Diane and I just came back from a memorial service for a man we never met.

Tim O’Rourke was the brother of our very good freind Jen (husband Tim, daughter’s Ave and Sid)..

Tim died suddenly two weeks ago while on a mission trip to Nigeria.. he was 53. He had a wife and two kids… . It was very moving getting a sense of someone from the stories and pictures we heard today. This I know.. he was a kind and talented guy.. an deeply committed to his family and his community musician who devoted his adult life to helping other people. Several of the folks he helped spoke at the service today.. all told the story of a guy who’d do anything for other people. He was a really talented musician who wrote religious folk music that we heard at the service. There was much music at this service.. some was from the liturgy, some was religious folk music.. some was just pop folks music. We saw a slide show of Tim’s life.. we got to see the progression of his life from cute kid to husband, to dad, to committed missionary in 5 short minutes.. The church in Montpelier was packed with Tim ‘s freinds.. many from his religious community. There was a strong sense of family there.. It was interesting and reassuring being able to see a little into a community that had such strong common beliefs. They have very concrete views on what death means.. much more so than I have.. I guess I wish I did have that.

The service ended with sister’s Avery and Sid singing an Irish blessing.. It was a beautiful and uplifting way to end the service..

It was sad and heartwarming.. and in this case inspiring to get  a glimpse at soemone’s entire life  in just 90 minutes. Our thoughts go out to Tim’s family, His parents and our friends Jen, Jim, Ave and Sid..

That’s i for today…

nite all, nite sam

-me