Elsie Magin

Welcome—Nate McCarter

Psalm 116

John 11:25-26

Prayer—Nate McCarter

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Elsie Magin was born November 11th, 1920 in La Harpe, the daughter of Earl and Elva (Allen) Shutwell. She married Howard Magin on March 30th, 1940 in Keokuk, IA. He preceded her in death on September 12th, 1995.

Elsie graduated from the La Harpe High School in 1938. She was a member of the La Harpe Christian Church, Eastern Star, Rebecca Lodge, LaHarpe Historical Society and LaHarpe Senior Citizens. She enjoyed making quilts, working in her yard, gardening and traveling in all the states and abroad.

She died on Wednesday May 22nd, 2024 at the age of 103.

It was impossible not to like Elsie Magin. She had such a warm heart and she made you feel like you were the most special person in the world. Elsie oozed faith. She was regular in worship and even made it to worship numerous times after she turned 100 and really couldn’t hear anything. In her mind she was there as an act of worship and a testimony to her faith in Christ and not because of what she hoped to “get” from the service. She was a woman of great faith.

When someone gets to be Elsie’s age it is hard to remember that they were once a young person. She obviously saw lots of changes in her lifetime. In 1920 the average life expectancy for a woman was 54.6 years! She beat those odds by just a bit! At that time, the main source of entertainment and information was the radio. Things have changed quite a bit since then.

As a child, she grew up on the farm, and because of that, she always had a love for gardening and flowers.

Jan recalled several stories Elsie told from her days growing up as a farm kid. If I understand correctly, there was a day when Elsie and her siblings managed to get up on the roof of the barn with their tricycles. I have lots of questions about how exactly that happened, but whatever the case was, it seemed the kids were having a blast riding (and sliding) around on the roof of the barn. When dad came out, the fun ended however, because he was scared to death they were going to fall. Elsie said they all got in a lot of trouble over that instance.

Apparently, Elsie had a plan for the times when she got in trouble (at least when she was a little girl). When she knew she was about to be punished, she and their big German Shepherd would run out and hide under the front porch, hoping no one would be able to get them.

When Elsie was raising her own family, she worked hard to teach her kids to do the right thing. I’m told that a favorite tool for that was washing the kids’ mouths out with soap when they said something they shouldn’t. Apparently that practice didn’t stop with her own children but extended to her grandchildren. On at least one occasion, when Lance knew such a mouth-washing was imminent, he took off out of the house to escape. He underestimated Elsie’s vigor, however, and she chased him around the yard until she caught him.

She was a homemaker but also helped run the theatre and bowling alley in La Harpe for 10 years. She was proud of the work she did for the community during that time.

She also worked for the Sylvania factory in Burlington until it closed. When the factory closed in the 1970’s, they gave the employees a choice of severance. Either they could take a relatively small lump sum, or they could opt for an even smaller monthly payment that they would receive for the remainder of their lives. Elsie opted for the monthly payment, and for about the last 50 years, she received $60 a month as severance from the Sylvania corporation! She chose well!

Elsie’s mom also lived to be over 100 years old. As her mom got older, Elsie took great care of her. Elva could count on Elsie to help her whenever she needed it. Elsie didn’t resent her mom in the slightest; she saw caring for her as a way to honor her.

When her daughter Donna died, Elsie took it very hard. Right up to the end of her life, she continued to carry that grief with her.

Elsie had a sharp mind right to the end of her life. She was a proud Republican (much to Jan’s chagrin). She was very independent (just like her mom). Of course, Elsie was up on all the town’s history after all her years working at the La Harpe Museum. But more than anything she was a follower of Jesus Christ and she didn’t mind telling you that either. I know she read our sermons just about every Sunday.

Elsie was fortunate to be able to stay with Jan and Ken in her own space. She so appreciated their faithfulness. At times she felt like a burden but Ken and Jan never viewed her this way. They were special years and they will be cherished until they meet again.

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In the Bible, we read these words from the Apostle Paul.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me – the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

This is a popular text for funerals but I can’t think of a better person to apply this to than to Elsie Magin. Elsie was a follower of Christ for most of her life and was determined to finish strong. She lived her life by Christian values right up until the end. The Bible says the fruit of the Spirit is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” These are the qualities that you saw in Elsie’s life. I am confident that when she took her last breath, she was face to face with the Lord who has loved her since before the creation of the world. I suspect the first words she heard from her Savior were, “Well done, good, and faithful servant.”

There are lots of people (maybe even some of you) who believe “good people go to Heaven.” And we all feel we are “good people.” The Bible has a different take on this. The Bible teaches that there is none who is righteous (or good) . . . not even one (Romans 3). We have all broken God’s commands, and no amount of good deeds can undo that. There is a penalty we must each pay because of our sin.

Elsie understood that no one can earn salvation. She knew she needed a Savior—someone who could pay the penalty for her sin; someone who could make her new. She believed that Jesus was the One who could provide for her what she could not provide for herself. She understood that by trusting in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross of Calvary, she could be forgiven. It was because of this faith that she lived for Christ. She wasn’t trying to earn her way to Heaven, she was trying to honor the One who had given her the greatest gift ever—forgiveness, new life, and the assurance of eternal life.

My hope (and I believe Elsie’s as well) is that you too will recognize your need for a Savior and turn to Jesus to provide what only He can. If you are hoping you will be good enough to get to Heaven, I can set your mind at ease—you won’t be. You can’t be. The good news is that Jesus was and is good enough to pay for your sin and mine. We must simply trust Him.

Today, I am confident of where Elsie is, but that is not because she was a good person, but because I am confident that she trusted in Jesus. My hope is that you will be able to face death as confidently as Elsie did.

It is sad to see Elsie go. But we are sad because of our loss, not hers. She has lost nothing. She certainly could have said with Paul, “for me, to live is Christ, to die is gain.” As long as she was living here, she figured the Lord must have a job for her to do. But at the same time, she was ready to go home. She did not view death as a loss at all, but as a greater gain than she could imagine.

As C.S. Lewis wrote in the Chronicles of Narnia, “now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.” This was the hope, and the reality, that Elsie longed for, and is now experiencing.

Our job today is to cherish the blessing that we enjoyed for these many years and to thank God for giving Elsie to us. We will miss Elsie, and for that reason we grieve, but we would not wish her back. She was ready to meet the Lord and now she has. There is no reason to grieve FOR her. Instead we grieve because of her. It is our loss, not hers. Our grief is not a sign of weakness, nor a lack of faith. Rather, it is evidence of love.

So we should learn the lessons Elsie’s life taught us. We have been blessed by Elsie and blessed because of Elsie. Thank you, Lord for her life.

As I conclude, I want to draw just a few lessons from Elsie’s life

1. Real faith is not about passing an exam or keeping a list of rules. It is trusting the Lord and seeking to follow Him in every area of life.

2. There is no greater blessing than a family who will take you in and care for you in the later years of your life.

3. The best way to impact future generations is to be an example worth following.

4. Democrats and Republicans can actually get along together.

5. If you’re confident in your Savior, death loses its sting, because you know the end of this life is not the end of the story.

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Closing Prayer—Nate McCarter