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Friday, February 27, 2004 Fall City Cemetery  WelcomeOn behalf of the family of Lola Zimmerman, I welcome you to this celebration of Lola’s life. Many of us were gathered here together three years ago to celebrate the life of Bill Zimmerman and so today we also honor that love that they had for each other. Please join me in an opening prayer. Opening Prayer God’s Presence is here with us today. God’s active, loving presence surrounds us and fills each heart and spirit among us, including the spirit of Lola. We are all One in Spirit even now. The Love of God expresses through each one of us as we pause this day to honor and to celebrate the life of Lola Zimmerman and the reality of the loving connection her children and grandchildren shared with her. We know that dear friends and many community members also shared a loving, sharing or spiritual connection with her and join us today in Spirit to commemorate her being. Lola expressed God through her living as a unique, creative spiritual being and continues now, beyond our view, as spirit and as memory deeply embedded in our hearts and minds. We know that as each of us is a spiritual being, Lola has passed through a transition from the confines of earthly existence into a purely spiritual dimension, leaving her earthly body behind. While we miss and mourn her and can only gradually accept the loss we feel in her absence in our activities, she lives on in our awareness. We claim the strength to remember, even in the most difficult times, that she has not gone far. She is with God and will always be with God. Lola remains with us as we are all in God together. We are grateful for what we each have shared with Lola over the years of our interaction. We remember in joy the good times we have shared. And we remember with great appreciation the lightening of our burdens as we shared the difficult times. Thank you God for the presence of Lola Zimmerman in our lives and for the assurance that her spirit now rests in the most tender place of Your Loving Infinite Spirit. She is free. Glory to God in the Highest! We let it be. And so it is! Amen Celebration of Life In the Presence of God within whose Spirit we live and move and have our being, we have gathered here today to celebrate the life and memory of Lola Zimmerman. Your presence here today is a tribute to Lola and a ministry to the living. Born Lola Kammer on Nov. 10, 1919, in Brule, Nebraska, Lola grew up on a farm in the great Depression. After her father died, Lola moved to California to live with her sister. She met Bill Zimmerman at a Burbank rooming house where she worked. They married in December of 1941. After the war, the Zimmermans moved to Gold Beach on the Oregon coast and built and operated a fishing resort. In 1954, Bill took a job as an engineer at Boeing, and they moved to Bellevue, Washington. As Bill was looking forward to retiring from The Boeing Co., he and Lola bought their dream, an old dairy farm in Fall City within sight of Mount Si in 1973. Lola, long a homemaker, began to grow small plants and herbs. In the spring of 1974, she had a surplus of chives so she put potted plants in a wheelbarrow under a walnut tree on the side of the road with a sign that read "Herbs for Sale." Next to it was a jar for customers to make change. People would come by, take the plants, and put money in the jar. The herbs were selling so quickly that the couple started building greenhouses. They took over a storage shed and converted the garage. Later, Bill converted the barn into a shop, where they continued their nursery. And the Herbfarm began – Lola was proud of her legacy. In her final years, her home was at Red Oak where she remained busy, making latch-hook rugs, taking classes and doing creative writing. She liked to keep busy and was still taking care of nature by planting bulbs where she could around her new home. Lola is survived by her son Bob and his wife, Valorie; her son Ron and his wife, Carrie Van Dyck; and grandchildren Thomas, Paul and Anne. (My personal relationship with Lola) The most important part of a celebration of life is in the sharing of memories. So in a few moments, I will be inviting you to share a story, an experience, or a thought of this beautiful person, Lola Zimmerman. (Service) But first, let us recognize that all of us here today are here because in some way—great or small—and for some length of time—long or short--, Lola brought something of value into our lives. Something good happened to every person here because he or she knew Lola. Whatever good this woman gave to us-we still retain. It still lives with us and works for us. By now it is probably so much a part of our own good nature that we would have to pause and search—perhaps very deeply to remind ourselves where it came from. Today, we are celebrating the life that perpetuates itself in each one of us. Because all the life there really is—is the life of Spirit. Lola not only lives on in our memory but also lives as a part of us. All the good she is finds expression in some way great or small through us. She lives in this world because we live in this world. And she rejoices and succeeds in the life of this world as we rejoice and succeed in it. So we come here to celebrate her life. Not to mourn her death. And to commit ourselves to honor the good we received by our association with her—intimate or casual—by honoring the life in this world that is left to us. Now beyond that—I would like to remind you that every great spiritual mind that ever came to live among us and teach us, in one way or another, tried to tell us that life is eternal. What is real about us, each one of us, is our spirit or consciousness of being, not our bodies. We live through our bodies on this earthly plane of existence, not in them. We lived before we had our bodies and we will live after they are gone. From time to time, we come face to face with reality. Such is the reality of the departure of a dearly loved one. Just as each life is unique, each death and loss is unique. The grief we experience is unique to the loved one lost. Now we will miss her. Her family will miss her deeply. But wouldn’t it be strange if we did not? Our missing her is a sign of love, not a mark of tragedy. There is an empty place in our hearts. How could there not be? Expressing and sharing our grief is a testimony to our love for Lola and the recognition of the love that she took with her. Lola is now fully alive. Fully occupied in something new and something better and something all those who follow in good thought of her will come to with her. She has joined the love of her life, Bill, in the continuing journey of the Spirit. The Bible tells us: "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace." (Invitation to share) So, now is the time to share your memories of Lola. A memorial service is a time to come together in community, to comfort one another and to explore the truth of our love of Lola and the full cycle of her life. I now invite you to share stories or insights that you may have about your relationship with Lola Zimmerman. (SHARING) (INVITATION BY LOLA’S FAMILY TO JOIN THEM FOR A RECEPTION AFTER THE SERVICE TO CONTINUE IN THE SHARING AND CELEBRATION OF LOLA’S LIFE) (Closing) We will close this part of the service by reading together one of Lola’s favorite prayers, the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi printed on your program. Before we do, I would like to read to you a short story that Lola recently wrote entitled, "A Letter to Santa." A Letter to Santa, by Lola Zimmerman Dear Santa, Please leave under my Christmas tree the following: A large bag of love—enough for myself and for me to give to everyone in the world. A large amount of kindness and respect—so I can give to everyone the kindness and respect they deserve. Joy—so everyone could be really happy. And plenty of energy—so I could do all of the things I want to do. And next year, Santa, please check up on me to see if I have used all of these things wisely. Thank you! This is the Lola I knew and loved. I am so blessed to have known her. Please join me now in reading the "The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi". The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, Where there is hatred, let me sow love; …where there is injury, pardon; …where there is doubt, faith; …where there is despair, hope; …where there is darkness, light; …where there is sadness, joy; O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek …to be consoled as to console; …to be understood as to understand; …to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; …it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; …and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen. |
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