Tribute

Author's Note: This isn't a dog posting, but I wanted to post this somewhere. This is the eulogy that I wrote for Lester. It was read at his funeral.

During this last hospital stay, one of Lester's doctors came in to check on him while he was still sedated from surgery. We talked about his condition and about his disease, diabetes. He told me how he once saw a pamphlet title, “Living the Good Life with Diabetes” and how it made him angry because he saw what diabetes does to people and gestured to Lester. I told him that as difficult as things are sometimes, we have a very good life and believe that everything happens for a reason. He said, “I know, I just don’t know what the reason is.” I thought about what he said for a long time after he left. It occurred to me that Lester’s life was not measured by the fact that he couldn’t see out of one eye, or couldn’t walk, or needed dialysis to keep him alive, or was losing his fingers and maybe his hand. His life was measured in the many people who loved him and the lives that he touched. He would be the first one to tell you that he had a good life and he was thankful for it. It is evidenced by those of you who are here today and I would like to thank you all for coming. Lester would be so pleased with the overwhelming support shown to me and our families since his passing. He was a very devoted husband and a good man. There were so many wonderful things about him and so many good memories, and I would like to share just a few of those with you today.

Lester and I met in college, and within a few short weeks of knowing each other, we became good friends. Lester was a very intelligent man, his IQ well into the genius range, yet he was never condescending. He was a very humble man. He never cut down other people; he never gossiped. He loved God. No matter what the situation, he could always make me laugh. These reasons and so many more are why he quickly became my best friend. When people at college saw that we were spending so much time together, they began to ask if we were dating. Our answer was “No, just friends”. Our dorm mates became so irritated with this answer that we continued to say that well after we were engaged to be married! It started as a joke, but this was how our lives were together, more than anything we were best friends and I will miss him dearly.

When we got married, it was very important to us that we worked together as a team and planned to be in Christian ministry. We prayed for several months about what God wanted us to do together for Him. We felt strongly that God was leading us to minister to children. We both attended a college class where we learned how to do gospel magic, ventriloquism, and other gospel artistry. We attended many conferences and Lester, already a master of object lessons, learned as much as he could about using illusions to tell children about God. Our mentors, the Clothiers, took us under their wing and taught us many things. When there was a VBS meeting that they couldn’t take, they referred us and we had our first meeting! We planned and planned and planned. There are no words to describe the joy that we felt that first night when we looked into those dear children’s faces. We knew from that time on that this was EXACTLY what the Lord made us to do together. To Lester, there was nothing more important in life, than the ministry to children. He poured in his time, his money, his vacations, and even sometimes his health. I saw him crying in pain before a service, yet still run up on the platform and give every bit of his energy to the children. Then he’d go home in tears because the pain was so bad. The next night he went back and did it again. He led the Jr. Church ministry for several years, taught seminars for children’s workers, and led somewhere around 30 or more Vacation Bible Schools. His only discontentment with his declining health was that he could no longer hold VBS meetins. The day before he died, he was still talking about ideas of things that he could still do for ministry.

Lester also loved animals, particularly our dogs. They were a comfort to him and made him laugh. He loved to have people over to play games. He enjoyed researching any and everything, playing computer games, reading, hunting, gun collecting and shooting, electronic gadgets, and even cooking. He loved to give to other people. If he knew someone needed something, he would find a way to give it to them if he could. He was very generous. There were several times I saw him empty his wallet to give it to someone else.

He always made people laugh. He used his humor to make it through the tough times. He joked about being a pirate when he lost sight in his eye and had to wear a patch. He joked about pedicure discounts when he lost his toes. He joked about saving money on shoes when he lost his feet. When facing losing his hand, he joked about not needing to clean his fingernails anymore. He had his down days like anyone, but he was the bravest person I have ever known. With all he went through, he still had a smile on his face. In fact, my last glimpse of him still awake was of him laughing and making all the nurses who where wheeling him in to surgery laugh. I like to imagine him up in heaven right now, making all the angels laugh.
Lester was a private person and he didn’t always know how to express himself to people. He didn’t like to talk on the phone. As I write this, I think of who may be present and I want to tell you how much you all meant to him.

To our church- So many of you have been like family to us when ours could not be here. Lester so many times talked about how much he appreciated all your prayers, cards, visits, and love. Thank you for the Lester Drennen day. I am so happy that HE got to hear how much you all loved him and appreciated him. Thank you so much for being there for us!

To our work friends- For those who worked with Lester, he talked about how much he enjoyed working with all of you and continued to think of you after he left work. To my HR friends, Lester and I are both so thankful for your flexibility with my schedule and the support that you gave me to allow me to be with him through everything. You will never know how much this meant to both of us.

To the health care workers- We often thank God for all of you who helped us last several years. Lester just mentioned a few weeks ago how blessed he has been with good doctors and nurses and other staff. All of you gave him the best quality of life he could have, you kept him comfortable, you gave him hope, you cheered him when he was down, and you kept him with us longer than we thought possible. I will be forever grateful to each one of you.

To our friends- There are so many of you who have been a support to us with a kind word, a laugh, or a hug. Thank you especially those who jumped in to care for the dogs, weed my garden, rake our leaves, shop for groceries, do car or repairs, run errands and so much more. Lester was so thankful for your support of me so I could be with him.

To those from churches who have allowed us to take part in your ministry to children- Thank you! This was truly Lester’s passion. He never took lightly the responsibility of teaching your precious children and it was his deepest burden that he was not physically able to hold any meetings these last two years.
To all those who knew him as “Mr. Lester”- He loved each and every one of you kids. Each time he heard that one of you was praying for him, he would get tears in his eyes because that meant so much to him. Thank you for all your prayers.

And to our families- I do not have words to say how much your support over the years has meant to both of us. For dropping everything and rushing to get here when things were bad, for making arrangement for him to keep his mobility, for your prayers, your phone calls, your texts, and for your love. Lester often talked about you all from planning how to pick on the nieces and nephews to planning to see the brothers and sisters again. He missed you and loved you all.

Lester and I always knew that our time together would be short. When his kidney’s failed, we knew that we only had about 3 – 5 more years to live if he did not get a transplant. We talked about his health and our future and we determined that no matter what, we wanted to live our lives to be a testimony to God. We wanted to live in a way that would point others to Him, so they would want to know Him too. We never wanted to do or say anything that would cause anyone to think badly of our God. We wanted to be an encouragement to others, to always appreciate those who cared for him, and to treasure every day we had together. I don’t know that we were always successful, but this is what we tried to do.

Some of you here are Christians and I want to say to you that God has a plan for your life and He will give you the strength to live that life. Some of you here are not religious; you don’t have a relationship with God. You know that Lester was not the kind of person to shove his faith down your throat, but it was very important to him. He dedicated the last 20 years of his life to teaching children about how much God loves them and how they could know for sure that they would go to heaven when they die. I know that he would wish that every one of you here would just consider where you stand with God. Do you know him? Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior? He would not pressure you, but I am sure it would have meant the world to him if you would just think about it. Lester often said to the children that we taught together, “If you don’t listen to anything else, know this one thing, God loves you!”

In closing, some have mentioned to us in the last few years that you admired our love for each other, our strength, our joy. I want to tell you all. If you saw love, it was from God. If you saw peace, it was from God. If you saw joy and happiness; it was from God. If you saw strength, it was from God. Give Him all the thanks and all the praise.