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A Memorial Service For Howard Robard Hughes, Jr
A memorial service for Howard Robard Hughes, Jr., at
the Glenwood Cemetery in Houston, Texas on August 22,
1995. Conducted by Van James Simmons, Jr., licensed
preacher, for himself and all others who remember,
want to invoke Heaven's blessings, and to extend their
affection and render due honor and respect to Howard
Robard Hughes, Jr.
Father in Heaven, Lord Jesus Christ, and Blessed Holy
Spirit: We stand this day in a special place in this
great city named for a man who led his adopted people
from oppression and subjugation unto freedom. Sam
Houston is honored in the history of the State of
Texas as one man whose presence among us was a
providential blessing. he is greatly respected by old
and by young people, in story, in song, by erection of
monuments. He has a special place in the hearts of all
good people, where his memory shall never be dimmed
nor forsaken.
Yet - Behold this post of ground, Blessed Trinity,
from which we appeal for your mercy, and for your
justice. In yonder grave repose mortal remains (if
reports are true) of a man who from his earthly youth
took of the talents that you gave unto him. He was
faithful to his charge. He multiplied those talents
many fold. In a time of great poverty and suffering in
the land he, like they servant Joseph of old, by the
grace, brought forth abundance of material to succor
his people and his nation in a time of great hardship
and peril. Surely no man did more than he to prepare
his people for the baptism of fire that came upon the
whole world in those terrible and calamitous times of
the Second World War. With his hands and his heart and
with the brilliant intellectual abilities with which
thou didst endow him he worked great works: on
land..under the surface of th earth..on the seas and
in the ocean depths..in the air unto the far reaches
of outer space..in all of these places he led his
people to positions of pre-eminence and by the grace
enabled them to triumph and to gain the victory over
their many and powerful enemies.
Yet - for all of this, himself being possessed of
great wealth and power, he was a humble man among his
fellows. He oftentimes anonymously shared in the toil
of ordinary laborers in shops and factories. His
attire was modest and utilitarian. he sough no fanfare
or selfish publicity. During the last decade of his
life he was especially isolated, actually in the
manner of a prisoner in solitary confinement,
tortured physically and psychologically, and horribly
abused.
Yet - it has been written without sympathy in the
books and journals of the land that this, thy child,
created in thine own image, blessed by thee with good
health and good fortune, a happy home, born to the
joy of his father and mother and to the positive
interests of his fellows far and wide - a wasted
figure of the man that he became and that he was
well-known to be - was here interred in garments
purchased by his distant kin: for he not even own
clothing of his own other than a rumpled bathrobe, an
old hat, pajamas, and undershorts held up by
drawstrings - for he had been deprived of buttons and
unkempt: the nails of his hands and feet were
overgrown, untrimmed perhaps for years; wounds of his
body such as to have undoubtedly caused him great
agony over a long period of time had been untended,
neglected, and untreated. his appearance was like unto
that of thy children in Nazi concentration camps,
those whom his works to preserve freedom did much to
succor.
Yet - it has been written that only about thirty
people or less and they not of his closest
acquaintances, attended his funeral. And that none
wept. That the pastor present held a simple service,
basing his sermon on the scripture reading from the
Book of Job that...one comes into the world with
nothing and that one must leave this world with
nothing... Blessed be the name and the Word of God.
But it is not meet nor fitting that this man should
depart from us to whom he gave so much, being himself
bereft of all things, and especially of that respect
and honor and tender affection that is his due. We
therefore, extend to him our love and our grateful
appreciation, and our deepest respect. We commend his
spirit unto thy keeping with these words from the Holy
Writ: No, Howard, the Lord bless thee and keep thee.
The Lord make His face to shine upon thee and be
gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance
upon thee, and give thee peace. Amen.
Van J. Simmons, Jr.
Licensed Minister, Retired
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