Grandpa Curlew Funeral
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Obituary
Obituary
James Edward Curlew (JIM), age 86, of Livonia, passed away on Saturday, June 15, 2024. Jim was born on March 14, 1938 in Windsor, Ontario.
Jim is survived by his wife Carolyn, his son Douglas, his daughter Christine, her husband Thomas, his granddaughter Deborah, and his grandson Daniel and his wife Hope.
Jim was the son of Walter and Winifred Curlew and was the 7th youngest out of the 8 Curlew children. He is preceded in death by his sisters Isabella, and Vivian and his brothers Walter, Ray, Art and Lawrence. Jim also had 12 Nieces and Nephews, 21 Great nieces and Nephews and 6 that are GREAT GREAT NIECES AND NEPHEWS!
Body
Body
Today as we gather here to remember Jim, I want to take a few minutes to talk about a passage from the Bible that we saw lived out in Jim’s life.
If you knew Jim, you know that he was a man who loved God and held God close in his life.
Psalm 25:8-13 does a wonderful job capturing just a small picture of some of what made Jim so special.
Psalm 25 is a psalm of David, the King of Israel, a man after God’s own heart.
The central theme of Psalm 25 is DEPENDENCE ON GOD, something that we saw lived out in Jim’s life.
8 The Lord is good and upright;
therefore he shows sinners the way.
9 He leads the humble in what is right
and teaches them his way.
I love this section of Psalm 25. The LORD IS GOOD AND UPRIGHT!
THE LORD IS WORTHY OF PRAISE AND THE LORD SHOWS US THE WAY!
But verse 9 really captures something that I held so dear about my grandfather.
Jim was a humble man. One of the first characteristics that comes to my mind about Jim was his humility.
Jim routinely put others ahead of himself.
There are so many stories that I have heard over the years and that I had the chance to see firsthand.
When I was a child I remember my grandfather coming to our house in Michigan and then in Colorado and always helping with different things around the house. (SERVANT HEART- expand)
Grandpa was always faithful to help my Grandma with vacuuming the house and making cookies. He was a man who always had time to help other people and to SERVE OTHERS!
As I talked with my Mom, one of her memories of Jim was the way that he always ushered at church. It was part of what he did on a weekly basis. He SERVED AND HE LOVED SERVING!
Jim was a humble man and he walked in what was right. He was a man who loved God, followed God and his life reflected it.
He was an example of what it looked like to SERVE OTHERS and that is something SO SPECIAL!
Psalm 25 continues saying
10 All the Lord’s ways show faithful love and truth
to those who keep his covenant and decrees.
The LORD’S WAYS SHOW FAITHFUL LOVE AND TRUTH TO THOSE WHO KEEP HIS COVENANT AND DECREES.
God shows FAITHFUL LOVE to those who walk with him.
And Jim saw God’s faithful love and was also a demonstration of FAITHFUL LOVE!
Jim reflected GOD AS HE FOLLOWED HIM.
At a young age Grandpa became ill with Rheumatic Fever. As a side-effect of it, he developed a heart condition.
Over time it led to him needing a new heart valve.
But in God’s FAITHFUL LOVE, this valve lasted for over 35 years; something that we never expected.
God faithfully loved Jim in that, but there’s something even more special that God did for Jim.
See, one of the defining things about Jim was his love for his family. And it all started when he met Carolyn.
Carolyn Dietzel stole his heart.
And he loved her so deeply.
I remember in 2018, right before I went into my senior year of college I was with my grandparents. And we were sitting at the dinner table eating Little Caesar’s- the best pizza in the world- and some ice cream because come on now, GRANDPA LOVED HIS ICE CREAM.
And as we flipped through this photo album we came across a picture from my Grandmother’s high school dance.
And when he saw it, my Grandpa looked at it and said, “Your grandmother is even more beautiful now.”
I don’t know who else was tearing up when he said that, but I was!
Through many rounds of golf riding in the golf cart with him, one of the things I saw was how deeply he loved my grandmother. But his love didn’t stop there.
Jim had a lot of fun and showed his love in many different ways.
Whether it was helping my Grandmother study for her citizenship test, or singing goofy songs to my mom when she was a child about her little brown puppy with the yellow ears, or if it was spending time with my Uncle, or one of my personal favorites his magic tricks for Deborah and I, Grandpa loved to have fun.
And these magic tricks were truly the thing of legend! Deborah and I still talk about these.
As a child I genuinely thought my grandfather was magic because of these.
See, Grandpa would take candy and an empty toilet paper tube and he’d say, “Abracadabra, hocus pocus, dominocus, please and thank you, and all that other sort of stuff” and then candy would appear!
FRIENDS AND FAMILY, THIS WAS AMAZING TO ME!
Looking back, Grandpa was just giving Deborah and I candy, but we thought it was incredible!
And that was the thing about Grandpa.
He loved the people around him deeply and he loved to have a good time with them.
Jim wasn’t just goofy. He was a man of wisdom and he was VERY SMART (computer thing). Some of my greatest memories with my grandfather came when it was the two of us driving around together.
In fact, that same night as when Grandpa made me cry with the winter whirl picture, I asked him for some advice driving to pick up the Little Caesars.
And this is what I love about my grandfather. I asked him for advice and he said, “I don’t know if I can give the best advice.”
He proceeded to give some extremely WISE advice that just showed a fraction of the wisdom that Jim had gained through a lifetime of walking with the Lord!
That’s the thing about Jim. He knew God well and He loved GOD A LOT!
Psalm 25 continues by talking about one of the most important things we can experience in life.
11 Lord, for the sake of your name,
forgive my iniquity, for it is immense.
Simply put, we need God to forgive us!
Jim as I’ve said was someone who loved God. He wasn’t a big reader in life, but every day he read his Bible and would spend time with God.
Every day he grew closer to the Lord.
Jim’s life reflected his confidence that he had called out to God and had been forgiven!
Gospel
And this stuff matters so much! There’s two more verses in Psalm 25 that I think are fitting to talk about today.
12 Who is this person who fears the Lord?
He will show him the way he should choose.
13 He will live a good life,
and his descendants will inherit the land.
Jim was someone who feared the Lord.
And to be clear- fearing the Lord means KNOWING WHO GOD IS AND WHO WE ARE AS PEOPLE!
Jim KNEW WHO THE LORD WAS!
He saw God come through in hard situations and he KNEW WHO GOD WAS!
And Jim lived a good life.
Jim was surrounded by family who loved him, family and friends who can share story after story about him!
Jim’s life speaks for itself.
It is a testament to his LOVE FOR GOD AND THE GOOD LIFE THAT HE LIVED!
And as a descendant of Jim, it is an honor to be able to follow in his footsteps.
Call to Action
Call to Action
Do you know the Lord? Do you fear the LORD?
If you don’t know Jesus, I’d encourage you TODAY to do that!