Funeral for a Friend

In January 1980, David was asked to be a pallbearer for a high school friend of his, Nancy Potuzak, who had died suddenly of a staph infection. Nancy was a pretty blonde and very talented; she had starred in Mesa Musical Theater's Oklahoma! as Laurie. An only child, she was the light of her parents' life, and they were shattered at her death. David asked me to go with him to the funeral, and of course I would. It would be my first funeral that was not an LDS service.

As we went to the funeral at a local mortuary, David explained that Nancy had joined the Church, but she was the only member in her family. Consequently, the service did not have the LDS overtones to which I was accustomed. But the thing that I remember the most is the curtained alcove where the family sat, where they were able to grieve privately. Though we could see nothing, the sobs and cries were very easily heard, and terribly heart-rending.

I realized then what comfort the Gospel of Jesus Christ gives us, that even in our freshest and deepest sorrow, we have the assurance that death is not the end, and that we will be together again. I tried to imagine their grief, untempered by this hope, as they said good-bye forever to their only child, and it was unbearably bitter, even in my imagination. I was, and am, so overwhelmingly grateful for our hope of the resurrection.

And, lest there be any misunderstanding, I do not mean "hope" as "a wish that may or may not happen" as in, "I hope I get a bike for Christmas"; I mean "hope" as "an expectation" as in "I have hope that the redemption brought about by Jesus Christ will open the graves, and we shall all live again, after we are dead."