Dave Hogsett

I officiated at my first funeral when I was a student at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. The pastor of the Methodist church in Grapevine, Texas, where I was serving as an assistant pastor was on vacation when one of the members died. I was asked to conduct his funeral. Since then, I have been a part of 451 funerals, memorial services, celebrations of life, or committals. In addition, I have attended numerous other services. Even with this background, I found the services for Barbara Carol Van Vactor Miller on Saturday, March 16, 2024, to be somewhat unique.

The following is a portion of a prayer of commendation that I frequently used when officiating at funerals. “Especially uphold those who will most keenly feel the pain of this death and this parting. Patiently heal their sorrow. … Strengthen the love that binds them to one another. … Let not the sorrow of death rob us of the joy of life.” This prayer, especially the last sentence, can serve well for anyone who is experiencing pain, loss, sorrow, disappointment, and separation.

Thursday, April 25, 2024, the Rotary Club of Plymouth hosted a “Meet the Candidates Night” at 6 p.m., at the REES Theatre in Plymouth. Eighteen candidates for federal, state, and county offices shared. There was a good turnout for the evening and many other residents heard the candidates over Max 98.3. U.S. Granules provided some wonderful refreshments. Rotarian Doug Gehrke was the emcee and moderator for the event.

The first weekend in May we had two grandchildren graduate. On Friday, May 3, we attended the hooding of our oldest grandson. He received a MBA from Indiana University, Kokomo. Saturday, May 4, one of our granddaughters received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Indianapolis. She is our third Greyhound graduate.

The commencement address for my granddaughter's 6 p.m. graduation ceremony for the University of Indianapolis was Dr. Patrick Spray. Dr. Spray, a 1994 graduate of the University of Indianapolis, is superintendent of the Perry Township Schools. Dr. Spray began his somewhat unorthodox commencement remarks by confessing that he could not remember who the speaker was at his 1994 graduation, nor could he remember anything he had to say. One of the reasons for this was that he was dealing with a hangover from the night before.

Jeff Houin and Ralph Booker were the speakers for the Plymouth First United Methodist Men's breakfast on May 11. Jeff is the Plymouth City Attorney and Ralph is a planning consultant for the Plymouth Plan Committee and the Plymouth Board of Zoning Appeals. They spoke about the updated Plymouth Comprehensive Plan and the Master Plan for downtown Plymouth, Indiana.

I spent part of the Memorial Day weekend working in my yard. This included getting some last minute plants in the ground and into pots, planting another crop of beans, weeding, mowing the grass and trimming. Along the north side of the yard is a flower space with a patch of rhubarb. There is also some horseradish that I am in the process of eliminating. Would you like some?? Just south of it is an herb garden. The south side of the yard has seven raised beds.

The Rev. Lauren Hall, pastor of the Plymouth United Methodist Church, used as an illustration for her sermon on May 26, 2024, the book The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. The story is about a boy who goes in search of the old Once-ler to learn about the Lorax. When the boy finds the Once-ler lurking on the top floor of his store, the Once-ler tells him his story.

I am in the process of working my way through a 48-lecture course (The Great Courses) by Professor Scott MacEachern on the origins of civilization. For 23 years Dr. MacEachern was a professor of anthropology at Bowen College and has done archaeological work in Africa and other places.

Today's American professional political discourse would seem be dominated by commentators giving their spin of the events of the day. I am amazed how two persons can look at the same event and come out with such diametric views. When I look at the episode under discussion, I wonder where either party got their perspective. What they are giving would seem to be spin, not an objective analysis of the episode. The quest for truth would seem to be lost.