Memorial Service Homily and Benediction
REMARKS AT THE CLASS OF 1969 MEMORIAL SERVICE
31 MAY 2014
Thomas C. Hudnut
WE GATHERED HERE IN MID-SEPTEMBER, 1965, 857 STRONG. EAGER,
BRIGHT-EYED AND BUSHY-TAILED, AS THE SAYING GOES, THE CREAM OF AMERICAN YOUTH,
WE WERE TOLD IN A WELCOMING SPEECH IN ALEXANDER HALL BY ALDEN DUNHAM, THE DEAN
OF ADMISSIONS WHO HAD LET US ALL IN. WE WERE SMART, WE WERE TALENTED, WE WOULD
DO GREAT THINGS. THAT WAS ALL TRUE. IT STILL IS, 49 YEARS LATER.
IT IS PERHAPS WORTH NOTING THAT THE WEEK WE ARRIVED IN
PRINCETON, THE FIRST CAVALRY DIVISION ARRIVED IN VIETNAM; CIVIL UNREST SIMMERED
IN CITIES LIKE NEWARK AND ROCHESTER AFTER A SUMMER OF RACIAL STRIFE; AND AS WE
LISTENED TO ASSURANCES THAT WE WERE NUMBER ONE, THE BEATLES’ NEW ALBUM, ‘HELP,’
CLIMBED TO NUMBER ONE IN THE CHARTS. AND THE WAR AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENTS
AND THE MUSIC ARE THE MOST DOMINANT ASPECTS OF COMING OF AGE IN THE ‘60’S.
NO LONGER THE FLOWER OF AMERICA’S YOUTH, WE ARE NOW THE
BLOOM OF THE BOOMERS, WE HAVE PASSED BEYOND THE APOGEE OF AN ARC THAT BEGAN
WITH OUR BIRTHS AND CONTINUED THROUGH THE GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM
ON INTO A POST-MODERN ERA OF, WELL, OF UNCERTAINTY. GONE ARE THE VERITIES OF
THE UNITED STATES WE GREW UP IN – SAFE, STRONG AND SECURE.
AS THE POWER AND PRESTIGE OF OUR COUNTRY HAVE SHRUNK, SO TOO
HAVE THE RANKS OF THE CLASS OF ’69. NO LONGER 857 STRONG, WE HAVE DIPPED BELOW
800 WITH THE LOSS OF 85 CLASSMATES THAT WE KNOW OF – NEARLY 10% - OUR NUMBERS
HEADING INEXORABLY, INEVITABLY DOWNWARD AS THE YEARS GO BY.
AS WE THINK OF OUR FALLEN BROTHERS, OUR MEMORIES ARE A
MIXTURE OF SADNESS AND HOPE. WE READ THEIR OBITUARIES IN THE ALUMNI WEEKLY; WE
LEARN THE SKELETON OF THEIR LIVES; WE SEE THEIR ACCOMPLISHMENTS, MAINLY, AND
OCCASIONALLY READ OF THEIR DISAPPOINTMENTS. SOME WERE MERE ACQUAINTANCES,
OTHERS WE KNEW NOT AT ALL, MAYBE ONE OR TWO WE KNEW SO WELL, INTIMATE FRIENDS THEY
WERE. MY ROOMMATES AND I LOST ONE OF OUR NUMBER, TOO YOUNG, A RECORD OF
ACHIEVEMENT AND ACCOMPLISMENT BEHIND HIM, YES, BUT SO MUCH LEFT UNDONE. WITH
HIS DEATH, AN INEFFABLE SADNESS ENVELOPED THE REST OF US – IN PART BECAUSE WE
LOVED HIM AS OUR BROTHER, YES, BUT ALSO BECAUSE IT MADE US PONDER THE
INESCAPABLE FACT THAT WE, TOO, SHALL PASS, THOUGH IT’S ONLY NATURAL TO HOPE IT
WILL BE LATER RATHER THAN SOONER.
THESE EMOTIONS WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY FAMILIAR TO US ALL
AS WE WALK DOWN THE CORRIDOR OF THE YEARS, AS OUR EYES INSTINCTIVELY JUMP TO
THE BOTTOM OF OUR CLASS NOTES TO SEE IF THE WORDS, ‘THE CLASS HAS A MEMORIAL IN
THIS ISSUE,’ ARE THERE AND WHEN THEY’RE NOT, WE BREATHE A SILENT SIGH OF
RELIEF.
A MOMENT AGO I SUGGESTED THAT WE – I, AT LEAST – RECEIVE THE
NEWS OF A CLASSMATE’S DEATH WITH A MIXTURE OF SADNESS AND HOPE. THE SADNESS IS
OBVIOUS – AS JOHN DONNE REMINDS US,
‘EVERY MAN’S DEATH DIMINISHES ME, FOR I AM A PART OF THE
MAIN…’ AND EVERY CLASSMATE’S DEATH DIMINISHES EACH OF US FOR WE ARE A PART OF THE
CLASS.
