Emmett Bredenberg Tribute

by Will Bredenberg – Sunday 4/5/09:

On the weekend of Jan. 30 – Feb. 1, 2009, I traveled to “Steelers Country”, anticipating final good-byes with my 89-year-old brother, Emmett, with no expectation that I would be watching Super Bowl XLIII. His most recent sports accomplishment was to mentor a 13-year-old neighbor at ping pong to the point that the boy could beat Emmett 50% of the time.

watched with me, clasping my hand and occasionally turning to say with a smile, “I love my brother”. The weekend had been filled with visits from family and friends but, for the three and half hours of the big game, I was alone with him except for frequent checks by the ICU nurses at Hamot Medical Center in Erie, PA. The remarkable thing was that, following a weekend of restless discomfort, Emmett was serene and peaceful, letting the Steelers and the Cardinals have his attention and focus.

Emmett was a disciplined student of the Bible, teaching Sunday School at his Methodist Church for the past 62 years. He made a habit of going to the church on Saturdays to prepare the classroom for Sunday, filling up the blackboard with outlines and notations. For me, he exemplified three quotations from the scriptures. He applied these verses in family life, sports, career, and Bible study:

“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (1 Timothy 2:15 RSV version)

“Let us run with patience, the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2-3 RSV version)

“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14 RSV version)

He was a respected engineer with General Electric (GE) for 59 years, having designed electrical controls for mass transit projects in Brazil, Disney World, Japan, New York City, Montreal, and Sweden.

He took me for my first haircut when I was age 2 and he was age 18. I cried at the sight of scissors and clippers. The barber said, “Don’t cry sonny, ‘Daddy’ won’t leave you!”. In the 1940’s and 1950’s, I camped and fished with him in the foothills of Pennsylvania, the Adirondacks and the Champlain Islands of Vermont. In 1949, the set-up of tents resulted in a rare, but successful, victory in disagreements with our father. My brothers insisted upon sleeping with their brides while Dad wanted us to divide the tents along gender separations. My brother won! At age 14, I had a lesson in marital life. Then we spent three of the five days playing Rook in an ever-dampening tent while waiting for the rains to cease.

In 1952, eleven Bredenbergs gathered for a week on Keeler’s Bay at Lake Champlain. Ever gallant, Emmett saw a spider on the shoulder of a woman at a beach party. He was caught by my other brother, Paul, as he reached behind the spider’s hostess to flick away the invader. Emmett took years of kidding about the “spider lady” in good fun, never letting us confuse gallantry with opportunity.

In 2004, he visited High Street Church, 17 months after the death of his wife, Jeanette. Chip Ross and I prepared a program of organ-piano duets for his visit. Many times, he has commented, “That was the best Christian music I’ve heard in many years”!

May future Super Bowls always bring to my remembrance a sweet, sacred time of passage, peace, and promise.

 

Paul Grim Tribute

by Don Grim – Saturday 10/4/08:

It is very fitting for us to be in Woodsfield today for this is where Dad raised his family and he has always been mindful about family. I was blessed to grow up in this environment that was untarnished by the influences of a city. I was outdoors all the time in the Summer with a lot of swimming, hiking, and sports. We grew up with no locks on any doors and no locks on our minds.

It is an honor for me to say a few words about my Dad. If you had to describe him in one word, that one word might be “adventurer”. He took his family camping all across the country. I reached every state but 6. There was swimming in the Atlantic Ocean, the wilderness of Yellowstone Park, the giant redwood trees of Yosemite Park, and hiking to the edge of cliffs, to name just a few adventures. My favorite is probably the spectacular mountain scenery in Colorado in 1970. You can say that I had a “Rocky Mountain High” before John Denver wrote the song! During those trips, Dad would also share his extensive knowledge of science and planets. He recorded our past with still cameras, video cameras, and even audio recorders way before those devices were popular, or readily available.

One day, Dad researched and found some maps to the railroad that used to run through Woodsfield. He had all of us hiking through all sorts of woods around Woodsfield. We found where the railroad track used to be and eventually found a railroad tunnel that was almost camouflaged from our sight. That was Dad. He was all about adventures, discovery, and learning. When he was the leader of a Weblos Boy Scout troop, they simply called it “fun”.

