It’s a little unusual for me to publish a message for Easter with Funeral Director Daily, but circumstances in the last week have made me reflect on who we are as a profession, as a country, and as people of faith.  While our friends of Jewish faith are in their period of observing Passover at this time, those of us of the Christian persuasion will be celebrating Easter Sunday tomorrow.

And, as a country we are in the grips of something like I’ve never seen in my lifetime with the social mores of the coronavirus affecting us all.  Easter will be different for my family tomorrow — I love going to church on Easter Sunday and get goose bumps on my skin when the trumpet choir opens with “Jesus Christ is Risen Today — Alleluia”.  I’m guessing every Easter Sunday of my life that scene in that same church has unfolded in front of me.  Tomorrow I won’t be seeing that triumphant scene and will be sitting in the living room with my wife, Angie, watching some semblance of that on our iPad.

I’ve reflected a lot this week.  I’m proud of who we can be as Americans when we come together — as we seem to be doing now — to defeat a common enemy.  I’ve reflected on who I am and how I received the values and faith that make me that person.  And, I’ve reflected on the generations of Americans that have come together over time to defeat the common enemy — whomever or whatever it was — at their place in history.

I’ve thought of Oscar Bergner this week.  I first started working in my home community as a funeral director in 1980.  Like so many small communities, the military veterans in those communities volunteer as Honor Guards and rifle squad members when another veteran has passed away.  Oscar, a widower, but in his perfectly pressed white shirt, tie, and veteran’s cap, was at all of the services in those days as one of our county’s last World War I veterans.  He was always kind, courteous, and loved to talk to me about my generation and what was going on in my life.  I’ve thought back this week and thought of Oscar who was willing to go to battle for his country against the Kaiser’s uprising — and be across the Atlantic even amid the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1917.

I’ve thought of Darrel Flaig this week.  Darrel was hired as a funeral director by my grandfather in 1929 and delayed his retirement after my father died so I would have the chance to work with him in 1980 as the third generation of my family to do so.  He was an incredible servant to the families he took care of and much of that servant attitude rubbed off on me.  He was also pretty practical, but a little blunt with his advice, “Don’t drive the hearse so fast!  People will think you just can’t wait to get the next one.  . drive with dignity.”  Darrel never thought it was any thing more than his duty, but he talked about having to care for a community that suffered at different times from diphtheria and polio epidemics. . . it was just his duty as a funeral director to safely take care of the deceased for the community’s sake.

And, I’ve thought of my dad this week.  I’ve even been out to the cemetery to visit with him as you see, April 9 marked the 43rd anniversary of his passing. . . April 9, 1977 — I look at that date as the day my wonderful childhood ended.  April 9 was Easter Saturday in 1977 and Dad had given the entire staff the Easter weekend off in spite of having two funerals that Saturday.  He had a sudden heart attack that day and left a 49-year old widow and this 19-year old son . . . . and the viability of a small town funeral home was uncertain.

What my dad and mom (who died in 2011) did leave me, however, was a faith in God and values to place the comforts of others before my own.  And, I now believe those kinds of values are just what it takes to be a funeral director and serve your community.  So, Thursday at the cemetery, I thanked my dad and mom for giving me those values.  I continue to believe that the best funeral directors still have those values and great businesses are built with great values.

So, Easter will be different tomorrow.  I’m sheltering in place and missing some of the things I love.  However, I’ve got it no where near as tough as Private Oscar Bergner who was in a strange land, fighting a war, and dealing with an epidemic for our country in 1917.  And, when Oscar came home, life was good for him.  I will be in front of the iPad. . .not in a remote foreign land.  . . and I will praise my God from whom all blessings flow.  And, life will be good for us again soon — that’s the assurance of the faith we hold .

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I will leave this message with a work entitled, “The Heritage of Young Americans”.  This message was written by my great uncle, T.A. (Dad) Erickson, who is generally credited with being the founder of 4-H.  He wrote this in 1944 shortly after the allied soldiers had landed at Normandy and were moving into Germany to help liberate Europe.  A copy hangs in my home office.

The Heritage of Young Americans

I am an American, one of the heirs to the riches of the most wonderful country in the world.  I have a share in its hills and its valleys, its winding streams and beautiful lakes.  The streets of its “alabaster cities gleam” for me.  Its modest homes with “open gates,” its great factories with powerful and skillful machines and it great business houses were built for me.

As an American, I may till its fertile soil and produce nutritious food and the fibers for my clothing.  Its mines and forests are ready to give me material for providing a home and its comforts.

As an American, the freedom that we in the Unites States of America love so well is mine, and I will guard it in every way that I can.  The churches invite me to worship in my own way, that I may know the true meaning of the “abundant life.”

As an American, the government exists for me and I have a share in its responsibilities through my vote and loyalty.

I may enter the libraries and delve in their wealth of books of all ages, to broaden my vision and make me tolerant.  The museums and art galleries, with their great treasures, are mine to enjoy.  The public school is open to teach me the American Way of Life.

Because America gives me so much, it is my duty to treasure these riches and guard them with a keen mind, healthy body, skillful hands, and loyal heart.

I will use the bequest which is mine to enrich my own life so that I may bequeath- increased, to future generations of my country – this precious heritage, and with it “the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” and all that implies.

T.A. Erickson (1944)

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