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Funeral Service for Janet Breckon
6/13/22
We have gathered this morning to remember and celebrate the life of Janet Breckon.
We also gather to grieve together and strengthen each other in this time of loss.
Our struggle today is to separate what is seen from what is unseen.
What we see is a body that is worn out, a shell that barely resembles the person who once inhabited it.
However, the person that inhabited that body, we believe, lives on.
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me will live even though they die.”
The Apostle Paul wrote,
When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first.
37 And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting.
38 Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have.
A different plant grows from each kind of seed.
(1 Corinthians 15:36-38)
So, in a sense, we straddle a fence today.
On one side of the fence is life here on earth, where we weep and mourn that Jan has died.
But on the other side of the fence, we rejoice in the hope that is ours in Christ.
We rejoice that Jan has been freed from the limits of a body racked with disease and is able to stand before the Lord with a heart and life that has been made new by faith in Christ.
Let’s pray,
Our Father, we are grateful that you have given us hope and your comfort in this time of loss.
Help us to mourn the loss; help us to celebrate the life Jan lived here on earth; and help us to see the message of the gospel clearly so we can rejoice in the assurance of life beyond the grave.
We ask this in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
* * * *
[Paul]
Jan Breckon was born on April 5, 1943 in Monmouth, Illinois, the daughter of Paul and Zelma McMillan.
Jan was born to her parents later in life.
Some would say, “Jan was the accidental baby.”
I get the impression her dad (and her mom) saw her as a special gift.
She was a unique and special person.
When she was growing up, her mom was pretty strict.
Her dad had a really good sense of humor which she picked up and passed on to her boys.
Jan met Steve Breckon on the school bus.
They went to the same school.
Jan was in first grade, Steve was in 2nd.
He says by the time 4thgrade came along they were holding hands on the school bus.
They didn’t officially start dating until Steve graduated from High School.
She was the woman he always knew he would marry.
Jan was a lover of books.
She loved the English language and was an excellent typist.
This became a skill that came in handy because Steve had lots of papers to type but he wasn’t much of a typist.
Jan literally wore out typewriters and she was a vital partner in Steve getting his Doctorate.
Jan was also active, she liked to play baseball in the church league.
She loved horses.
She like to shoot her gun.
She was an avid bowler.
She had lots and lots of fun at the bowling alley.
She was up for any adventure.
But she was not reckless.
Her brother died in a freak accident on the Mississippi, and I think that was always a caution in the back of her mind.
The nature of Steve’s job meant he moved around frequently.
He would come home every three years or so and announce they were moving . . . in a week.
Jan took it all in stride.
She worked with what she had and made the best of every situation.
It wasn’t easy to have a husband who is the Superintendent of schools.
People frequently had things to say . . .
many of them were not nice.
Jan handled it all in stride.
Once when she was bowling, some women on the other team were talking about the school (and Steve).
They looked at Jan and said, “Are you going to defend him.”
Jan simply said, “I came here to bowl.
Why are you here?”
Jan had a way of saying those things that let you know that she was not going to play those games, and if you were wise, you wouldn’t push her.
While Steve ran to a host of school events Jan stayed home with the boys.
She didn’t work outside of the home until Paul was 16!
They were used to playing board games and then going outside to play catch or frisbees with mom.
Jan never complained.
When the kids were just infants she would sometimes show up at basketball games and sit in the second row so she could spend some time in the vicinity of her husband.
Jan was an avid St. Louis Cardinal fan.
She loved Coca Cola (she didn’t understand why anyone would drink a diet soft drink).
She loved crossword puzzles and watching John Wayne or Clint Eastwood.
The one thing I will always remember about Jan Breckon is the fact that you could almost never get a straight answer from her . . .
about anything.
She was constantly joking with you and giving you a hard time.
She would generally answer a question with a question.
She always had a twinkle in her eye . .
.especially as she toyed with you.
Jan savored life.
She was interested in whatever her family members were interested in.She did a number of ride-a-longs with Matt, she went and got a tattoo of a horse when she was 60 years old.
She learned how to be a medical transcriptionist later in her life.
She was great at discerning what Doctors were saying or writing.
She did that job working at home.
Steve and Jan took care of Jan’s mom when she was older.
It was the right thing to do.
Jan died because of cancer.
She didn’t seem to be afraid of dying.
She was determined to squeeze every drop out of life.
And right beside her was the boy she met on the bus when she was just starting school.
He loved her then and he loved her to the very end.
He walked his love to the door that leads to eternity and surrendered her to the only one who could love her more than he did.
Jan was a fun, patient, and skilled woman.
Her death, late on June 7thleaves a hole in the lives of those who knew her.
She leaves behind her husband of 52 years and her sons, Paul (Kim) and Matt.
She also leaves 5 grandchildren whom she loved dearly.
She was proud of her family . . .
she should have been, she went a long way toward making them who they are today.
[SONG]
* * * *
The book of Ecclesiastes is not the most exciting book in the Bible.
There seems to be a great deal of angst in the book with words such as “meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless.”
The book however is Solomon’s search for real meaning in life.
He is frustrated that much of what we value in life is ultimately meaningless.
They have no lasting or eternal value.
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