Funeral for Richard ("R.A.")( “Dick”) Smith -12-12-24

We gather this morning to celebrate the life of Richard A. “Dick” Smith. Dick died last week following a battle with dementia. Our desire today is to remember, celebrate, and thank God for the healthy Dick Smith. We also gather today with a fervent hope that this is not all there is. And to that end I turn to John 14 where we read,

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.

In 2 Corinthians 5 we are told,

For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. 2 We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. 3 For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies.

The Bible tells us that we will not merely be spirits without bodies when we die. Those who have embraced Christ as their Savior and their Lord will be given a new and eternal body made for us by God. This means we affirm that Dick’s breathing is now strong, his confusion is cleared, and his uncertainties are settled.

Will you pray with me?

Father, help us to remember and rest in your promises. Help us also to remember Dick as a healthy man. Overwhelm the memories of the past few years with memories we have forgotten, memories of health and vitality.

Dick was born July 30, 1935 in LaHarpe the son of Gail and Geneva (Thurman) Smith. He graduated from LaHarpe High School in the class of 1955.

Dick was industrious even as a young man. He had his own paper route and saved his money so he could be the first of his family with a bicycle. When Dick was in school he worked with his father in the plumbing, heating, and electrical business. He was proud of the fact that he wired his first house at age 13.

Dick joined the U.S. Army following high school, where he was in communications. Dick was proud of his service and was proud to be an American. Upon his return from the Army, he started his own business, R.A. Smith Plumbing & Heating, which he ran for over 55 years in LaHarpe.

Dick met Thelma when they were both cruising in Burlington (so we aren’t really sure who “Picked up” who.) They each had friends that knew someone else and they ended up in the same car. Dick turned around and smiled at Thelma and it won her heart. They went to Jerry’s Drive -In (where they waited on the cars in roller skates) and they got acquainted. They dated for three years. Thelma was away at college for two years and they wrote each other and dated when she came home once a month. After she graduated, she told him not to propose yet because they needed to find out if they wanted to get married only because they had been apart or because it was real love. After Thelma was sure, she told Dick he could propose now and he told her she had to wait until Christmas. Finally, they were united in marriage to on July 12, 1964 at the Bethany Lutheran Church in Burlington, Iowa. They shared 60 years of marriage.

Thelma said one of the reasons their marriage was so good was that they had an agreement: When she wanted to go to a music event, she could go as long as she didn’t ask him to come along. He could go fishing anytime he wanted as long as he didn’t ask her to go along.

Dick was a supportive husband. He would move Thelma’s light on the organ for her and always sat up front near the organ. I remember visiting with him numerous times while he was at the church with her when she would come to practice the organ. They gave each other a hard time but had a great relationship. Thelma took good care of Dick these last years.

When they were married, Dick promised Thelma that he would attend church with her. The very next Sunday after they were married he came to church with her and continued attending for 60 years until he could not attend any longer. Thelma said within just a few months of starting at the church Dick was asked to serve on the Physical Properties Committee (which was a no-brainer) and he served on that committee off and on most of his life.

Dick had two children: Greg and Debbie. They had a lot of fun. Dick was a relaxed guy and on occasion he needed to have a fire lit under him. When Greg was in cloth diapers Thelma asked Dick to fix the clothes dryer, but he never seemed to have time to do so. Thelma’s mom figured it was time to put a stop to the excuses, so she did a big load of laundry and hung all the diapers up in the house. When Dick came home, he got the message and fixed the dryer.

He didn’t complain when they would go shopping. Dick sat in the center of the mall and would work his way down the mall as the shoppers moved down the mall.

