Memorial Service for Gary Gene Vanderscheuren

Gary Gene Vanderscheuren (Vandershurn)

Welcome

Good afternoon. My name is Clint and I am one of the pastors at the Vineyard church. 

On behalf of Gary’s family, I would like to thank you for coming today to remember and celebrate the life that Gary  lived. Gary was a unique, quirky, amazing man, a wonderful brother and son, a terrific uncle, and to many of you, a very dear friend.

We are here to thank our heavenly Father for sharing Gary  with us and to remember his life and the legacy that he will leave behind.

We are here to share our grief, and to comfort and encourage one another as family and as friends.

And we are here to receive strength, support, and hope from God, who loved and cared for Gary each and every day of his life. 

The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in our time of need…”

Would you join me in prayer as we ask God to bless our time together and provide that comfort that the apostle wrote about

Prayer (Clint)

Would you bring to us right now that peace that goes beyond all human comprehension

Thank you so very much for sharing Gary with us. We thank you for his fun loving spirit. We thank you for the way that he was so generous with the things he had. And we thank you for the way he always cared for and loved other people so well. We thank you for each memory we have of him.

Father, would you comfort us in our loss today. Would you help us to remember the good times and hold on to hope that this life isn’t all there is.

Would you be with us now as we celebrate the amazing life Gary  lived. Amen.

Obituary

At this time I’d like to read Gary’s obituary as it appeared in the paper.

Gary Gene Vanderscheuren(Vandershurn), 45 of Proctor, MN passed away on August 31, 2022, in Duluth, MN after a short battle with cancer. Gary was born on March 30, 1977, to Gene and Peggy Vanderscheuren. He graduated from Proctor High School in 1995.

He was employed by Old Dutch Foods. Gary really enjoyed his customers and coworkers. He had a passion for playing darts and loved his dart family. He loved the Chicago Cubs baseball team, watching football, and had a love for camping. He loved his country music, Country Fest, and singing karaoke.

Gary is preceded in death by his maternal and paternal grandparents.

He is survived by his parents, his sisters Becky (Mike) Imhoff of Duluth, Sandy Elfving of Cloquet, brother-in-law Wayne Elfving of Munger, a niece Eryn Elfving and nephews, Blake and Mason Imhoff and Evan Elfving.

The family would like to thank the doctors, nurses, and staff at St. Luke’s Hospital for providing such wonderful care during Gary’s illness.

A memorial service will be held at the Cremation Society of Minnesota on Thursday, September 8 at 3:00 p.m. with a visitation at 2:00 p.m. A reception will follow immediately after at Legends Bar, formerly The Pit Stop, in Proctor, MN

Scripture Reading

In just a moment, I’m going to open things up here and give anybody who would like an opportunity to come share a few memories. This is a really good opportunity for us as family and friends to share some of the things that we remember, some of the things that we will miss, and some of the times we laughed with Gary. If you would like to share I’d just ask that you keep it at about two minutes.

As you think of what you’d like to say, I’m to read a piece of scripture that people have found comfort in for thousands of years.

The First is Romans 8:38-39

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord

Sharing of Memories

Before we open it up, I’m going to share something Becky wrote

As I sit here tonight writing this I never in a million years thought it would be for your funeral.  I always thought it would be for your wedding day. How does one say goodbye to their little brother. My heart is broken and our lives are shattered over the loss of you, Gary. The only thing getting us by is knowing you are at peace now in the loving arms of our Lord and are by our sides watching over us, our precious Angel.  We will never know the Lords reason why, why you?!  Your time here was not complete but he must of had bigger plans for you in heaven. You were to young. In 45 years here on earth you most definitely shined. Your impact was great. You had the kindest most giving heart. You sure knew how to make a person smile and when someone sure could use one.  You loved unconditionally and anyone who knew you well knew that. Your nephews and niece always looked forward to uncle Gary. They could always count on him to bring the Mountain Dew, treats and the best present($50 in $1 bills would fall out of that big thick card). You were always there when anyone needed a hand, a shoulder to cry on or just to have someone to listen.

