live lives that their fine parents would have them live, and thus erect a monument that will live through time and eternity. May we all profit by the life of Lyman S. Skeen, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Solo: “Abide With Me” by Mary Farley
John Maw: Brothers, sisters and friends. I am here to speak a few words for this occasion today. This is like standing up for my second father. I have been implicated with Brother Skeen for many years. I have known this family all my life.
Our first real work together was building the railroad to Plain City. We negotiated with prospects in 1907. During all that year and winter of 1908 we worked through storms. We trod over the road many times. Brother Eccles was a man who had to know just how many steps it was going to take. We finally got a contract. The year 1909, November 15th, we built the first railroad into Plain City.
Since that time we have been first on one committee and then on another. He picked me as sone of the committee to build this hall and every time there was something to do I have been with Mr. Skeen. We were called as a committee by the cement plant to go and inspect parts of different places to see what damage was done, and I have never seen the time in my life that Mr. Skeen was too busy to go. I don’t know a man that has been with him more than I have. I have worked with him continually.
In those things as well as his own ward, he was never too busy to come and do something to help. It wasn’t that he thought of himself only, but of the people who lived here, of his family. He has a good family. All they have to do is follow in his footsteps and they will not go far wrong.
I believe Brother Skeen is the last pioneer that Plain City has. We are laying away today a mighty good man, and I feel very sorry in my heart. He has nothing to regret, and if we can all live to the same age and do the things he has done, we will have nothing to regret.
I am not a public speaker, and I can’t say anymore. I know that we are laying away one of the best men Plain City ever had. He was honest and truthful in every respect. When he was told to do something he did it. You could bet your last dollar he would do it.
He has had a lot of trouble. He has laid away his wives, children, grandchildren and friends. He has been burned out a time or two, but he put up with it.
I ask the Lord to bless this family, that they will take this example that has been laid before them and do as their father has done. I ask God to bless you all in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Frank W. Stratford: I have always had a great deal of love and esteem for Brother Lyman S. Skeen. I consider him one of the best friends that I ever had. I loved him because of his honesty and because of his integrity and loyalty in all that he believed to be right. You could always depend upon him. He was dependable. When he told you something you knew it was right.
He has been one of my confidential advisors during my life. I came to him many times and and the advice and counsel I have received from him, in the past in the positions I have held, have been very helpful to me.
Looking over this audience I see many prominent people who have been closely associated with Brother Skeen and if they all had the privilege of speaking this afternoon, they could tell you that what has been said regarding him is true. They have always looked upon him as one of the greatest characters we have had in our community.
He has been a public servant. He served the people of this County. He was honest and true and conscientious in all he did. I love him because he was true to his family, true to his country. He was a patriotic citizen in the passing of Lyman S. Skeen.
I do not consider, my brothers and sisters, that this is altogether a day of mourning, but a day of rejoicing, because Lyman S. Skeen has lived the life of the Latter-Day Saint. He has lived a good life, brothers and sisters. He started right. His parents and those who started him out guided him on the right track, and he has lived right during his lifetime and it should be a day of comfort and consolation to the family left behind to know that he has finished life right.
If we can live right here on the earth and then when it comes our time to go on the other side, know we have finished right, we will have an exaltation in the Home of God.
We can see the Skeen family as they sit before us here, all these children and grandchildren. They are mourning the loss of their father and grandfather. But think of the happiness on the other side. Brother Skeen has had many relatives and friends leave him. Think of what the scene must be on the other side. While we are mourning somewhat here, they are rejoicing there because he has been called home and he has gone to them and he will have the privilege of living and associating with them on the other side. Those of these children who are loyal will go there.
May God bless the memory of Brother Skeen. I loved him with all my heart. I will miss him as these children will miss him. I have gone to him many times to seek advice and I never came home without it. May God bless him and his children is my prayer. Amen.
Solo by Fred J. Kenley, “I Need Thee Every Hour.”
Joseph Ririe:
FATHER
Used to wonder just why Father
Never had much time for play,
Used to wonder why he’d rather work
Each minute of the day.
Used to wonder why he never loafed
Along the road an’ shirked;
Can’t recall a time whenever father
Played while others worked.
Father didn’t dress in fashion
Sort of hated clothing new;
Style with him was not a passion
He had other things in view.
Boys are blind to much that’s going
On about them days by day,
And I had no way of knowing what
Became of Father’s pay.
All I knew was when I needed shoes
I got them on the spot;
Everything for which I pleaded
Somehow, father always got.
Wondered season after season,
Why he never took a rest,
And that I might be the reason
Then I never even guessed.
Father set a store of knowledge
If he’d live to have his way
He’d have sent me off to college
And the bills be glad to pay.
That, I know, was his ambition;
Now and then he used to say
He’d have done his earthly mission
On my graduation day.
Saw his cheeks were getting paler,
Didn’t understand just why’
Saw his body growing frailer,
Then at last I saw him die.
