Funeral of Hannah Corless South

Remarks given by G. Willard Peart

 

My dear brothers and sisters, relatives, and friends, I am grateful on this occasion for the privilege.  Like Veloe, Aunt Hannah was very close to me.  You who knew this good lady know that she would like to have been a mother to all she was around.  There was nothing in the world that she would not do for you.  She worked her life away for the principles she knew to be right.  For her brothers and sisters, her family, friends and neighbors whenever she could go, she would go to them in their time of need and help them.  It is any wonder that they sang that song at her request, “Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel.”  All her life she tried to be of service to anyone and everyone.

 

And how she appreciated it if any one would do anything for her. I am sure on this occasion some way, somewhere she is expressing her appreciation for the privilege of having her services held in this beautiful, newly decorated hall.  Can you hear her expressing her appreciation?  I am sure that somewhere she is letting everyone know how much she appreciates these beautiful flowers and these services being held here today.

 

On one occasion when the South family had been called upon to lose a member of their family, she had 7 sisters and 4 brothers and there have  been a lot of them pass on.  The family met in mourning over the loss of one of their beloved ones. She said, “I do not feel that we have lost him. I feel it is a privilege to be taken, that they are still alive, they have gone to the spirit world."  This was the way she believed, and she comforted them and she seemed to know what she was talking about.

 

When I heard of her passing away and that the family would like me to say a few words, I began to look for something appropriate and I found something very typical of Aunt Hannah's belief. These are some of the writings of

the Latter-day prophets.

 

(Quoted from Latter-day Prophets Speak.)

 

We shall turn around and look upon the valley of death and think when we have crossed it, why this is the greatest adventure of my whole existence, for I have passed from a street of sorrow, grief, mourning, woe, misery, pain, anguish, and disappointment into a street of existence where I can enjoy life to the fullest extent as far as that can be done without a body.  My spirit is set free.  I thirst no more. I want to sleep no more.  I hunger no more.  I tire no more. I run. I walk. I labor. I go. I come. I do this. I do that. Whatever is required of me, nothing like pain or weariness.  I am full of life, full of vigor, and I enjoy the presence of my Heavenly  Father by the power of his spirit....the spirits of the living who depart this life go into the world of spirits, and if the Lord withdraws the veil it is much easier for us then to behold the face of our father who is in heaven than when we are clothed upon with this mortality.  Brigham Young JD. 17:142,  July 19, 1874.

 

I cannot help but think that in every death there is a birth; the spirit leaves the body dead to us and passes to the other side of the veil alive to that great and noble company that are also working for the accomplishment for the purposes of God, in the redemption and salvation of a fallen world. Wilford Woodruff JD. 22:348, January 29, 1882.

 

Here, we are continually troubled with ills and ailments of various kinds.. .in the spirit world we are free from all this and enjoy life, glory and intelligence Spirits are just as familiar with spirits as bodies are with bodies.  Brigham Young.

 

My brothers and sisters, that is the writings of the latter-day prophets, and like these prophets she has been called to go to the spirit world.  I am sure that all those who have passed on are gathered together and are associated together. Can you imagine the happy reunion that is in store for Aunt Hannah, to be able to meet with her husband, three of her sons, six of her sisters and three of her brothers?  And the gratitude of the friends that she has made in the length and breadth of the earth that she has traveled. She made friends wherever she went, and was always happy to be of service to her fellow men.

 

We remember the parable of the good Samaritan.  While a certain man was on his way, he fell among the thieves, and they left him for dead. A certain priest came by and when he saw him he passed by on the other side, and the Levite passed by on the other side. How the good Samaritan bound up his wounds, and took him to the inn, and took care of him. He gave him some money and said that when he came again he could give him some more money if he needed it. This story is typical of Aunt Hannah.  She was always a good Samaritan.

 

I remember when I was a little boy, and Aunt Hannah lived across the street. I used to follow her around and ask her questions, and then she would take me up on her knee and tell me a story. And when we were sick she would come and take care of us. I don't know what we would have done without her when my mother had to go to Logan for an operation. She left her home and came and lived with us and took care of us. And that is the way it has always been on every occasion, not only with her own family, but with everybody. She worked hard all her life. She worked together with her family.  I guess we wonder a little how they were able to go out and get the timber and build an apartment house.  She always had her “shoulder to the wheel” all through her life.

 

She had a testimony of the gospel.  There was never a question in her mind but that the gospel was restored, and she fulfilled her beliefs to her very uttermost. She did everything in her power to serve the Lord and her fellow men, and we received a good deal of that service.

 

I don't know just what has taken place on the other side, but I know she is working for her children.  And you should do everything you can so that you will have the privilege of meeting with her on the other side.