BUT ABOUT THE HOPE.
I ALWAYS HOPE THAT THESE MEN I READ ABOUT IN THE NECROLOGY LED
FULFILLING LIVES. I HOPE THAT THEY WERE HAPPY. I HOPE THAT THEY KNEW BOTH LOVE
AND LAUGHTER IN ABUNDANCE. I HOPE THAT EACH IN SOME WAY LIVED UP TO THE CHARGE
WE WERE GIVEN BACK THEN, IN SEPTEMBER OF ’65, TO ACT IN THE NATION’S
SERVICE, WHICH I TAKE TO MEAN
BEING GOOD CITIZENS, PAYING OUR TAXES, DOING GOOD WHERE AND WHEN WE ARE ABLE,
HELPING OTHER PEOPLE, LOOKING OUT FOR THE LESS FORTUNATE. AS A CLASS, ’69 HAS
CERTAINLY DONE MUCH OF THIS THROUGH ITS VARIOUS SERVICE-DRIVEN INITIATIVES LIKE
THE INTERNSHIPS AND THE SCHOLARSHIPS – A RECORD OF WHICH WE CAN, AND SHOULD, BE
PROUD.
BUT WHILE THESE ARE ALWAYS AMONG MY HOPES FOR THOSE WE
MOURN, THEY ARE ALSO MY HOPES FOR THOSE WHO LIVE. OTHERS HAVE SAID IT MORE
ELOQUENTLY THAN I. SEVERAL MILENNIA AGO, THE PROPHET MICAH SUGGESTED THAT WE
SHOULD ‘DO JUSTLY, LOVE MERCY AND WALK HUMBLY WITH OUR GOD,’ WHICH MAKES AS
GOOD SENSE TODAY AS IT DID THEN. MORE RECENTLY, A WOMAN WHOSE NAME IS NOT FAMILIAR
TO MOST BUT WHOSE WORDS LIKELY ARE, BESSIE STANLEY, WROTE A POEM CALLED
‘SUCCESS’ SHORTLY AFTER THE TURN OF THE CENTURY IN WHICH WE WERE BORN:
THAT MAN IS A SUCCESS
WHO
HAS LIVED WELL,
LAUGHED
OFTEN AND LOVED MUCH;
WHO
HAS GAINED THE RESPECT OF INTELLIGENT MEN
AND
THE LOVE OF LITTLE CHILDREN.
WHO
HAS FILLED HIS NICHE AND ACCOMPLISHED HIS TASK;
WHO
HAS LEFT THE WORLD BETTER THAN HE FOUND IT,
WHETHER
BY AN IMPROVED POPPY, A PERFECT POEM, OR A RESCUED SOUL;
WHO
HAS NEVER LACKED APPRECIATION OF EARTH’S BEAUTY
OR FAILED TO EXPRESS IT;
WHO
HAS ALWAYS LOOKED FOR THE BEST IN OTHERS
AND
GIVEN THEM THE BEST HE HAD;
WHOSE LIFE WAS AN INSPIRATION;
WHOSE MEMORY A BENEDICTION.
WE NEED NOT LIVE AS IF THERE IS NO TOMORROW FOR THERE ARE
PLENTY OF TOMORROWS. BUT WE DO NEED TO LIVE EACH DAY AND MAKE IT COUNT. IN THE TIME THAT REMAINS FOR EACH OF US,
THERE WILL BE OPPORTUNITIES TO IMPROVE THE SPIRIT OF SOMEONE ELSE, TO ADVANCE A
SOCIAL CAUSE, TO SEEK INTANGIBLE REWARDS, OR, SIMPLY, TO DO SOME GOOD.
I HOPE THE CLASSMATES WE HONOR AND REMEMBER TODAY LIVED
LIVES LIKE THAT; THEIR BOOKS ARE CLOSED AND WE’LL NEVER KNOW FOR SURE WHETHER
THEY SUCCEEDED. BUT FOR THE REST OF US, THERE’S STILL TIME.
BENEDICTION FOR THE CLASS OF 1969 MEMORIAL SERVICE
31 MAY 2014
Jeffrey P. von Arx
In many of our religious traditions, we believe that the living can pray
for the dead, and that the dead can intercede for the living. In my
own religious tradition, we call this interchange the Communion of
Saints, a community of care and compassion that transcends time and
space and even crosses over the boundaries of death. However you
conceive this relationship -- even if you believe it is mediated
principally through memory -- on an occasion like this, we are aware of
the presence of the beloved dead and we thank them, and we thank God,
for their presence among us when they were living, and, in one way or
another, for their presence with us still.
We ask God's blessing on this holy interchange between the living and
the dead, the Communion of Saints: God's blessing in particular on those
who have gone before us, in whatever way they need it; God's blessing
on us through them, who gather here in their memory, in their presence.
And, at our age, we ask God's blessing on our own journey to where they
are now, either in beloved memory or in God's presence, that through
their guidance we may reach that same place of rest with serenity and
grace, with trust and with hope. Amen.