Dad taught me so much. As mentioned, he allowed me to appreciate God’s creativity of our great outdoors. He taught me to work hard beyond expectations, to respect others, to treat others as equal, to be honest, to be caring, and to be prayerful. He used to give us kids dimes to give at Sunday School. I would call them boy’s and girl’s dimes until I learned those girl’s dimes really showed a boy named Mercury! Dad taught me bravery, like when he endured pain at the hospital. He showed caring by donating practically countless gallons of blood so that others would benefit. He also donated his drafting services for the construction of the Youth Center in Woodsfield.

I used to hear Dad practice the piano early in the morning before it was time to get up for school. Maybe it should have bothered me but it didn’t bother me. I’ve learned to be quite fond of the piano and music, because of that. Music truly is one of God’s most soothing creations!

Dad wasn’t afraid to be emotional, especially with his operas! Real men can cry and I still cry every time I see the ending of the movie called “It’s A Wonderful Life”! Dad was always reminding us that things always change and that we can tolerate change more than we think we can tolerate it.

Dad taught me to honor parents by his example of his relation to his parents. I have been writing a math book this year. I honored Dad by telling him he would get the first copy of the book. The book is not finished yet. It’s too late for him to get the first copy in this life but at least I honored him by giving him the first excerpts of the book. Exodus 20:12 says “honor your father and mother so that your days may be long” and Proverbs 22:6 says “train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it”. I think I am older now. Whatever good you see in me, it is part of his training that gets the credit.

The most important thing you should know about my Dad is that he asked Jesus to be his Savior. That is THE KEY to life. That signs, seals, and delivers you in God’s family for eternal life. Anything else that you do is out of love and not out of earning salvation.

Dad’s lifelong friend, Dave Fields, summed it well in the card he sent me. He simply wrote “another graduation”. I gave a favorite kitten to another home about a month ago. A week after Dad’s death, they called and had to return the kitten. By seeing that kitten again, it is a reminder that Dad will be seen again too. The kitten was already appropriately named in advance as “Summer”, for Winter is temporary, and Summer is coming again!

We have been blessed to have some events happen just in time for Dad this year. He was able to visit a lot of people this year. He was also able to visit his last of 50 states, by visiting Alaska this year.

A snapshot of Dad’s life is what he sent me in the mail that I received the day after he died. He was always trying to do something to complement, encourage, or brighten your day. He wrote on the envelope “Don & Betty Grim, cute couple”. He included a Norman Rockwell sticker, an angel sticker, a peace sticker (with the sun shining over a waterfall), and a sticker that says “pray”. He always tried to include humor, perhaps more than we wanted sometimes. He wrote behind a picture where he is standing beside an Alaskan stuffed bear: “When I talk, those bears listen”. When my Dad talked, I listened and benefited from him.

I am thankful to Dad for his caring and his examples. I’ll look forward to seeing him again on the other side! Praise God for His abundant blessings!

Obituary: Paul E. Grim, age 79, of Zephyrhills Florida (formerly of Woodsfield, Ohio and Guilford Lake, Ohio) died Wednesday, September 17, 2008 at his home.

He was born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania on June 27, 1929 a son of the late Donald and Vera Shingleton Grim.

He lived in Woodsfield, Ohio from 1961-1978 then at Guilford Lake, Ohio until he retired in 1995. After retirement Paul moved to the Zephyrhills, Florida area while summering in Ohio ever since.

He retired seven times from the engineering and drafting field during his life. Paul designed the Youth Center at Memorial Park in Woodsfield, Ohio. He was a Korean War veteran; loved classical music; played piano all his life, professionally at times. Paul was a devout follower of God, serving the Episcopal Church his whole life and as a Eucharist minister for many decades.

He was a widower two times by his wife Mary Robinson of 43 years and Carolyn Judd for 4 years. He is survived by his wife Leone Jones, a daughter Patricia (John) Gissy of Downers Grove, Illinois, twin son Mark (Sue) of Woodsfield, Ohio, twin son Don (Betty) of Erie, PA, and seven grand children, Sharon, Jennifer, Janice, Tom, Mike, Erin, and Carolyn. He is also survived by a special dear friend of a lifetime, David Fields of Conneaut, Ohio.

A memorial service is planned on Saturday October 4, 2008 at Watters Funeral Home, 37501 State Route 78 West at 2:00 PM with Paul’s long time friend, Rev. Faye Grose officiating. Paul’s cremains will be buried alongside his first wife Mary in Oaklawn Cemetery, Woodsfield, Ohio at the convenience of the family.

Memorial contributions may be made to your local chapter of Habitat for Humanity.