2 years and your smiling face is still etched in my memory. "What a Guy"
Bruce and I still talk about the time we spent with you prior to your passing. We mention the music that was playing in your car that we enjoyed so much. I shall always have these memories of you.
Love,
Rustee & Bruce
It's already been one year since your passing. I will always think of you when I drive by Friendship Lane on Manasota Key. You are now gone but not forgotten that's for sure. You are in my thoughts a lot. Thanks for the memories. Forever loved. "Rustee" & Bruce and of course our little dog Tinkerbell.
William Franklin Shiflet
Beach Memorial
Manasota Key, Florida
Wednesday, April 27th, 2016 - 7:30 pm
Officiant, Rev. Sarah Whitten-Grigsby
Welcome
Good Evening, and Welcome. Thank you for joining with as we honor Kris’s beloved dad, William Franklin Shiflet.
His death was just as it should have been; peaceful and loving, as Kris rested her head on his shoulder and held his hand, shepherding him from this life and sending him on to the next. Kris was grateful to be with him, and also glad that now he has gone home to God and to be reunited with Kris’s mother, Kay.
In spirit, Bill will always be with his loved ones here on earth, too --
Opening Prayer
-- For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountaintop, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.
From The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran.
Remembrances
Bill was a United States Army veteran, and in fact one of the heroes who liberated France in World War II. He was gruff, but everyone agreed he was really smart. Common sense smart, too. He valued intelligence and hard work and strength. He had a great sense of humor. In earlier days, he loved to attend the Jazz Festival in CA with Kris’s mother. He loved jazz, swing, big band -- and Frank Sinatra.
I asked Kris what she, as one of his daughters, remembers best about him when she was a child or a young woman?
He really loved and supported me and all my hopes and dreams, she said, even if he didn't think something was a good thing for me to do, he didn't tell me not to do it (except when I wanted to help an all-male crew sail a boat to Hawaii ! ) – other than that, my dad would tell me that I could do whatever it was, and what the consequences might be, and then let me make my own decision. Then I usually saw it his way!
Bill also loved to travel and instilled that in Kris, supporting and financing her desire to be an exchange student when she was only 16 and wanted to “see the world.”
Like his father, who had discovered the charm of this town, and this street in the early 1960s, Bill loved Old Englewood and the slow, salty, laid-back lifestyle here, as well as golf, dining, drinking, oysters, fishing, boating, dancing, friends -- and in his later years, especially the warm climate!
When I asked Kris what she and her daughters loved most about her dad, she said, he was honest and fair and he had a big, soft heart even though most people didn't know how to access it. My mom taught me how. My girls called him "Sassy pants" and "the sassy little old man" -- but meant absolutely no disrespect. They loved the way he spoke his mind with no holds barred. Even though in his final years it was so very hard for him to communicate, we could understand him. My girls flanked him every Sunday at church -- he loved that and so did they.
Kris, would you like to add anything? (She speaks briefly)
This is a perfect moment for anyone else who would like to say a few words about Bill, and the way he touched your life or the way you trust that you touched his?
Flower Ritual
If you will each take a flower now, in a moment we’ll go to the water’s edge, and symbolize Bill’s magnificent journey from this life to the next, by casting flowers on the water. Once we are there, as you each commit your flower to the sea, please say a silent farewell to Bill, and in that way we’ll give him a sacred send-off.
(Once everyone has their flower:)
Kris, if you will walk forward first, and then Jim, and then the rest of us will flank you, standing on either side of you, like wings, for support, as Kris sends the first flower into the sea. And when all the flowers are floating, please stay at the water’s edge for a closing prayer.
(As the flowers were thrown, a beautiful, blue heron appeared nearby and we wondered if he might be Bill, come to give his approval to the gathering! We stayed at the water’s edge for:)
Closing Prayer
I give you this one thought to keep -
He is with you still – he does not sleep.
He is a thousand winds that blow,
He is the diamond glints on snow,
He is the sunlight on ripened grain,
He is the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
He is the sweet uplifting rush,
of quiet birds in circled flight.
He is the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not think of him as gone -
He is with you still in each new dawn.
And now, please take a candle, to hold during the benediction. (we hand out flameless votives)
Benediction
(from hymn, On Eagle's Wings)
Now, as you are able, please hold your candle aloft during this brief benediction for Bill:
William Franklin Shiflet, may God raise you up on eagle's wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of his hand.
Amen.
Please rest your arms now by lowering your candles as I give you each this blessing:
May the sun bring you new energy by day,
May the moon softly restore you by night,
May the rain wash away your worries,
May the breeze blow new strength into your being,
And May you walk gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life.
In God’s Name, Amen.
And now, let’s return to our altar and share a glass of champagne in Bill’s memory.
