My Uncle Bob Hess’ Funeral
Saturday, February 16
Funerals for someone of the generation before me always brings back many memories.
As you can see by the tombstone, his wife (my mother’s sister Anna Mary) died in 2010.
Bob lived a full life, and the funeral was a celebration of his life.
I went through some of my old snapshots and digital pictures to look for pictures of Bob.
This picture is of Cerwin visiting with Bob at his and Anna Mary’s fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration.
My sister-in-law Dot and Bob visiting at the Hawthorne Reunion in 2005.
He was always interested in what was going on in everyone’s life.
Roasting hot dogs at a reunion in 2007.
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Bob was a brilliant man with many interests as seen in his obituary.
Bob was a 1945 graduate of the former Mount Joy High School. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Elizabethtown College, Master of Divinity from Bethany Theological Seminary in 1953, Master of Education in 1963 from Temple University and Doctor of Philosophy from Howard University in 1972.
Ordained in 1953, he and his wife spent 16 years in Nigeria as missionaries, spending most of their time educating Nigerian youth at Waka Schools. Bob also gave his time to the growing Nigerian church and the church advanced him to Eldership. Returning from Nigeria in 1969 and completing his education, Bob joined the faculty at Messiah College where he taught full time until 1993.
An historian, Bob was a member of the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society where he was instrumental in development and publication of “Hess Genealogy: the Descendants of 1717 Immigrants Hans and Magdalena Hess 1717-2004″. He was a life long member of West Green Tree Church of the Brethren. In 1977, he completed a book about the story of West Green Tree Church of the Brethren entitled: “A People Committed”. Also a licensed pilot, he built two experimental aircraft, and has flown them for more than 200 hours.
One of my early memories of Anna Mary and Bob is being flower girl at their wedding. I think I was five years old, so this wedding would have been in 1949.
Maybe being their flower girl helped me to form a great admiration for them. It was partially because of them that I grew up wanting to be involved in mission work.
Anna Mary, Bob, and their daughter Sharon. Sharon was born in Africa, so I expect this photo was taken when they were home on furlough.
After the funeral, I took time to visit gravesites of other Hawthorne relatives. This is my mother’s parents. Notice Bob’s funeral was held on my grandmother’s 115th birthday.
My mother’s family about 1942: Back (left to right) Anna Mary, Leroy, Grandma Elizabeth, Joyce, Grandpa Victor, Florence (my mother). Front: Betty, Lester, Vernon, and Orpha Mae.
My Grandpa and Grandma Hawthorne – probably in the mid 1960s.
My aunt and uncle Joe and Betty (a younger sister to my mother).
My uncle LeRoy (mother’s oldest brother) and aunt Anna Mae.
This statue of Jesus is next to the Hawthorne gravesites.
I went to the internet to get the story: Behind West Green Tree Church of the Brethren in Elizabethtown, a solemn Christ crouches still, thanks to the work of an Israeli sculptor half a world away.
Atop a base covered with rose-colored Jerusalem stone, the 6-foot statue stands next to the graves of LeRoy & Anna Mae Hawthorne, who before their deaths in late 2005 and 2006, respectively, made this statue possible through a sort of posthumous monetary gift.
“My parents didn’t live long enough to see it get done,” says their son, David Hawthorne, who was the driving force behind acquiring the statue.
The “Jesus in Gethsemane” statue was created by artist Sam Philipe here of Jerusalem.
David Hawthorne and his wife Janet, visited Jerusalem in September 2005 with a tour group. In the hotel where they stayed, Philipe had a booth selling smaller pieces and jewelry. After buying a couple pieces, the Hawthornes struck up a conversation with Philipe and asked him about his other work.
It was during that conversation that the dream developed to have this 1,500-pound sculpture shipped to the USA and placed next to LeRoy and Anna Mae’s gravesite.
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Seeing photos, listening to memories of Bob, and visiting aunts, uncles, and cousins brought back many memories of the Hawthorne family – a wonderful heritage.
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Just before arriving home we noticed the snow-covered mountains behind my brothers’ farm – and our house which is just beyond the farm buildings.