Rest Had come! His tasks were ended,
Calm was written on his brow;
Father’s life was big and splendid,
And I understand it now.
I think the poet here has beautifully described in those verses the earth life mission of my good friend, Uncle Lyman and these boys. I don’t know the father that has left more professional men in the world than he has.
He knew what poverty was. His life was not strewn with flowers. He knew what adversity and what ups and downs were. President Browning read the poem he built the bridge for the children that would follow after him.
One time Sid Bagley, William Wattis and Uncle Lyman went up into the North of here to look over a piece of construction work that was coming up. They walked through the mountains and over the ravines and back and forth and wore themselves out in a day’s work from daylight to dark. When they got to the end of the day they sat down together along the roadside and took out their pencils, and none of them, by the way, were schooled in a University. They were school in the school of hard knocks. So they sat down with their pencils and figured out the conditions, and when they got through they were competitors, but different from the competitors of today. They showed their hands, put their cards upon the table and showed what each one was willing to do the work for, and there wasn’t a thousand dollars difference in their figures. They shook hands and then agreed that they would not fight one another, but agreed that they would try and work together, and whoever was successful, the others would come and work for them.
There has been much said today. I don’t know of any better tribute that has been given to any mortal man than those paid to him by his friends and neighbors who have lived side by side with him. In the early days there were weaknesses just as there are today and many disputes came up over the land and animals and such, but to hear these testimonies today and know that nothing is held agains this man is wonderful.
On one occasion a woman was brought before Jesus. Her accuser said, “Thus and so is the law, Master.” Jesus said, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Here is a woman with nine accusers. They have all gone, then neither do I accuse thee, go in peace.” When we learn that lesson there will be no harboring of ill will against our neighbors.
Veterans who have fought the fight and struggled through earth’s life mission and endured to the end, I will tell you, too much cannot be said of them. When I think for a moment that nineteen children of his own flesh and blood have come to this earth and I think of sixty-eight grandchildren and fifty great-grandchildren. What greater reward can go down for a father and grandfather and great-grandfather than that? “Though you and your seed all the earth shall live forever upon the earth.”
His illustrious grandfather came from that independent Scotch descent that came here when America was owned by England and we were just struggling colonies in swaddling clothes, trying to work out an existence here. They settled in Pennsylvania and mingled with the Dutch people. Naturally there arose a desire to build homes, and driving westward, Joseph Skeen, his father settled in Missouri. Had they crossed the Missouri river they would have been in Mexico. Just before Uncle Lyman was born they lived in the northern part of Missouri bordering Iowa. At that time the Indian Chiefs would meet in Council Bluffs and settle their disputes. Here was where Uncle Lyman, December 18, 1850, in a humble log house was born.
Before that his people had come and settled, and when the Mormon people came westward, they were at war with Mexico. Word was put that volunteers were wanted to go and fight for their country. You all know the history of the famous Mormon Battalion. Among them was Joseph Skeen, the father of Uncle Lyman here today. He enlisted and started out down into the Southern part and into the desert country nearly into Santa Fe. That was where the disabled were held. Those who couldn’t make the march were turned back. They came back under the leadership of Captain James Brown and settled in 1847. He was mustered out with General Davis who settled in Huntsville and Captain Higgins who is down in Sevier County. There was Captain Hunter who went to the coast and settled and Captain Davis located in Davis County and the County is named after him. The first county court house was four poles and a few willows thrown over the top. This structor had been used by a farmer to protect his wagon from the weather. Compare that to the beautiful structure they have in Davis County today. Imagine the changes that have taken place since Uncle Lyman came to Utah.
Joseph Skeen lived in Missouri for a while, accumulating enough to buy an ox team and things enough to fit him out for the pilgrimage across the plains. So, in 1850, while there, Uncle Lyman was born. Two years later they came to Utah. They lived in Lehi for seven or eight years on the shores of Utah Lake. During the move of ’57 and ’58 a company went down there and settled on the shores of the lake and came in contact with John Spiers and Joseph Skeen and their families and told them of conditions up here, that there was water, rich soil and they were the original party that came here. They came in the middle of the winter and named this Plain City. There were these majestic mountains, and it was a plain land at that time.
Yesterday I stopped in Salt Lake City and read the inscription of Orson Pratt, who laid out Salt Lake City and marked a meridian as North, South, East and West. When the pioneers came in years later, only a few feet or rods or so from where Orson Pratt put the meridian did they, but the North star lay out those beautiful blocks in the early days and in surveying it very little change has been made.
When the surveyors came there was a feeling among the pioneers that they were to be careful in their dealings with them. They were told, “You have come here to be home builders, where you children can live, so hold onto your land” President Young came to Ogden and in the old tabernacle called a conference of fifty surveyors who had come out here to survey the land. When the great pioneer leader rose up and passed his hand across the audience, there was quiet and everyone listened. He told them of the pioneer mission and what they had passed through. They did not come just to take land but to make homes and good citizens, that they might govern themselves. Such a meeting resulted in good. The surveyors arose and shook hands with President Young.
