FUNERAL FOR HOWARD HESBY AT PEACE LUTHERAN CHURCH July 27, 2005 College Station, TX Preacher: The Rev. Craig Borchardt, Ph.D. Text: Ecclesiastes 12:8-12 Title: “The Teacher” …Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher; all is vanity. Besides being wise, the Teacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs. The Teacher sought to find pleasing words, and he wrote words of truth plainly. (Ecclesiastes 12:9-10) The Teacher also taught…..if ever there was anyone who embodied the concept of “teacher”, if ever there was anyone who was “the teacher”…it was Howard Hesby. He had the evidence to prove it. He wore that evidence on his watch; he hung that evidence on the walls of his office. The evidence is seated and standing today in every nook and cranny of this worship space. I dare say that most of you here this morning were Howard’s students. The Teacher taught you. You learned something from Howard. Even if you were Howard’s colleague or his pastor, you learned something from him. Now I doubt that you ever heard the words “vanity of vanities” from Howard in Animal Science 107 or 108 or 303. That’s because Howard hailed from Volga, South Dakota and they don’t have vanity in places like that; Howard learned at an early age that ostentatiousness and exaggerated self-love and idleness and unprofitable activity don’t last very long on the prairie. They didn’t last very long in Howard’s life either, if they ever existed at all. No….you didn’t hear the word “vanity” from Howard Hesby. But what you did hear from Howard was wisdom and knowledge. Like the Teacher in Ecclesiastes, Howard’s sayings, his teachings, were like proverbs, gems of wisdom. They were like gems of truth that were seldom forgotten and they “goaded” us, they kept us on the right path in life’s journey. I suspect I could take a survey this morning and a great majority of you could tell me something Dr. Hesby told you or taught you - something you hold dear that rings in your ears and pulses in your hearts and guides you to this very day. His proverbs, his gems of wisdom were so meaningful, so potent, because like all good teachings, they were the proper mixture of idea and reality. These are some of the Hesby “proverbs” that I’ve heard about: • Make a good impression. Make a good first impression. A student once told me about a conversation Howard had with a fellow-student in Animal Science 400. Howard told the student, “Son I think you’d have a better chance of getting a job if you got a haircut, a short haircut, like mine.” The student looked at Howard and said, “Dr. Hesby, in this day an age I don’t think you could get a job with a haircut like yours.” To which Howard replied, “I already have a job.” • Everyone’s important. Make them feel welcome. Countless students have told me how Howard would call them by name. One student told me how much it meant to her to have Dr. Hesby call her by name, especially since she came from a small high school. Students from the likes of Fayetteville and Paradise and Marfa, Texas all felt like somebody in the sea of humanity that is Texas A&M University because Howard Hesby was the walking, talking embodiment of the proverb: Everyone’s important. • Serve others. Bring them joy. Like many others in this congregation, I had a friend named Christina. Christina died from leukemia several years ago at the ripe old age of 13. Many in our congregation graciously volunteered to transport Christina to Texas Children’s Hospital for her daily chemotherapy. Howard was one of the many. Believing he would just be a boring old man to a twelve-year old girl, Howard asked a trusted, mature Aggie to take his place. The young man arrived at Christina’s house in full uniform, senior boots and all. He was the ultimate gentleman – handsome, mannerly, witty and entertaining. He turned a most unwelcome day into a pure delight for Christina. Christina already had a reputation among the hospital staff and the other young patients at the clinic for having the greatest number of different escorts. But on this day, she hit the jackpot. Everyone fell in love that day – Christina, the other little girls, the nurses and doctors. It was one of the long remembered, delightful highlights in an otherwise unpleasant story. It was another example of one of those Hesby proverbs: Serve others. Bring them joy. I know why Howard Hesby was so important to you as students and colleagues. The first time you met Howard you probably left class, head shaking, saying to yourself: is this guy for real? He was. You’re here because Howard was just too good to be true. He made each of you, awash in a sea of university students, feel like a university of one!!!! And…that’s why we’re so sad today. We’re sad because death has claimed Howard Hesby. We are here on this Wednesday morning to face the painful reality that in spite of how good Howard was at teaching, in spite of fact that he was “the teacher” in the Animal Science Department at Texas A&M University, Howard wasn’t