You also were a big pain in the ass at times.  You were a hoarder of newspapers, clothes, shoes and food and you inherited the nickname Aunt Irene.  You could never give a straight answer(you get that from mom).  You never knew what you wanted even up till the day we had to make the final decisions. Somehow you always found your way out of things by flaunting those “Big Blue Eyes” as so many called you.  Your friends and family were your whole world. You loved your work and your customers. You loved your darts and dart family. You loved your country music and singing it.  You were a Chicago Cubs fan through it all.  You just had the biggest kindest heart and with you you took a piece of all of ours. You will truly be missed my little brother.  I am blessed to have been given you and even more blessed that the Lord allowed me to hold your hand and be with you in your final days and for your final breath. May you fly high with the angels as we are all jealous of them now.

Now we are going to open it up for anybody who wants to share. Who is going to be the brave one and go first?

Special Music

Thank you all for sharing/I get it, I can be hard.

Now we are going to listen to a song that Gary loved that was picked out especially for today.

Drink a Beer

Message

Once again, my name is Clint, and on behalf of Gary’s family thank you for being here today as we remember and honor Gary and the life that he lived a life that had a tremendous impact on many people.

Since Gary passed away, life’s been hard, it’s been different. When we lose someone who is close to us, part of us changes forever. It’s a new, different world that you are living in. And while today is difficult, it’s good for us to be together, to honor Gary’s memory, tor remember him and his legacy, to share stories,  and to learn from him and the life he lived. It is seems fitting that we get to meet today, which is the first day of the dart season! 

I never met Gary. He never showed up at my house with a bunch of chips, he never yelled at me for moving his newspapers, but I did get to sit down with Gary’s family this week and asked them to tell me about him.

I asked them to share some words that described Gary, and the first ones they said were “Work, Darts, Mountain Dew, and Monster energy drinks”

And then they began to share stories. They told me about how much he loved being an uncle, and about how much he loved the Chicago Cubs. They talked about all the little quirks that made him Gary, about how obsessed he was with his Newspapers, and pretty much anything that was free and that you could read. We talked about how much he loved his job at Old Dutch and how he didn’t see it just as a job, but how much he really enjoyed all the different people that he worked with

And of course, we talked about darts, and his dedication to it. And I can’t remember who asked him why he played darts so much, to the point of driving back from brained just to play, but he said something like “Because I love the people, there family.”

And the more they talked the more I felt like I was getting to know who Gary was, and what he was about. And so today, I think we can look at a few things that we can learn from the way Gary lived his life.

The first things we can learn from Gary is how to have fun 

There is no doubt about it, Gary loved to have a good time. From spinning around on a bar stool until he got thrown off on the beach, to playing darts, singing and doing silly dances, Gary tried to squeeze every ounce of joy out of a moment. That, in my opinion, is one of the best ways to live life. Being present in the moment, not distracted about the what if’s, and living for and doing life with the people around you. Imagine what life would be like if we all lived this way.

The next thing we can learn from Gary is how to be generous

I heard so many stories about Gary showing up with random stuff for the people he cared about. Six cases of chips, a years supply of dog food, things that he found on sale and couldn’t say no to buying, buying the first round of drinks at the bar, Gary was one of the most generous people I’ve ever heard of.

He had a way of using what he had to bless other people. And sometimes, it was a bit much, now you’ve got to store six case of chips, but man, what a guy to go out of his way to be generous with what he had.

We can get so focused on taking care of ourselves, that we miss the opportunities to be generous towards others. Gary never really did. He was always others focused, which is the biggest think I think we can learn from Gary.

How to care for other people. (Put other first, checking in on sick friends)

Gary truly cared about other people. Whether that was showering his niece and nephews with gifts, or taking time, even when he was sick, to call or text to check in on his friends, Gary was there for his people. He put others first in the big ways, and the small ways, Gary knew what it meant to love well.

Gary  loved deeply, and was loved deeply by so many people. When we lose someone that we love so deeply, especially when that person is young, and has so much more life to live, it’s easy to wonder, is God good? If God loved Gary so much, why do people die.And it’s important to remember in moments like these that God never wanted pain and death to exist in the first place.