Among these men was Mr. Gunnerson, who went South. He lost his life by the treacherous Indians, who did not know the mission he was on. And eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Some of the Indians had been killed and they took revenge upon Captain Gunnerson. Captain Gunnerson, in his diary, reports that he never saw such thrifty, industrious people as those pioneers.
So imagine a boy nine years of age coming with those first pioneers. By the way, William Skeen settled in Provo, and, I think married a daughter of J.J. Smith. J. Smith was a wonderful man. He invented the first harvester in Utah and one of the first plows was made by him, and I think they are on exhibition in Lehi at the present time.
I see descendants of John Carver. I see the Folkman brothers and descendants of Peter Poulson and others. They knew hard work and knew what it was to be in the service of their fellowmen. Lyman Skeen worked hard. He had a pressing sort of character. He was never furled. He used to say to me, “Well how are you today, Joey?” and I would say I was getting along fine. He loved a joke. He enjoyed a meeting on a Saturday afternoon with his friends to exchange ideas and then go back to work. Their work was hard work.
One time the government wanted horses for their calvary. They wanted experts. They knew what a horse was and there wasn’t to be a blemish on those horses. They bought from Uncle Lyman more than six hundred head for the calvary at that time. He had a keen judgment of livestock. He worked his horses right and fed them well and took good care of them. He never liked to see an animal mistreated. If a man is good and kind to his animals, he is going to be kind to his children and show that the proper way to go through life.
Uncle Lyman has passed through a great deal. He took part in locating the road her to Plain City. In 1870 and 1872 when the Utah Northern Railroad was built Uncle Lyman went out on that work. What can he report today, in the times he toiled from daylight to dark at night, following the scraper and the plow in the grading of those railroads and canals. You know that an ox team, to plow an acre of land in seven hours, had to keep going. It took a good husky boy to follow the plow.
What great changes have come about since that time. On the work on the railroads today we have excavators that pick up eighteen yards of earth and move it two hundred feet, handling thirty thousand yards in two hours. Compare that if you will. Uncle Lyman worked in the days of the sickle and the table rake and the dropper and self binder. Contrast these with the great harvesters of today. His first mill was a coffee mill, which he used to turn for his mother. His mother was a wonderful woman. She used to cook and make bread for her husband and family while they worked on the farm. Think of our flour mills that turn out thirty thousand barrels of flour a day and we have bakeries where thousands of loaves of bread are baked each day. Think of the wonderful change that has taken place. Don’t you think Uncle Lyman will be glad to explain to his father that we are not traveling by ox teams, but we are working with automobiles and airplanes which fly from ocean to ocean. My brother and sisters I want to tell you there has been wonderful changes made here. There are many people here today to pay tribute to Uncle Lyman and to say his record was good and they are proud of it.
A friend once met John Quincy Adams in the city of Boston. He was a very old man at the time and the friend said to him, “Good morning, how are you?” And he answered, “John Quincy Adams is quite well, I thank you, but the house in which he lives is becoming dilapidated. Time and seasons have nearly destroyed it. Its roof is pretty near worn out, its walls are shattered, it is almost uninhabitable, and I think that John Quincy Adams will have to move out of it soon. But he, himself, is quite well, Sir.”
A few weeks ago I called on Uncle Lyman when the snow was deep out here. I talked with him a few moments. His body was failing. He had gone down through the sunshine and heat of the day, and evening was upon him, but he talked of old times and old friends.
Imagine the happiness there will be when Uncle Lyman passes behind the veil and meets his father and mother and his family. His illustrious son, Lyman Skeen, Jr, who had a future of a great physician before him and passed away in his youth, and his daughter, Emma, a beautiful girl and the other children and his wives, those lovely women.
When he meets his loved ones they will say, “Lyman, what have you done?” He will say, I have a son Joseph, who served a mission. I have a daughter Ivy, who went into the Northern States. I was willing to let them go for the good of their country.” He can show a good, clean record. The little weaknesses God will forgive. He does not have time to notice them. There is no perfect, no, not one. It is those big things that he had done that he will be judged by.
Crossing the Bar
Sunset and evening star
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar
When I put out to sea.
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sand and foam
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell
And after that the dark
And may there be no sadness of farewell
When I embark;
For though from out our bourne of time and place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.
May God bless you all and guide you all through your lives, that you will live lives like he had lived, and will meet him again on the other side. Amen
Solo by Mrs. Mary Farley, “The Christian’s Goodnight
Benediction by William C. Hunter
Amasa M. Hammon dedicated the grave.
Note: George E. Browning is the brother of the famous gun inventor; F. W. Stratford died in the summer of 1934.