Franciene Bouseman - 2/28/19
Funeral Service for Franciene Bouseman
We gather this morning to celebrate, remember, and thank God for the life of Franciene Bouseman. We are also here to reaffirm our confidence in the promise of eternal life given to us by our Lord Jesus.
In 1 Corinthians 15 the Apostle Paul wrote
For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
54Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
55O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
When I asked Franciene what passage from the Bible she would like read at her funeral she said, "Psalm 23". I am going to read it in the King James Version because I am sure that is the version of the Psalm she cherished most.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul:
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
Thou lanointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
I believe with all my heart that Franciene could have recited these words as her own personal testimony of walking with Christ.
Let's pray together,
We come into your presence today Lord to bow in humble gratitude for the impact Franciene's life had on all of us. We thank you for her long life, her sharp mind, and her fervent faith. Now as we gather to celebrate and to mourn, we ask that you would draw us near to You. Help us to remember well and grant us your comfort as we do so. Amen.
Eta Franciene Peyron Bouseman was born December 23, 1923 in LaHarpe, to Paul Bert and Marie Blythe Peyron. Franciene graduated from La Harpe High School. At her 50th class reunion not one person from the class had died. The class got together every year after that reunion. Her family lived on the land where she lived and died.
Franciene met Kermit in High School and when he was called into the military she went out to California to be with him. She loved the cable cars in San Francisco. She made many trips to California. On June 12, 1943 at 19 years old she married Kermit Bouseman in Cheyenne, WY. We aren't really sure why they were married here.
Franciene had two brothers, Albert "Bud" Peyron and Victor Peyron. One Mother's Day Vic wrote his sister a poem,
It's true, it was was angel brought her
She's my mother's favorite daughter.
I'm her little brother. Surely you can see.
And we have lots of fun at Quibbling
like to immaturish siblings,
saying, "Mother loved you more than she loved me."
Oh, I've said, times without number,
Don't you pick those small cucumbers!
but, better pickles, seems, are made that way.
'Mongst my best friends, I would list her,
Even though she is my sister.
And I wish for her a Happy Mother's Day
Kermit and Franciene traveled all the time. They liked to go out to dinner, spend a weekend in a hotel (with a pool for Brian), and just get away. Whenever they would have one of these excursions, they were great to take along some other children: the Jackson's or the Sharpe's. In later years is was others such as the Coverts or Kerfoots. They loved to give the kids experiences they would not be able to get anywhere else. They even took on girl with them to Disneyworld.
When you were with Franciene you were expected to behave appropriately. She was all about behaving properly. You were expected to work hard, leave complaining at home, and by all means "Do not spit on the sidewalk or anywhere else." (Even after she was retired and pretty well home bound she would listen to our Sunday broadcast on the radio . . . but she would always change into her Sunday clothes to do so. (She never dressed for others, she dressed to show respect to the Lord!)
She and Kermit were very generous people. Sometimes when they purchased something for themselves they would purchase a couple of additional of the same item to give to others. Franciene would gladly drive people to Doctors appointments or help in any way she could. She loved to give of herself to others.
Franciene remained close to the Sharp's, Jacksons, and Betty Jo Minneman. These families remained close even to the end. But that is only the beginning of a long list of people who were influenced by the life of Franciene Bouseman.
Francicene found people interesting. She never said a bad word about anyone. She kept in touch with people from various times in her life. She maintained many contacts even from back when Kermit was serving his country. She was great about sending cards to people to commemorate special days. Franciene was very faithful in support of the church as well.
She loved her family. She supported her grandkids without being judgmental. When Tim was 17 he had decided that Melissa was the one for him. They talked about getting married soon after high school. Franciene talked to Tim about commitment, and the challenges of being married young. Her advice was something that has stuck with Tim for all these years. She said, "Be happy while you can be happy. If Melissa makes you happy spend as much time with her as you can because you never know what tomorrow may bring."