Gods Original Plan: Genesis

Death was never part of God’s original plan. In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, we see a Good God, who creates a beautiful world, and then he creates his masterpiece, humans, to enjoy creation with him forever. But humans decided that they didn’t need God, and they turned their back on him. And in that moment, the world broke. Relationship between God and humans, and humans and other humans became broken. 

But God fixed it. He came into the world as Jesus and lived the life that no one else could, a life fully surrendered to the will of God. And that life, led to him dying on the cross. His death was meant for you and me. We deserved it by turning away from God, he never did. He died for us. And when he did that, he made things right between us and God. And all we have to do is accept the work that he did. 

We are headed towards a future where ever wrong has been made right, and for those who choose to have a relationship with God, we are offered that same opportunity as the first humans, to spend eternity, and that includes the present moment with God.

And that right there, that’s hope. That’s a hope that will carry us through pain and Loss. 

Gary had this hope. This is what he was looking forward too.

Revelations 21: 3-5

As we begin to close here I want to share one of my favorite passages in scripture, I find this verse so full of hope and comfort. In the book of Revelation, we get a glimpse of what it will be like when Jesus comes back, we see a hopefully eternal future.

In Chapter 21:3-5 it says

I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”

This is our future hope. We see God’s first order of business is righting every wrong, drying every tear. No more mourning, no more loss, no more pain. 

It’s this hope that we need to cling to as we wrestle with Gary ’s loss. That someday, everything will be made new. For believers in Jesus Christ, Our Hope is that God will take the broken things in this world and make something new. And when we know that we are loved, when we know that we are forgiven, and when we know what we are striving towards, a future without loss, an eternity spent in God’s presence and those that have gone before us, we know that we have no need to fear death. Death was defeated on the cross. Love wins.

Invitation

Maybe you’ve lost sight of this hope.

Today we have a chance to focus on this hope, to invite Jesus in the middle of the hurt, and the pain. We can be filled with Hope where we feel hopeless. We can let God meet us in our pain, in our loss, and in our Hopelessness. We do this by turning to him and asking for his help. By admitting that we need his love in our lives. And it's that unconditional love of our Heavenly Father that helps us live a life worth living, a life where we know that we are deeply loved by our God, and then we can share that love with others.

I’m going to pray for us as a group, just a simple prayer, and if you want to turn your life over to Jesus, if you want to become a Christian, I’d just encourage you to pray this prayer along with me silently in your head. 

Let’s pray

Heavenly Father, I want to know you. I want to know your forgiveness in my life. I want to know you in every area of my life. I ask today Father that you would forgive my sins, based on what Jesus did for me on the cross. Forgive me. Jesus will you be my savior, forgive me, cleanse me. And today Lord, I ask you to come into my life. Please, take control, clean up the mess I’ve made. I offer myself and my life to you , in Jesus name, AMEN. 

If you prayed that prayer along with me for the first time, if you’ve made a decision to follow Jesus for your whole life today, we have a free gift we’d like to give you. There you will find a packet with a new testament bible in it, along with some other resources to help you get to know God better. Please feel free to grab one of those before you leave today.

Special Music

Amazing Grace

Closing Prayer

Lets close our time today in prayer

Let’s pray

Heavenly Father, would you meet us right here and right now. Jesus would be our anchor and our rock, right now. Would you fill us with that Hope that surpasses all understanding. Would comfort us as we grieve the loss of Gary . We thank you for the way you love Gary, for the way that your hand was on his life. We thank for the way you made him. Father, would you help all of us to live a life that would honor Gary ’s legacy. Father would you help us champion those on the margins, would you help us serve others from a place of compassion, would you help us to have faith, and father would you help us to reorient our priorities around what’s really important, just like Gary did. Father, we lift Gary  up to you now, and we pray that you are embracing him right now with the arms that have held him close for his entire life. Amen.

Closing

Once again on behalf of Gary ’s family, thank you so much for coming and honoring Gary ’s life and his legacy. Immediately after we exit there will be a reception. Please stay as long as you can, eat some good food, and share stories of Gary  together. Thank you all so much for coming.