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Bulletin: /digital_faith/documents/3304507
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHDb0EEqS7E
Sermon August 27, 2022
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, MSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Funeral Service for David Oren at Newport Fire Company
The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. Wisdom 3:1
What more is there to say about David Oren? I know all of you have stories about how he affected your life. We are here in this beautiful space thanks to many, including David, who made sure this fire house and space were built.
David joined the fire department at the age of 19 in April 1956 and until just a few weeks ago, he was attending the bi-monthly meetings. That is 66 years of dedication to this company and to the people of the town and surrounding townships.
Can you imagine the changes he saw over those years?
David was the chief for ten years from the beginning of 1983 until the end of 1992. He was an instructor, helping others become excellent volunteer firefighters.
And Bonnie has plenty of stories to tell about occasionally being stranded as David answered a fire call.
Yes, he was a volunteer firefighter, which means he was unpaid and had a job to support his family. He worked at American Can Company and when he retired from there, he worked for Perry County Transportation for 13 years, helping people get to important appointments.
Bonnie said he loved driving places and didn’t mind how many times in a day she’d send him on an errand. Now, Bonnie, some people told me that when he was on those errands, he would sometimes make a side trip and have a slice of pizza or visit with a buddy.
David was there when the fire company began having chicken barbecues to raise money. He’d done barbecues for his family reunions for many years. Dave Cars calculated that David helped out with 151 Barbecues from 1987 until 2017, when he supposedly retired, but then helped out with 2 more! Dave Carns says that David barbecued 38, 156 halves of chicken for the fire company! Now David also had a secret sauce for the barbecue chicken. David said we’d only get his secret sauce recipe when he died. I sure hope he gave it to someone.
David had a sense of humor. When he attended the wedding of his cousin, Dave Carns to Gladys, he brought Dave Carns’ firefighting gear and set them right by the Dave. He also brought a fire hose and wound it around the inside of the church. David warned everyone that if there was a fire call, Dave would need to leave his own wedding ceremony.
David cared about his friends. Sue Beamer said that David would stop by to see her husband Phil every Sunday night. The two worked together. They would visit and even after they’d both retired, David continued to visit until Phil’s illness made it difficult.
David was the father of two sons – Brian, who died in 2007, and Mark. He tried to give them a good life, raising them in a home he and Bonnie built and supporting their pursuit of their passion in life.
And David was a loving husband. He and Bonnie went to his Senior Prom and then they got married in 1957 – that’s 65 years of marriage. They attended and participated the Methodist church here in town and then when it became Hope Eternal by the highway.
We all know that David wasn’t perfect, because none of us are. Yet, we do know that as much as possible David tried to live the way Jesus taught us – to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. David was a righteous man, striving to do what is right.
In the Gospel of John (15:13) Jesus says, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” The righteous man we knew as David Oren showed us this love. There are not enough words to thank him for his service to our community for 66 years.
We saw David slow down this past year. Life was not as easy for him physically. While we miss him mightily, we know like the writer of the Book of Wisdom says, that his soul is in the hand of God and no torment will touch him.
Now in the few years I’ve been Chaplain for the Fire Company, I knew David to sit in the back row of the fire company meeting room. He was faithful in his attendance. He’d sit in the back with Bob Flickinger and Dick Linn. David and Dick had a routine to close the meeting.
David would move to adjourn the meeting and Dick would second the motion.
Now David has successfully ended his time here on earth. It is now up to us to do our best to follow his example. We need to take on the responsibilities that David had.
In honor of David, let us end the meeting one more time. Dick Linn will make the motion and together we can second it.
Dick: Mr. President, I make a motion to adjourn the meeting.
People: Second
Amen
