February 28, 2009, Olivet, 9:30 AM
The Psalmist said, “I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” (121:1-2) As we look around, we can see that heaven appears to touch the earth. God created both and whether we are still living on earth or that we are living in heaven, God is with us. Today is an opportunity for us to remember and celebrate the life of Nellie Hee who lived for almost 94 years on this earth and is now living with the Lord eternally in heaven. This is reason for our rejoicing! As long as we know the God who made heaven and earth in Jesus Christ, we receive the promises that we will never die. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26)
Road Less Traveled
When I read Nellie’s story in the second volume of Chinatown, Stories of Life and Faith, I thought about Robert Frost’s poem,
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Having grown up on a ranch and performed laborious chores in childhood, Nellie took the road of never being afraid to work to support her family.
Seeing how her father was willing to let desperate people during the Depression take his vegetables along the roadside, Nellie took the road of a caring and generous heart for the rest of her life.
Going to a one-room schoolhouse in Riverside, Nellie walked on the road 2-3 miles to school and back everyday teaching the next generation that worthy goals are worth pursuing.
Learning how to drive from her brother George, Nellie took to a road and crashed into a small wood building by the railroad.
After graduating with honors from high school in Chico, Nellie took the road of going to work with plans of getting married when she really wanted to take the road for a college education.
Marrying Frank Hee, Nellie started a family with Fred, Gayle, Pam, and Kenny two street blocks, down the road from the First Chinese Baptist Church where she felt it was a safe place for her children.
After choosing between the job of bronzing baby shoes or the job of a hairdresser, Nellie chose to attend beauty school but then she took a road less traveled and quit this job because she didn’t feel it was right to sell to her clients more hair treatments than they really needed.
If one had lived for 71 years already, one might think that there’re no more new roads to travel on. But for Nellie her life was just beginning. She traveled to many places around the world with the help of her daughter Gayle. But the road Nellie took when she was already 71 was to take a journey with Jesus Christ and being baptized in 1986. Not many people at 71 would take such a road but Nellie did. And it has made all the difference in her life.
As a family, you are here to mark the occasion of remembering Nellie Hee and the many roads that she took on earth and especially the ones that were less traveled. We are here also to celebrate the truth that the road Nellie has traveled has led directly to heaven because Nellie has come home.
We have come today to bring flowers to recognize the beauty that Nellie graced us with throughout her life. We have come today to teach us that when we might want to remind ourselves what a wonderful person Nellie was on earth, we would know how to come here to remember once again. We have come not with sadness but with joy believing that Nellie, our loved one has traveled on one more road to be with God her Creator who made heaven and earth.
Committal
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, we commend to God’s merciful care our sister, Nellie Hee; and we commit her remains/body to this resting place, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
Let us pray.
Merciful God, you created us in your own image, perhaps because you were lonely; you created us as members of families, so that none of us should ever be lonely; you share our sadness when the family circle is broken and we experience loneliness and sorrow, because someone we have loved and counted on has left us. Grant us strength to face our loss, with the reassurance that Nellie Hee’s return to you has not broken our family circle, but only extended it beyond this earthly scene into the heavens that your children share with you, thanks to the resurrection of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Benediction
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. Amen.
Grace at Lunch
Creator God, at this time of all times, we thank you for the precious gift of life.
We thank you for health and for the skill and compassion of those who care for us when our health falters and fails.
We thank you for home: for the roof over our heads and the bed where we stretch out to renew our strength in sleep; and for loved ones who make that roof and all the rest into a true home.
We thank you for the life of Nellie Hee who was a blessing to all of us here today as we celebrate her faithfulness to you, dear God and her dedication to her family and friends whom she dearly cherished.
We thank you for this abundance of good food for our bodies and good fellowship for our soul reminding us that in Christ, we are all friends, sisters and brothers.
And we thank you for hope: hope for the pursuit of the next goal when one goal has been reached; hope for recovery and a fresh start when a goal has eluded us; hope at last, when all hope seems lost, except for the one shining hope set before us in your raising our Lord Jesus from death. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Nellie and the Lennon Sisters
When I read Nellie Hee’s story in the Chinatown book, what caught my eye was the time when Nellie was asked to make dresses for the Lennon Sisters on the Lawrence Welk Show. Being old enough to remember “The one, and the two, and the three.” I googled the Lennon Sisters and was surprised to see that they are still singing. The original “America’s Sweet Hearts” were Peggy, Dee Dee, Kathy and Janet. Nellie’s dresses were in the Lennon Sisters’ dressing room.
My guess is that the Lennon Sisters have long ago stopped wearing the dresses that Nellie made for them. For that matter, the Lennon Sisters probably didn’t even know who made them the dresses in the first place. But what does matter is the truth that every one of us can do something that we can be proud of. If Nellie googled the Lennon Sisters website, she might say to herself, “I once helped them to dress up.”
I will remember Nellie as one who lived a good life with the Lord in her heart. She was proud of the dresses she made for the Lennon Sisters but we are proud to have the privilege of knowing such a saint like Nellie Hee who lived a good life of dressing up others.