another of the greatest generation, Glenn Jeffries, dies at 100

My Special Uncle Bus

purpose

focus

to give oneself completely

to the moment

to the other

to one’s self--

that was Uncle Bus:

implacable,

a natural force

that saw the world clear

and shaped it sure

to a vision of what it can be,

truth black & white,

like the unconditional love he gave,

so genial, a twinkle to his eye,

a loving to connect with others

and to build himself part on who he knew, and touched,

the individuality, memory, and beauty of wood

revealed on his lathes as treasures

from their own essence and his vision:

“to everything turn, turn. . .”

and a time for their “purpose under heaven,”

he the instrument for their revelation,

as subtraction equaled addition,

his beloved Margaret she who completed him

and they found each other in a bond

that even the second world war could not deny for long,

from Tokyo Bay in the fall of 1945

Glenn found the way home

and Margaret and he wed soon after his return,

their love so like a whole

and from their union three wonderful children

who with the strength of their gifts

and the power of their love

make a difference in all they touch,

ripples of the wholeness

Glenn & Margaret lived with every breath,

Glenn an engineer who saw the world

as logical, rational,

with rules to learn and follow,

the sureness of measurement and structure,

the named, the encountered, the understood,

working for T.V.A. and keeping our dams and power right,

organizing the garden to produce bounty,

making rolling pins, cabinets, tables, Christmas ornaments,

whatever needs doing for whoever he knew and loved,

find a need and he had a solution:

how to cut finger rolls, pour apples, open jars, sharpen scalpels,

how things work a passion,

his faith strong and sure

for here is the explanation for the world

and here are the rules by which to live

so that the spirit underlying us all can be revealed and expressed,

the apple pie,

the story,

the family,

the church, 

“the least of these my brethren,”

central to his core,

a life of love and giving

and revealing every gift that God had given him

and the world is that much better 

for how well he lived.

by Henry Walker, nephew, with love