 

I would like to take this occasion to express appreciation for the way that you have taken care of your mother. Some people do not know all the circumstances. Some may criticize. But we know that everything has been done that could be done for your mother.

 

Bless us all that we may have charity in our hearts. That we will search out the teachings of the Lord and serve him faithfully, I humbly ask in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, Amen.

 

 

Remarks given by Earl Stuart

 

My brothers and sisters, I deeply appreciate this honor of being called upon to speak for a few moments on this occasion.  I prize very highly the friendship of the South family. I have known them for many years.  I humbly pray in the few moments that I stand before you, I might be inspired by our Heavenly Father to say something that might be fitting and proper to the spirit of the occasion. I have enjoyed the remarks made by our dear Brother Peart and the wonderful music that has been rendered here.  It has been very wonderful to me. Whenever I attend a funeral service, I cannot help feel that probably we have a greater abundance of the spirit of the Lord in our midst than at any other time.

 

I was not as intimately acquainted with Sister South as I was with other members of her family.  I worked with Sam South in the sawmill.  I was impressed with his capacity for work; for the things he was able to accomplish with the tools he had to work with.

 

Sister South was born in the same year as my mother, and I recall back in my childhood and early manhood my mother mentioning Sister South. She was reared in Randolph and my mother in Woodruff, and I have thought of the comparison in their lives.  My mother was called to the other side a little over 35 years ago, in the prime of her life. She was only 44 years of age. She left a large family. I have never attended a funeral, especially where the mother of the family is taken, that the memories of my mother have not returned to me.  Sister South was old in years.  She was their mother. She was the person you admired more than anyone else in the whole world because of the service she has rendered to each and all of you. She was certainly a servant of her Father in Heaven.

 

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest source of comfort and consolation that can come to us in hours such as this. There is a silver lining in every dark cloud. Our gospel helps to answer these burning questions that all of us want to know: Where did we come from, why are we here, and where are we going? It explains to us the importance of our lives. I am sure it is a great deal of comfort to this family to know that they have been brought under the everlasting covenant; that their parents were married for time and all eternity.  It wasn't a temporary affair.  It is a wonderful thing that other denominations do not have and do not understand.  It offers the greatest joys and satisfaction that can come to a human soul.

 

There once was a young man by the name of Hulme. He was an agnostic and he spent his life trying to prove that there was not a God. He was a very brilliant young man. His mother finally decided, as a mother does in loving her son, that he must be right, so she abandoned the belief she had been brought up in. Years later when she realized her life was about to come to an end, she asked her son,

 

“Now tell me, what hope does your belief hold for me now?” 

 

And he had to admit that there was nothing. It has been truly said and taught by the Apostle Paul, “If in this life only we have hope, we are of all men the most miserable.”  I think this is a time to think seriously about where we are going.  If we believed there was nothing after death then this certainly would be a very sad occasion for us because sooner or later we will all be in the same place.

 

How grateful I am for the work she has done; that a person is so well qualified to go on to eternal progression. When we pass through this life and look into the face of our master, how much greater the joy that will be ours to know that we can go on eternally progressing. That we can go on living with our loved ones throughout eternity in accordance with the laws of the gospel. Some people think that we will rest eternally when we pass from this stage of existence, but I am sure it would not be heaven to Sister South if she could not go on working just as she has done here. When the Lord told Adam and Eve “to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow,” he knew they would have much more happiness; that they could not progress without working.

 

I am sure that Sister South was a very loyal wife. Her life was mixed with joys and tragedies. I remember how one of her boys was killed and how Barney died suddenly, and how many members of her family have been taken. Allen was kicked by a horse on the Johnson ranch. How they have endured the tragedies of life and still remained true to the faith. There is a great deal of truth in the saying that the Lord tests people here in this life. It is a great test of faith to be willing to turn to the Lord at a time like this.

 

I would like to read a favorite poem of mine. It fits in very well on this occasion, and it pertains very closely to the life of Sister South,

 

Mother

 

Never a sigh for the cares that she bore for me,

Never a thought of the joys that flew by;

Her one regret that she couldn’t do more for me,

Thoughtless and selfish, her Master was I.

 

Oh, the long nights that she came at my call to me!

Oh, the soft touch of her hands on brow!

Oh, the long years that she gave up her all to me

Oh, how I yearn for her gentleness now.

 

Slave to her baby? Yes, that was the way of her,

Counting her greatest of services small;

Words cannot tell what this old heart would say of her,

Mother--the sweetest and fairest of all.

 

Edgar A. Guest

 

I pray that we may have the strength and courage to strive to live more in harmony with the teachings of our Father in Heaven so that we may have an abode with our good mothers when we are called to the other side; that we may be able to meet them and greet them on the other side, and I do this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.