Mom's Obituary By John Gaines

HAZEL HOLDEN July 29, 2009
SONGS
OBITUARY
Born March 2, 1924 in Glenrose, Texas. Died July 18, 2009 in Burlington, Washington. She lived in Pensacola from 1957 until 2006 so it is appropriate that she has come back for her final resting place in the city where she lived for the majority of her life.
Preceded in death by her parents, Perry Marvin Brunson and Iva Geoa Green Brunson, as well as her husband Dan Pat Holden and daughter Hazel Merlea Verlaan.
Survived by two sons and one daughter, Dan Holden, Gary Holden, and Patricia Gaines, seven grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. She is also survived by one brother, Marvin Brunson, and three sisters – Bonnie Ford, Fay Pons, and Mattie Green.
PRAYER
SONG
REMARKS
1. It is an honor for me to speak about Hazel. I have spoken at a great many funerals during my years as a preacher, but this is just the second one for a close family member. Hazel was my mother-in-law, but with her you throw all the mother-in-law jokes out the window. She did not fit the stereotype in any form or fashion. She was sweet, kind, and encouraging. Near the end of her life, the dementia which had afflicted her brain sometimes robbed her of some of her sweet self and brought out some things which were not part of her true personality. Even then, that was only sometimes, when she had grown agitated or frustrated about something. There were still many times when the essential Hazel shined through the fog. Up until the last few days of her life, I could enter the room where she was and speak to her. She would look at me with the old twinkle in her eye and give me one of her trademark grins. It is those experiences with moments of clarity in her that make Trish and me so thankful to have had Hazel with us in our home the last two months of her life.
One of those moments occurred in what turned out to be the last real conversation Trish had with her mother. About three days before she died, Trish found her mother awake and alert. She often tested Hazel’s perception by asking her who she was talking to. The answers varied, but this time she answered matter-of-factly, “You’re my daughter.” Her tone suggested that she thought it quite odd to be asked such a question. Just a few moments later, Hazel asked, “You know I’m dying, don’t you?” Choking back the tears, Trish said “yes,” then asked her mother if she were ready to go. Clearly and unmistakeably, Hazel answered, “Yes, I’m ready.”
2. When you think about people standing on the brink of eternity, they may have any of several different attitudes. Some are uncertain and apprehensive. Some may be scornful of the idea that life after death even exists at all. But some are able to look ahead with confidence and conviction that all is well with their souls. Like the apostle Paul, they can say “But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me” (2 Timothy 1:12 ESV).
Some who think they are saved may turn out to have a misplaced hope. Jesus taught that in the Sermon on the Mount when he said, Matthew 7:21-23 ESV "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' 23 And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' This passage tells us that there will be some hard-working religious people who will be lost.
When someone stands on the brink of the chasm of death and says, “I’m ready to cross over,” how can we ever know whether that hope is well-placed? Can we know that a loved one was truly ready to go?
The answer is absolutely yes. Listen again to what Jesus said in Matthew 7:21. How did He answer the question of who will enter the kingdom of heaven? First, the negative – “not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord.” Some will call Him Lord, but will be told, “depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” But Jesus didn’t leave his answer at that. He told us who will be entering the kingdom of heaven – “the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” 1 John 2:3 speaks to this same question. The Apostle John wrote by inspiration, “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.”
A warning is appropriate here lest we jump to another mistaken conclusion. The New Testament is clear in its teaching that we have to keep Christ’s commandments to be saved [John 14:15 ESV "If you love me, you will keep my commandments”]. However, it does not teach that we shall be saved by our ability to keep the law. Grace is necessary. Righteousness is a gift [Romans 5:17, “For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.” So, we aren’t going to work our way into heaven apart from Jesus Christ and his gift of himself on the cross. But neither are we going to be welcomed into an eternity with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ without having submitted ourselves to his will that is revealed to us in the gospel.
3. The life that Hazel Grace Holden lived speaks for itself. She was twelve years ago when her mother died in 1936. Two years later, only weeks after she turned 14, Hazel married 27 year old Dan Pat Holden. Life was often an economic struggle for Pat and Hazel. But their family was blessed by two daughters and two sons, before they relocated to Pensacola in 1957. Hard work, including often working on Sundays, kept Hazel from attending church much during her youth and middle age years, but sometime in the early 1980s, her sister Bonnie visited from North Carolina. Four-and-a-half years younger than Hazel, Bonnie had benefited from the influence of Christian grandparents during her formative years. So Bonnie was an active member of the church when she visited Pensacola some 25 or more years ago. She wanted to go to worship that Sunday and invited Hazel to go with her. She also asked her where the closest Church of Christ was located. Hazel had sometimes listened to a radio program that the Leonard Street church hosted during that time. The name “Leonard Street Church of Christ” came to her mind when Bonnie asked about a congregation. They located the address and attended church together here in this building that Sunday.
Hazel was made to feel welcome, and she kept coming. In a short time, she learned that she need to be baptized for the forgiveness of her sins, and she was ready to obey the Lord’s commandment. She continued to study and to attend worship regularly. Hazel never learned to drive so she had to depend on others for a ride. When no rides were available, she sometimes walked from their apartment in the Pensacola Retirement Village over near Baptist Hospital to the building here.
She wasn’t satisfied with the fact that she had changed the direction of her own life. She wanted to influence others, just as her sister Bonnie had influenced her. Her efforts were most productive with her youngest daughter, who lived in faraway Washington State. Patricia (as Hazel always called her) took a Bible Correspondence Course that Hazel mailed to her and read tracts that Hazel sent from time to time, but nothing much happened until Trish moved back home to Pensacola in 1999.
Trish had been attending an Assembly of God in Washington and had heard about the big revival then going on in Brownsville. She was anxious to attend and naturally assumed that her church-going mother would be excited to go with her. What a surprise she had when Hazel told her flatly, “No!” She wasn’t going. Trish quickly figured out that if she was going to be able to go to church with her mother, then it was going to be at Leonard Street. So Trish started attending regularly with her mother and was herself baptized in October of that year. Personally, I am kinda glad things turned out that way!
But my point is that Hazel’s faith and her obedience to Christ were extremely important to her. She had obeyed the gospel and she tried to use her influence the best she could to influence others to do the same thing. She was not assertive or flashy, but in her quiet way, she exemplified the spirit of a genuine disciple. It almost seems that Paul might have had Hazel . . . or a first-century counterpart . . . in mind when he wrote in 1 Timothy 2:9-10, “likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, 10 but with what is proper for women who profess godliness--with good works. Hazel was without doubt a beautiful woman. As some of the pictures displayed earlier show, she had physical beauty – especially in her younger years. However, she was filled with inner beauty. 1 Peter 3:4 says, “let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.
4. Thinking back about the life Hazel Holden lived gives us good reason to be thankful for her. Hazel’s victory has been secured. Her journey through this life is over. All we can do for her now is to honor her memory and treasure some good memories. But there is something that we can do for ourselves. Hazel’s life ought to give us motivation to examine our lives and to prepare ourselves to be in the same state of readiness that she was. To be able to know that death is near at hand and say without qualm or qualification, “I know I am dying, and I am ready to go,” is what Christian living is all about. Please examine yourselves and your own standing with the Lord.