good enough teach himself out of death. As a result, I’d like to suggest to you that what we do here today is like Animal Science 400 – or as it was better known – “The Barbecue Seminar.” Today is our Spiritual Barbecue Seminar. What made that class so special was that it was based on Howard’s conviction that no matter what he taught you, no matter what truth or knowledge he conveyed, it was all worthless if you couldn’t use it to get job. Howard measured his value as a teacher by how well all of you could ply your trade. Without some place or some context to put ideas into practice they remain just that….ideas. But knowledge and truth put into practice become a way of life. And, that’s what Howard craved for all his students - a way of life. Today our way of life with Howard has had a horrible, unexpected wreck with death. And the carnage is vivid. Our lives are filled with sadness and pain and frustration and disbelief and anger and numbness. The way we begin to contend with such things is to do our job…..to work on our grief together. We meld our knowledge and feelings of grief with activity. We have a job to do and our job is to grieve. We do that by sharing our thoughts about Howard. We articulate the pain we feel by sharing words and hugs. Most of all, we work out our grief by supporting Kay. Kay I know that as difficult as this moment is, the days ahead will be more so because of the huge hole that will remain in your heart and life because of Howard’s death. Loneliness is a dastardly companion. We’ve talked much about the fact that you and Howard had no children. Unlike others, you have no extra-generational support in terms of family. But we’ve also talked about the truth that all those students who were touched by Howard’s work are your children – 15,000 of them. With that many “children” you are fast approaching Abraham and Sarah’s parental status - two who had children as many as the stars in the sky. So….all you Aggie students and colleagues, the Barbecue Seminar continues. Here is another opportunity to match your knowledge with a place, a context where you can put that knowledge to work. I’ve got a job for you, a job that comes at the request of Kay Hesby. If you have a Howard Hesby story, email it to Kay. She wants to hear from you……hear from you how Howard touched your life. Kay I know students and friends and colleagues will respond as we in your church home will respond. But let us be mindful that even our stories and our love of Howard, as special as they are, are limited in their ability to bring deep, lasting, joy and new life. For that we must turn to God, especially as we know him in Jesus Christ. The truth of the matter is as good of a teacher as Howard was he didn’t teach a thing to God. God taught it all to Howard. It was God’s work in Howard’s life that sustained him. It was God’s work in Howard’s life that guided him. It was God’s creative handiwork in Howard’s life that was the source of Howard’s knowledge and joy in teaching. God was the source of all Howard did and who he was and it was the foundation of his faith. There might not be any vanity in Volga, South Dakota but I can assure you that if that Swedish and Norwegian immigrant community had nothing else it had had a determined, rock solid, matter-of-fact, cherished faith in Jesus Christ. Like most Lutherans you would never find Howard Hesby preaching by the fountain at the MSC; but you can rest assured that his faith in Jesus Christ was the source of all he did. And…. it is now the source of Howard’s new life in the promised Resurrection through Jesus Christ our Lord. And so…. today in our grief let us, like Howard, listen to our Heavenly Teacher. Let us listen to his promises of victory over death and his promise to enter into our grief and turn sadness to joy. Let us listen to his reminder that death is not the last word for Howard. Because of the promise of the Resurrection to eternal life we will be reunited with Howard to experience life as God intends for all creation and us in His eternal kingdom. Let us listen intently to the promises of God for they are the most wise of all sayings and in faith become the foundation of our lives. The writer of Ecclesiastes is correct: The sayings of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings that are given by the one shepherd. (Ecclesiastes 12:11) I’m convinced that in the Resurrection Jesus is going to put Howard in charge of the Welcome Wagon in heaven. I can just see it now. Everyone on heaven will have a personal file with an index card full of information. Howard, with God’s help and grace, will make every feel so welcome that even in a countless sea of souls, it will feel as if we are a kingdom of one. Don’t feel sorry or saddened for Howard as you leave this service. Leave with great joy that the victory over death is his through his faith in Jesus Christ. And….leave in the certainty that the same victory is ours in faith and the power of that victory will turn our tears to joy. AMEN.