The End of an Era
After 103 years of life on this earth, Hazel Ethelbert Stein has lived her first few days of never-ending life with Jesus. The passing of anyone is indescribably significant, but I think we would all agree that Hazel’s death is the end of an era.
It is staggering simply to consider all the historical events and societal changes Hazel witnessed in her century of life. Astounding technological advances, countless international conflicts, 20 US Presidents, five-fold population increase and massive change in normative American values, many for the worse.
For those of us at Evergreen Bible Church, we say goodbye (for now) to a sister in Christ who has been an integral part of God’s work in this fellowship longer than almost anyone else. She served as the church treasurer for 30 years, carefully keeping all the books by hand, while also participating in dozens of various other ways.
In more recent years, her aging body greatly limited Hazel’s participation. That is one reason she loved hosting the Friday morning women’s Bible study at her house. Remarkably, she was also able to attend worship at Evergreen quite regularly to the very end, thanks to the Golden Chariot service that brought her each week. In fact, the news of Hazel’s homegoing came as we were just getting ready to begin the first Sunday worship service this past weekend.
Hazel had not felt well enough to join the ladies on Friday when they met in her living room, and those looking in on her wondered if perhaps she was nearing the end. Sometime in the very early hours of Sunday morning, Hazel woke up and spoke with her caregiver. She clearly seemed worn out. “Hazel, are you ready to go home?” the caregiver asked. Hazel said she was, and fell back asleep. Not long after, she woke up to see Jesus.
There will be a viewing at Evergreen Memorial Gardens this Friday, 12:00-9:00pm and Saturday 9:00am-9:00pm. A memorial service is being planned for Saturday, March 14, 1:00 pm at Evergreen Bible Church. A graveside service will take place earlier that day.
Pastor Toby
Sunday’s announcement about Hazel’s passing
Categories: Evergreen Connection