Bun and Mom: Catalysts of
Celebration
On the other hand, discerning
pastors often use funerals as major tools for evangelism, knowing that
they present some of the few times chronic absentees ever set foot in a
church. And some of the finest music, like the “Ave Maria,” and most
moving eulogies, like Donne's “'No Man is an Island” meditation), can
make funeral a truly life-changing, making death, as Wallace Stevens put
it in “Sunday Morning,” “the mother of beauty.”
At a “celebration of life” years
later, Bun came over and said to me, “You know where all of this started
don't you?” I wasn't quite sure what he meant until he added,”at your
mom's funeral. You guys reminded us then that, for a Christian, death
should be a celebration.” Now most of the funerals have a celebration
time and some only have celebrations.”
But I think God chose to use two
upbeat, unforgettable people, Anne Pinkney and Bun Munson to remind us
of King Solomon's proverb in Eccl. 7:3 “--A
good name is better to be desired than a precious ointment, and the end
of life than the beginning.” My mom's breach birth was an ordeal
that killed her mother and left mom with a physical deformity that might
have stopped many, but Anne Pinkney overcame it and many other
heart-breaks to leave the world joyously and“more
than a conqueror.”
And Bun Munson, was one of the
youngest 90-yr-olds I ever knew. His father died when Bun was three and
his mother's nursing career had her moving the family often back during
the depression. But Bun still went on to a full, productive life; making
many fine contributions to mortuary science, and training a number of
gifted and capable apprentices including Craig and Sue Caspers, and Doug
Peterson.
Truly in both of these great
people, “Death is swallowed up in Victory.” Bun's beautiful
widow, Jeanette, came up to me in Econo Foods not long ago to say how
much she liked my columns. I dedicate this one to you, Jeanette. Be
blessed, sweet lady!
Gene Pinkney - For The Daily News
- 7/31/21 - upload to html 09-04-2021
I never was a big fan of
funerals. They always seemed to be very sad and doleful necessary
duties. People, (other than family, who need the event for closure and
necessary mourning), went to pay their respects, hear the eulogies and
endure a time of pondering on the big question: “What's it all about?”
There is another side to funerals available to the detached.
The funeral of “Poor Judd” in the
musical, “Oklahoma” presents a mischievous spoof of that dark subject: “Poor
Judd is dead; poor Judd Fry is dead,/ He's lying there so peaceful and
serene./ He’s all laid out to rest with his hand across his chest/ his
fingernails have never been so clean.” (Judd Fry of course is
the villain of the play).
But it wasn't until my mom's
funeral back in 1993, a funeral directed by one Bernard “Bun”Munson,
when a “sea change” took place that was truly amazing. There was
something distinctly different about Bun—he wasn't the obsequious,
gloomy figure one associates with undertakers. Bun had an up-beat, happy
personality that stood out no matter how sad a service might be. One
wondered why he could ever have chosen to go into the funeral business.
Well, at my mom's funeral at
the Fairmount Methodist Church, my brother Charles, his buddy Gary
Scorheim, and I got up to sing one of the great hymns “The Holy City.” “Last
night as I lay sleeping/ I had a dream so fair, I stood in old Jerusalem
beside the temple there.” And then, out of the blue, brother Charles
stopped everything and shared a personal note about the hymns our mom
used to love: “In the Garden,” “Steal Away,” and “Were You There.” Then
I blurted out a quip, and everybody laughed. (I don't recall the joke,
but nobody did such things at funerals). Then one of Mom's “hen party”
gal-pals, (I think it was Sadie Spear), recalled one of the fun parties
they'd shared. Then Dorothy Kurtz remembered another and then Florence
Dorglous. Before we knew it many more folks wanted to share. A half hour
passed before we finally ended our song, and nobody had the slightest
desire to sneak out and go home. The whole mood of the funeral changed
from dolor to delight. Bun came up afterward and said,”That was amazing
and really special: people went out of here laughing!”
What God did in bringing
together two indomitable spirits, Mom and Bun, was create a synergy that
changed “the American way of death” forever.