Saturday, December 28, 2013

What is Mother?

12:30 PM Greeting by Reverend Byron Miller
12:35 PM Psalm 121 by Rev Miller
12:40 PM Lord's Prayer by Assembled in Unison
12:45 PM Eulogy for Mom by Patrick Darnell
12:50 PM Reflections -- by Hunter Paniagua -- by David Darnell -- by Bernadine Foster
1:00 PM Sermonette by Rev Miller
1:10 PM Closing Prayer
In Loving Memory
Jerre Jean Hynds Darnell
Born
December 3, 1926
Entered into rest
April 19, 2013
Houston, Texas
Celebration of Life Services
The Chapel of SouthPark Funeral Home
12:30 PM
April 24, 2013
Officiating 
Reverend Byron Miller
* * * 
A Eulogy for Mom
Some of you know Jerre Jean Hynds Darnell as your coworker. Others know her as your party planner. Some know her as their dance partner. The board of Directors knew her as that fastidious worker. You might have caught her style as she walked the runway at the Country Place style show. Maybe you see her in her yard. You might see her praying with her church circle. Many know her as your top secret confidante. Many, many know her as that ravishing beauty. I don't often use the word ravishing, but in Mom's case she is.

But you see, Jerre Jean Hynds Darnell is my Mother!

She bore me, she named me with her heart of hearts husband, and she raised me.

My brother and sisters know of what I speak.

Most important to me is that Mom always speaks the truth. Jerre Darnell always tells the truth. That is her way. The truth isn't always the most popular thing we want to hear. Sometimes when she said those truths, it would make me want to run and hide. And she always stuck to her guns. If you fidgeted, she tells you to sit tight. If you tried to pull her away from her important task, she tells you to hold your horses.

When conversations become nonsensical, Mom relies on her maternal wisdom. Her truth statements have become pearls in her children's, grandchildren's, and great-grandchildren's lives. Mom's wisdom, you see, comes back to her.

Mom and her steadfast friend, Robert, are blessed with long lives, 67 years of which they have been husband and wife.

What is Mother --

what is Mother,
without her house
and her child?

Her babies
are born and grown
in her domicile

Many houses
Mom has known
Many seeds she has sown,

Where she settled
she made it her own.

As years gathered numbers
some ideals are put to rest
her children, now with children,
are wiser, never alone, at best,
for Mother journeys with us ...

See all their bright little faces
Hear their falsetto voices,
... full of trust, truth, and whim,
Creating such a din.

Thank you all for coming.

Patrick Darnell

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