Celebration of Life Service for Rita Eby

I was honored to officiate at the celebration of life service for Rita Eby (September 11, 1930, to January 24, 2013) last weekend.  Rita lived a rich life with her husband, Bill.  They were married for 59 years!

Her daughter, Vickie, contacted me about a week ago.  I had officiated for her and her husband, Mark, about five years ago.  They remembered me and wanted someone they knew to lead the service.

Rita was very well loved -- the room at Tibbetts Creek Manor was filled with family and friends.  Of course, her daughter and two sons, Tom and Bob, hosted the gathering.

Several wonderful readings were selected by Vickie.  This one is by Daphne Rose Kingma:

It is love that fashions us into the fullness of our being---not our looks, not our work, not our wants, not our achievements, not our parents, not our status, not our dreams.

These are all the fodder and the filler, the navigating fuels of our lives; but it is love, who we love, how we love, why we love and that we love which ultimately shapes us.  It is love, before all and after all in the beginning and in the end, that creates us. 

Today, remembering this, let yourself acknowledge and remember the moments, events and people who bring you – even momentarily, into a true experience of love and allow the rest, the inescapable mundanities of life, like a cloud, to very quietly drift away. 

Rita was an avid bowler.  Her teammates were her dear friends and I got to meet many of them.  The room was decorated with items that reflected her hobby and her passion.



One of my favorite parts of the afternoon was the sharing of remembrances:  we laughed and cried as memories were recalled and spoken.  Rita will certainly live on in the hearts of everyone there.