Tribute to Erastus Madsen

This tribute was written and presented by Elizabeth Staples at the funeral service for Erastus Madsen at Elsinore, July 1963.

It is with sadness in our hearts that we meet together on this occasion. We as community members are saddened to know that one of our very good friends and neighbors has left us. Miriam, I know feels deep sorrow over the loss of a dear father, and Leon, Lorenzo and Gerda, a fine brother. To all of the family I would like to say that we as friends share your loss at this time and offer you our heartfelt sympathy.

The words friend and neighbor are wonderful words to me. They stand for people who are kind, helpful, and thoughtful; who give of themselves for others. I am happy to recall my relationship with Erastus as a friend and neighbor, for he was just that kind of person. From the time he moved next door to us until he left Elsinore to live with Miriam, I remember him as a kind, patient, thoughtful man. Erastus was a person who achieved success in the game of life, for as someone said:

“Success is being friendly when another needs a friend; it’s in the cheery words you speak, not in the coins you lend.”

Erastus was truly a friend to me and my family whenever we needed one. He was there to give us suggestions on how to plant tomatoes or what kind of fertilizer to use to keep the roses from turning yellow. He offered us many cheery words which brightened each day, for we never saw him in his yard that he didn’t call a pleasant greeting.

Someone has said: “Success is not alone in skill and daring great. It’s in the roses that you plant beside your garden gate.”

Many of us here today can recall the roses Erastus planted beside his garden gate; the beautiful flower beds he and his wife kept; the orchard filled with fruit trees; the wonderful vegetable garden which he tended so carefully, and shared with so many of his neighbors.

Someone has said:” Success is in the way you walk the paths of life each day; it’s in the little things you do, and in the things you say.”

Erastus has surely achieved success in the way he has walked the paths of life each day, for with all the burdens he was called upon to bear, few people heard him complain. Well do I remember when his beloved wife, Lydia, passed away and the sorrow which filled our good friend’s life. No husband could have been more devoted, more faithful to a wife than he was, and to have her taken away brought an almost unbearable load into his life. Yet he walked bravely on, burdening no one with his troubles. Then in his later life when his eye sight dimmed, and he was living alone, he still walked bravely on, whistling a cheery little tune to help him keep up his courage.

Someone has said:” Success is in the glad hello you give your fellow man. It’s in the laughter of your home and all the joys you plan. Success is not in getting rich or rising high to fame. It’s not alone in winning goals which all men hope to claim. It’s in the man you are each day, through happiness or care. It’s in the happy words you speak and in the smile you wear.”

How true it is that when death’s phase of life is hear, one’s success is not judged by the amountof riches or fame he has gained, for these things cannot go with him into his next estate. Success is judged in what one did with his life each day. If one can be remembered as a person who spoke gently, kindly, who brought happiness to others, who was to the stranger, kind, then surely the Master will approve and judge a life successful.

Erastus will surely receive approval from the Master, for his life was filled with kindness. He was loving and kind with his family members which brought that necessary love and laughter into his home. He was kind to children, and any child who approved by received some little token from him … such as a flower, a peach, a handful of peas from the garden. Animals were always treated with special care, and I can see him now, surrounded by his many cats as he fed and petted them.

Someone has said:” Success is being big of heart and clean and broad of mind. It’s being faithful to your friends, and to the stranger, kind. It’s in the children whom you love, and they learn from you. Success depends on character, and everything you do.”

According to these standards set up by the poet, Erastus has lived his life in such a way that he could surely be judged a success. Not only did he achieve success with his life by standards set up by a poet, but by those standards set by the giver of life, the Creator. A certain lawyer once asked Jesus a question saying,” Master, which is the great commandment in the law.”

Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” The Apostle Paul reminds us of the importance of this great law when he said, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Having lived neighbors to Erastus and having experienced his friendly ways. I feel that I can say he has fulfilled this law. Through fulfilling the law he has given something to others, not jewels or gifts of material things, but the truly worthwhile gifts of himself.

James Rowe expresses the idea beautifully in two verses when he says:

“Give something to others each day of the year,
If only a handclasp, a look or a tear,
Whatever is given, if given in love,
The Master recordeth in heaven above.”

“Give something to others each day of your life,
Help those who are timid to stand in the strife,
Go faithfully onward, o’erflowing with love,
Then, smiling, the Master will greet you above.”

“So to our dear friends, the Madsen’s, we say … may
peace be with you in this hour of bereavement.
peace that comes from knowing that Erastus … as a
father, brother, friend, and neighbor, will be
greeted and well received by the Master.”