Franciene knew what she was talking about. She was not quite 60 when Kermit died on June 7, 1983. She was faced with a choice. She thought about going to live in Arizona with Brian and Karla, but she didn't like it there. So she went to Brown Business College to be re-trained and got a job with Horace Mann Insurance in Springfield where she worked for 17 years. She worked in "the cage" where she did bookkeeping, sold tickets, and other things for the employees. I suspect she liked the variety in her job and the fact that she was able to get to know lots of people. She retired at 79 years old! And she only retired then because she didn't want to have to learn a whole new software system.
The people at the business college used to have Franciene come and talk to classes and people who felt they were too old to be retrained and find a job.
The entire time Franciene worked at Horace Mann she rented a room from a woman in Springfield (this was before Air B & B's were popular). She came home every weekend to La Harpe. She washed her clothes, went to church (always sitting in the back pew) and then returned to Springfield.
Franciene found life interesting. She loved to travel because she found the world a fascinating place. After she retired, she put out food for the birds, the squirrels and even the deer. She would stand at the window in the kitchen to eat her meals so she could watch the activity in her backyard. She liked to stay up late (sometimes 2 or 3 in the morning) and watch the animals come to life. (She also knew when I was up extra late because could see my home office light on from her window.) Brian can't even begin to count how much feed Franciene purchased.
Franciene was fascinated by how much life changed during her lifetime. She didn't understand the obsession with devices today; a group of people might be in a room together but they would all be ln their phones or tablets. She also didn't understand today's work ethic. She worked until she was almost 80 and almost never missed a day of work. Yet she saw people taking off work for the dumbest reasons. And there were lots of phrases used by her great-grandchildren she just did not understand. Someone was talking about cougars once and Franciene couldn't figure out why they were talking about big cats. She could understand some of the new methods of education and thought the old was of teaching was far superior.
She had a hard time understanding why there seemed to be so little reverence today. She believed we had perhaps become too casual about God. She told me once that she didn't care much for the contemporary Christian songs I would often put at the end of our Sunday radio broadcasts. She told me hymns would be much better. So, I started putting hymns at the end of the broadcasts because I knew she would be listening.
Franciene had a tremendous sense of humor. She would giggle in such a way that everyone had to laugh with her. She saw the funny side of life. In these last years she was hospitalized several times. I came to see her once and she was on some medicine that was giving her hallucinations. I came into the room and she knew immediately who I was. Then she proceeded to tell me something about being on an airplane and something about a patient on a stretcher and Michelle Obama being in charge! I am sure the look on my face what priceless. Franciene was convinced she had cracked some "code." There was no telling her anything different. After she was back to normal, we all made sure she never forgot that incident. All she could do was laugh.
Franciene liked little things. She drank her black (Columbian only) coffee all day long in a little cup. Sometimes she would have little cookies along with the little cup of coffee. She could drink coffee late into the night without it impacting her sleep. She had a favorite kind of yogurt which she ate every day. She was always ready for a hot fudge Sundae and if she could go to Mc Donald's and have a fish sandwich followed by a sundae with some black coffee, she was one happy camper. She saved all kinds of things because she knew occasionally, they might need them for Bible School. Franciene read her Bible regularly along with her daily devotionals.
Perhaps one of the things I appreciated most about Franciene was even if it was a long time in between visits, she was always glad to see you. She didn't waste time "taking offense." She was grateful for whatever people were able to give her. She always wanted to know all about your life, having a sincere interest in what was going on. She had TIME for you. She was the epitome of a Christian lady. She lived her faith rather than simply talk about it. In fact, she would be very very embarrassed at all this focus on her. And I suspect she would feel she did not deserve the accolades because, as far as she was concerned, she was just doing what any faithful person would do. She was a treasure that we had the pleasure and privilege to enjoy for a few years. I will miss her.