Dick was a kind and gentle man who was wonderfully creative. He was a skilled craftsman and when Dick worked on your plumbing or heating you knew it was done right! He was particular in everything he did. But this isn’t the only place we saw his skill and creativity. When his kids wanted a swing set, Dick didn’t just go buy a swing set, he got some pipes and made a swing set for the kids. When Debbie wanted to put a gas insert into her Rock veneered fireplace, Dick retrofit the fireplace so the inset looked like it belonged there. When the grandkids wanted to ride bikes he didn’t go buy some bikes for them, he found junk bikes and refurbished them to ride around town when they were visiting,

Dick kept the family entertained. He had a good sense of humor and every so often did something stupid. Once when they were in Tennessee on vacation Dick went into the woman’s bathroom at one of their stops. The kids tried to warn him he was going into the wrong bathroom but he thought they were giving him a hard time and he really needed to use the bathroom. Yes, there was a woman in the next stall! When Thelma found out she went in the bathroom to get Dick. When she called out to him he told her to get out of the Men’s Room! It turned into one of those stories you love to tell and re-tell.

Dick made someone a sandwich once. When he brought it out, Greg noticed the bread was moldy. Dick pulled off the mold and served the sandwich. I would be surprised if the person who was hungry ate the sandwich!

Dick enjoyed watching Westerns and Fox News.

Dick loved being a dad and a Grandpa. He enjoyed walking with the grandkids to church. He enjoyed making them breakfast of toaster pastries and oatmeal. He went to all their special events even if he did fall asleep at dance recitals. He could put his hands together and sound like a train whistle.

At one time there was a pretty good-sized pothole out by his driveway. Dick put washers in the water and made fishing poles with magnets on the end. The grandkids would sit out there and “fish” for a long time. In the mornings Dick would often go out to the sandbox and bury pennies so the kids would find them.

When the kids would ask Dick for money he would pull out his rubber coin purse to meet their needs. He enjoyed taking the kids to flea markets and yard sales. Dick saw a use for lots of different things. He may have never used those things . . . he had plans to do so.

Dick liked to take the grandkids out to the reservoir. He made all the friends of his grandkids feel like he was their grandpa, too. He also liked taking the kids to the fire station, where he would buy them sodas out of the fridge. They remember that he always seemed to be wearing some kind of a “Grandpa” hat.

Even in these last years, as Dick declined in health, he might be “out of it” for a few days, but when his great-granddaughter, Miss Eleanor, came around, Dick would perk up . . .and when he did, Eleanor would light up too. He was an excellent dad and Grandpa. He showed his love in very simple ways.

Dick also liked animals. He had a pet squirrel he would feed cookies. The squirrel was called “cookie” and would eat out of Dick’s hand. Dick loved his family, his life, and his town.

People marveled at Dick’s ornate but legible signature. He was skilled at taking what other people called garbage and turning them into treasures. He had a great sense of humor and a contagious laugh.

Dick served the community not only with his business and by his character, he also served on the Fire Department for 50 years. Dick filled the CBA air bottles. He also worked to make sure everything was working in the firehouse. He did the wiring for the addition to the firehouse.

Dick was a valuable man to have on the department because Dick was the guy who made sure the power and gas were turned off when there was a fire. And whenever there was a meal, Dick made the potato salad. He knew how to do this in big batches. (Word is that he also made a great meatloaf).

He served lots of people. I know he came to our house a few times when there was a problem and he always fixed it. Dick was known to sometimes leave his tools at various homes. He also was not good at bookkeeping . . . so you might not get a bill from him until a year or two after the fact. I am sure that many bills never got sent. It was almost as if he didn’t do his work for the money, but because he loved to help other people.

Dick kept the boiler at the church working for many years. He also served on a Pastoral Search Committee and on the building committee when we put the addition on the church sanctuary.

Perhaps I saw his creativity the most with the church Advent Sing adventures. For many years Thelma dreamed up outfits to have people guess a Christmas Carol. It was Dick’s job to make the costumes a reality. Often, I was the one who had the most elaborate costume.

In the last several years Thelma was so grateful for the many people who came to help her when Dick had fallen or needed a little extra help. I was asked to thank all of you for your willing help and your consistent kindness to her and also to Dick.

