Georgia Jean (Brumley) Kruse

Eulogy read At Georgia Kruse's Memorial Service at sea off San Diego, CA, August 12, 2012.

As one of Georgia's Elizabeth Hospice team I write this to honor her. She honored us with the gift of trust, acceptance, even comaraderie as we provided care for her body, mind, and soul. We love her—present tense—and we will remember her. She is dear in our hearts.

At the first visit Georgia greeted me from her chair in the living room of her apartment. We got acquainted by touching on topics of interest to Georgia with a bit of life review, as we call it in hospice reporting. That discussion revealed many of her character strengths to me and her refreshing humor as well!

At the close of that visit I asked Georgia if she would like a prayer. She shared that she believed in God and that she would prefer that I prayed for her on my own as opposed to praying on visits with her. We agreed.

Future visits were longer than most Chaplain visits, lasting more than an hour. Georgia had many thoughts she wanted to discuss. She was always an interesting conversationalist. Visits found us exploring a variety of subjects – from hobbies to her health, to people at Belmont, to marriage, to art, to her faith. How pleasant it was to have Georgia to trust me enough to confide even her secret thoughts.

The last visit we had together at Belmont was one I shall never forget. Georgia had bought into a suggestion I had offered earlier. Listing 5 things she was grateful for and 5 things she liked about herself that would hopefully counteract depression to some degree. Georgia enobled the "homework assignment" into a work of art. When she presented it to me, along with her memoirs, it was a touching, tearful moment, different from any other experience I had known.

Georgia was different, pleasantly unique, intelligent, compassionate, a person I would have enjoyed sharing time with as a girlfriend. I learned from her. She was a blessing for me and will remain so. Her memory is a rich, joyous and lasting gift. I am grateful for Georgia!

In conclusion, Georgia and I share a fondness for this poem from the ancient Sanskrit:

Look to this day for it is life, the very life of life. In its brief course lie all the verities and truths of existence: The joy of growth, the splendor of action, the glory of power. For yesterday is but a memory, and tomorrow is only a vision. But today well lived makes every yesterday a memory of happiness.

And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look, therefore, to this day

Eulogy read At Georgia Kruse's Memorial Service at sea off San Diego, CA, August 12, 2012.

As one of Georgia's Elizabeth Hospice team I write this to honor her. She honored us with the gift of trust, acceptance, even comaraderie as we provided care for her body, mind, and soul. We love her—present tense—and we will remember her. She is dear in our hearts.

At the first visit Georgia greeted me from her chair in the living room of her apartment. We got acquainted by touching on topics of interest to Georgia with a bit of life review, as we call it in hospice reporting. That discussion revealed many of her character strengths to me and her refreshing humor as well!

At the close of that visit I asked Georgia if she would like a prayer. She shared that she believed in God and that she would prefer that I prayed for her... READ MORE →

Poem Read At Georgia Kruse's Memorial Service at sea Off San Diego, August 12, 2012.

What is Dying? A Poem by Bishop Charles Henry Brent of The Phillipines

I am standing upon that foreshore, a ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength and I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says, "there! she's gone!"
"Gone where?" "Gone from my sight, that's all", she is just as large in mast and spar and hull as ever she was when she left my side; just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of her destination.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at that moment when someone at my side says, "there! she's gone!" there are other eyes watching her coming and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, "here she comes!"
And that is dying.

Poem Read At Georgia Kruse's Memorial Service at sea Off San Diego, August 12, 2012.

What is Dying? A Poem by Bishop Charles Henry Brent of The Phillipines

I am standing upon that foreshore, a ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength and I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says, "there! she's gone!"
"Gone where?" "Gone from my sight, that's all", she is just as large in mast and spar and hull as ever she was when she left my side; just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of her destination.
Her diminished size is in me, not in... READ MORE →