By Jordan Beach
Before the names of those to be remembered were read, the Rev. Tim Emmett, pastor of Waleska United Methodist Church, allowed for those in attendance to react to the names to be called in a way that matched how they felt, whether crying in grief, smiling in remembrance or something in between.
Campus pastor, the Rev. Jamie Hudgins, opened the Annual Campus Memorial Service on Wednesday afternoon in the cool shade of the Echo Garden, a service that commemorated the lives of those who played a role in Reinhardt’s longstanding history and in the hearts of the Reinhardt family.
The Rev. Tim Norton, vice president for advancement & marketing, followed with remarks, reflecting on his own personal losses, yet offering hope through thoughts of new life.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about new life lately. It is after all spring, the time when everything that has been dormant, seemingly dead, is showing new signs of life.”
Norton quoted 1 John 5:13: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” The “things” written in this book of the Bible include a similar assurance to the one we experience at the close of each winter, knowing that spring will bloom with new life time and again.
“Simply put, these things are the assurance of God’s love, and the assurance of humanity with whom we live and breathe and make a life together,” Norton said of the words in 1 John.
Norton reflected on new life: the new life of those who have passed on to join God in eternity and the new life each person on earth wakes up to with every sunrise. His hopeful words did not come without emotion but encouraged those honoring the lives of others to make the most out of their own remaining time.
“Today, as we hear the names of those we love, those we have lost or perhaps the names of no one who we knew personally, I challenge you to think about new life this day, and to make the most living.”
The list represents the names of the family members who died in the last year:
Jerry A. Anthony ‘55
W.F. Bell
Mary Butler ‘43
Donna T. Chastain ‘46
Wally K. Cloud
Linda N. Cochran ‘81
Gordon Craig ‘50
Lucretia M. Davenport
William L. Davenport
Grace DeBord
Leighton B. Deming ‘63
Margaret F. Dixon ‘55
Charles F. Dollar
Dot W. Douglas
James Dye
Thomas Eidson
Gregory L. Elliott ‘80
Susan S. Epling ‘87
Sharon F. Evans ‘78
Lawrence G. Forrester ‘48
Betty Jo Fowler
Mary Free
Oma M. Gibson ‘96
Josalyn S. Gregory ‘02
James H. Griffin ‘48
Dorothy V. Hatmaker ‘44
Rossie A. Henry ‘56
John I. Humphrey ‘66
Grady Jenkins ‘74
Hugh T. Johnson
Sandra P. Jurkiewitsch
Toombs H. Kay ‘49
Thomas H. Krueger
Alton B. Lanier ‘65
B.D. Lathem
Sarah E. Lipscomb ‘96
Richard T. Lumpkin ‘58
Jon D. McGee
Robert G. McKinnon
Ernest N. Moore ‘52
Anne C. Neal
William G. Pritchard
Brenda Puckett
William E. Puckett
Clarence N. Richardson ‘57
Virginia A. Ruskell ‘67
Jame H. Schlichting
Wilson B. Shannon
Steve J. Simmons
Frances D. Sosebee ‘80
Jessie F. Stancil ‘33
Joe Tippens
Joseph P. Vollrath
Nedra White ‘61
Russell Windsor ‘96
Mary W. Worley ‘47