The one passage of Scripture that seems to be most fitting for Franciene is this passage from Philippians chapter 1
21For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. 22But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So, I really don’t know which is better. 23I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. 24But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live. (Phil 1:21-24)
Paul wrote this from jail. He didn't know whether he was going to live or die. He debated which would be better. He wanted to stay and continue to minister to people. But he looked at death as something which was going to be the ultimate victory. Death to him was going to be with Jesus which was something more wonderful than he could imagine. It was a struggle to know which was better.
A few days before she died, Franciene said to me, "I am not afraid to die . . . I just didn't know it was going to be so hard to do so." She was not afraid to die. She had lived her life and was ready for what came next. C.S. Lewis equated life on earth as the title page of the great book where every chapter is better than the one before. I believe Franciene understood this.
Franciene was an outstanding woman. But that is not the reason I believe she is with the Lord today. I believe she is with the Lord because she trusted Jesus as her great Savior. The Bible tells us no one will be saved by their own goodness because our goodness is not all that good! We have all rebelled against God and done so continually.
Most people don't feel they have sinned much. But let's say you are an exceptional person and you ignore, disobey, or completely rebel against God only 3 times a day. Again, this would be an exceptional person because sin is anything in our thoughts, deeds or omitted deeds that run contrary to His will and commands.
If you were able to keep up your exceptional behavior for a lifetime you would have sinned 21 times in a week 1,092 times in a year and if you lived to be 80 (and subtracted the first 5 years of your life . . . even though the terrible twos should count in here somewhere!) you would have sinned 81,900 times! Unfortunately, we have very few exceptional days. We are all deeply stained by our attitude of rebellion against God. There is not a one of us who can claim to be worthy of Heaven.
We need someone to rescue us and that someone is Jesus. He never sinned and he always did what pleased His Father in Heaven. He was killed on trumped up charges. He didn't have to die but chose to surrender his life on our behalf. He traded his life for ours.
Think about it like a secret service agent who would give his life to protect the President. Hundreds of agents would die to protect the President. Battalions of soldiers would do likewise. Why? Not because of the man, but because of the office he holds. All those lives were worth trading to protect the office.
Now, turn this around, The Office of Son of God was traded to save the life of all of us. It seemed like a fair trade to justice. By the sacrifice of the one man, we are able to find forgiveness and new life.
The gift is offered to everyone, but not everyone receives it. Therefore, not everyone goes to Heaven. Only those who have put their trust and faith in the work of Christ will live even though they die. Only those who have a faith that is more than words are considered truly faithful.
Such was Franciene. She was a truly faithful woman. She held the hand of Jesus who led her home on February 18th. And now, she with the Apostle Paul, can say, "to die and be with Jesus is better by far . . ."
It would be easy to dismiss all this as fantasy, legend, or wishful thinking. EXCEPT for the fact that Jesus didn't stay dead. Three days after his crucifixion, he returned from the dead proving he was no scam artist. He IS the Lord of Life. If you have never examined the evidence for the Resurrection, you should do so because it is overwhelming.
It is our task today to say Good-bye to Franciene until we meet again. It is time to strengthen our grip on our own faith. That means turning from trusting our own perceived goodness and running into the arms of His grace. If you have never done this, I encourage you to do so today. I know Franciene would be thrilled to see you again.
So, until that day I hope you will remember Franciene
When you think it is too late to start over,
Every time you see a container of Columbian Coffee,
When you see a deer wandering around in town,
When you hear a hymn at the end of our radio broadcast,
When you see someone really paying attention to what someone else is saying,
When you meet anyone who is generous and kind,
And whenever you see Michelle Obama on television.
Franciene Bouseman was a gift from God to us and we give Him thanks. Let's pray
Father, we appreciate the spirit with which Franciene lived her life. Thank you for her compassion, kindness, faithfulness, diligence, acceptance, and wonderful sense of humor. Help us to draw from these qualities to make our own lives better and more faithful before You. Grant this family wonderful memories, and may they be blessed to carry on in the same faithfulness as she did. We ask in Jesus name, Amen.
3-1-19 Bruce Goettsche