John E. Garris ~ Iowa
Decatur County Journal
Thursday, May 4, l9l6
Why eulogize? Why write an epitaph? Why need an obituary be read?Our
thoughts, our words, even our prayers cannot consecrate, nor hallow the
life that has gone on, yet still is with us.We hesitate to speak, lest
we seem to pass judgment upon a life which stands alone with confidence
before the Divine Maker.
JOHN E. GARRIS, our friend, and neighbor, and brother, was born
September 4, l89l, in Lucas County, Iowa.The relatives who await here
the final reunion are known to us all.The mother, the father, the five
sisters and others among whom we have lived.
There is no flock, however watched
and tended,
But has one dead lamb there.
There is no fireside, howso'er
defended,
But has one vacant chair.
With silence only as a benediction,
God's angels come.
There in the shadow of a great
affliction,
The soul sits dumb.
Yet would we saw that every heart
approveth
Our Father's will.
Calling on him the dear ones whom
He loveth,
Is mercy still.
Just with the midnight hour and the commencement of a new day, April 20,
l9l6, JOHN passed away quietly at the Iowa Lutheran Hospital in Des
Moines.Just at the midnight of his young manhood and the commencement
of his new man's life, JOHN passed out into the great beyond which knows
no sorrow, nor pain, nor dying.Yet shall we say his life was not
complete?
Each day is born and with its dying leaves behind it a completed work.
So with this soul; its going out marks off a full, well-rounded
earth-finished life.
JOHN was a Mason.He loved his order and was true to it, not by his
name and hand only, but by his life.Here he learned a new lesson
already old that death is to be aprehended as a friend leading on into a
better, holier life.He lived his life constantly receiving inspiration
and guidance from the all-seeing eye.The iron gavel of the destroyer
now has struck at the very fortress of supposed security.Nothing can
stay the touch of this visitor, plead with him as we may.We cannot
understand his message nor his work, but this we both know and
understand; the great grand Master into whose care JOHN has now gone
does all things wisely and well.
JOHN was a Christian.What more can we say?What better epitaph than
this: "He was an humble follower of the Man of Galilee."
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Re: John E. Garris ~ Iowa
Charles Howard Garris 3/12/02