Rev. Sunshine Jeremiah Wolfe
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Leofsky Internment
Alabama National Cemetary
October 9, 2012

"I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything,
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do."

~Edward Everett Hale


            In the beauty of this day we have come together to honor John Paul Leofsky and to return him to the earth which gave him life.  We gather grieving in our own particular ways.  Grief is an important part of love- a reminder that John mattered- his life and gifts mattered to those here gathered.  John lived life fully and was the consummate explorer.  He loved this earth and all living things upon it.  If John were able to be with us today, no doubt he would have found something to prune, a bird to listen to, and had ideas on roads not taken to explore.

            He cannot do that with us today, but we can carry that spirit into our lives.  We can remember him by caring for those things that were so important to him and celebrating this most amazing earth.  In the words of e.e. cummings:

"i thank you god for most this amazing day

for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

and a blue dream of sky’ and for everything

which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,

and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth

day of life and love and wings and of the gay

great happening illimitably earth

how should tasting touching

            hearing seeing

breathing any- lifted from the no

of all nothing- human merely being

doubt unimaginable you?

now the ears of my ears are awake

now the eyes of my eyes are opened"

            John’s eyes were always open and his ears awake.  He lived life without bounds.  He loved cycling, rowing, dancing, gardening, exploring, climbing, pruning, gardening and most especially walking.  He loved his family and his friends and brought them into his world of exploration taking them to places they would never have found on their own.  He unabashedly said “yes!” to life.

            Here today he joins his wife, Joan, his father, Theodore, and his nephew Jesse.  May his infectious spirit join with these loved ones.  He passes on his mantle to those here gathered today to his mother, siblings, girlfriend, friends, colleagues, plants, and animals.  John is now a part of the infinity of all.  His love knows no bounds.  We bear witness to his life as he is returned to the earth to which he dedicated so much of his life.

           

Here we lay John Paul Leofsky to rest and though we leave him here, his spirit goes forth with each of us- living on in our own lives.

Farewell, John,

            You will be one with Nature:

Your voice will be here in all its music,

From the moan of thunder,

To the song of night’s sweet bird;

You will be a presence to be felt and known

In darkness and in light, from limb and stone…

You will be a portion of that loveliness

Which you now, as then, have made more lovely.

John, the world is better for you having lived.  We are better for your having shared your life with us.  We shall not forget.  We wish you blessings and grace on your journey into the everlasting.  Your spirit is in us.  May you rest forever living on in those who knew you; your love shining forth through those you have loved.  Blessed be and amen.

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