i have no idea how this post didn’t get up – somehow it saved as a draft without being published. i’m sorry for those of you who were waiting for news on my grandfather – i wrote this last week the day after he passed away. kathryn and i will be in california for the memorial service next weekend.
my grandfather passed away last thursday evening. he was much beloved by many and will be sorely missed. but he put his passing into his own hands, entering hospice last month when he knew it was time. we should all be so lucky, to greet death with respect and understanding, to be able to say goodbye on our own terms. and he will live on, in the values he taught all of us, in his infectious wonder and enthusiasm for life.
a couple years back my cousin matt asked my grandparents to write statements of belief, brief stories of their lives and their values to be shared and cherished. it is a gift to have that statement now as we mourn his passing.
THIS I BELIEVE – CLYDE ELLER
I had a very happy and carefree childhood, growing up in a small town, surrounded by family and friends. However, the Great Depression affected us greatly, from 1930-1938. Our area suffered from severe drought during much of this time which greatly exacerbated the impact. I suspect some of the trauma lingers in my attitude toward life.
My values were shaped early – as a product of my family and community. We were constantly reminded by little sayings, i.e., aphorisms that reinforced the values and morals we were taught to live by. My father impressed on us the absolute obligation of our responsibility to family and the community that has stayed with me throughout my life. And this led to a long series of volunteer responsibilities, from leader for Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, to membership in church boards and civic organizations such as Jr. Chamber of Commerce, Rotary and Kiwanis. My Life’s work in Environmental and Public Health, at the City, County, State, and Federal levels also carried out my desire to improve the quality of life for individuals and communities. I was proud to receive the National Samuel Crumbine award and the Public Health Services Distinguished Service Medal in recognition of this effort.
The church I have belonged to for the past 50 years or so has always stressed the process of searching for meaning, from any and all sources of wisdom and thought. It is only in my more mature years, after much searching and thought that I have become comfortable with my humanistic view. I believe this life, this time, is our only chance to impact our thoughts and values and that our immortality exists only through this impact on our family, friends, and community.
In looking back over my very long life, I have many things to be happy for, especially my long relationship with my wife, Linda, and the pleasure of seeing our children become adult friends, and especially the joy of interacting with our eight grandchildren as their lives unfold. I feel fortunate to have had such a long life and so many wonderful friends in our retirement years.
Clyde Blaine Eller Jr. lived to be 89 years old. He raised four children, and he got to become friends with all of his eight grandchildren. He loved life, travel, the outdoors, and all its wondrous beauty. He was an intellectual, and a compassionate humanist. He was dedicated to his church, the Unitarian Universalists, as its ideals of community and tolerance appealed to his values of civic duty as well as acceptance of all people to work for a better world. But most of all, in all his life, he loved his wife Linda, with whom he was married for 66 years.