Dick Smith is survived by his wife of 60 years, Thelma; two children: Greg Smith of Burlington, Iowa and Debbie Higgins of LaHarpe; four grandchildren: Kara Wright, Kortney Higgins, Kristen Higgins and Cole Smith; two great-grandchildren: Eleanor and Harrison and one sister: Judy (Bill) Burt of LaHarpe.

[SONG]

Even when we are prepared for someone to die, it is still a painful time. Even when the person you loved has essentially been gone for several years, like Dick was, it is still painful to let go.

However, the one truth that brings comfort in this time of heartache is that which we find in the most famous verse of the Bible, John 3:16

16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

In these words, Jesus gives us a light that shines brightly even amid the numbness and fog of death. The promise of Jesus is this: those who believe in him will not perish but have eternal life. In other words, this life is not all there is. This is not the ending, it is a moving on to a new life, with a new form, in a place where sin, disease, heartache, frustration, and pain no longer exist.

I must point out that the Bible doesn’t say this is everyone’s experience. It says everyone who believes in him will not perish. But what does it mean to believe? Most people believe that Jesus lived and died. But the belief necessary for eternal life is more than that. It is not just a mental acknowledgment of his existence. It is the belief that Jesus is the only one who can rescue us from the sin-stained life we have lived. It means we believe that He is the One who is our leader in life rather than the contemporary trends or beliefs. To believe in Jesus means to recognize that at the first Christmas, God became man and lived among us. It means believing that Jesus lived a sinless life so He could give His life as a payment for our sin. And it means believing that this same Jesus rose from the dead in victory. Finally it means believing Him when He says, “as I live, you also will live.” And it means believing all of this enough to follow Him in the way we live our lives.

Ultimately, only God knows for sure who has this kind of faith. But, we can make some judgments based on the life a person lives. Dick’s gentle, kind, servant heart seems to line up with one who believes in this way.

The truth of this verse is the difference between devastation and anticipation in death. Because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and because Dick seemed to embrace these truths, it turns this day into a day of anticipation and, if you will, celebration. We surrender the worn out body of the man we loved, and do so in anticipation of the fulfillment of the promise that Dick is living even though He has died.

In my mind, death must be something like surgery. You are put under anesthesia and then you wake up in the place that has been prepared for you, with the Savior who has died for you. I imagine our consciousness would struggle at first to grasp it all, but since our minds will have been made new, so it is not as difficult as we might think.

And if you allow yourself to dwell here, it is hard not to be excited for Dick. We can imagine him seeing people he loved who have gone before him. But the best thing of all is seeing the healer Himself, the Lord Jesus.

It will seem strange without Dick. Christmas will be much more difficult without him. But in the times of sadness, let this picture of Dick in his new heavenly home fill you with a smile that comes from knowing this is not the end . . . it is merely the end of the beginning.

[MUSIC]

As we think back on the life of Dick Smith, hopefully, we will learn some lessons from his life:

1. There is nothing quite as powerful and influential as character. It doesn’t matter what else you do if you are not a person of character. Dick was a great example to all.

2. Creativity is measured by what you can do with things other people consider junk.

3. Children should be treasured and loved. And we never feel more treasured and loved than when our parents love our kids.

4. A good wife is hard to find. You can’t just pick them up anywhere!

5. A church needs all kinds of people, they need those who are up front, and they need many more talented people to do other things like keep the boiler running.

6. It is always good to check the sign on the restroom door even if you are SURE which restroom you are entering!

7. You don’t need expensive toys to entertain kids . . . you just need a little creativity and imagination.

8. Making a big batch of potato salad is an artform.

9. People can serve their community in profound ways by being faithful in their work and using the talents they possess.

Let’s pray together: Our Father, we thank you for the life, the character, the service, and the example that was lived in the life of Dick Smith. Help us to model the life that he showed us. Grant us a measure of his spirit.

We thank you for the promises of You word that assure us that those who put their faith in you will live even though they die. We ask that you welcome Dick into your Kingdom by your grace and through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Give strength to this family. We ask that you especially support Thelma as she adjusts to life without her partner. Help this family as they face the holidays without Dick. Fill them with warm memories and an ever-deepening faith. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen