1. Today I joined several members of the KHS Class of 1972 and the congregation of other mourners to join in a memorial service paying tribute to Lois Dahlberg, mother of our classmate, Susan Dahlberg. Susan's brother, John, delivered a comprehensive, detailed accounting of Lois Dahlberg's long, courageous life of missionary service, with her late husband, Dr. Keith Dahlberg, in Thailand, Burma, and Papua New Guinea as well as her tireless service to the Silver Valley and to her family and friends over the nearly sixty years she lived here.
John Dahlberg detailed the inextricable connection between Lois and her father-in-law, Edwin Dahlberg, a titan of the American Baptist Convention, a past president of the American Council of Churches, and a devoted pacifist. The American Baptist Convention created a peace award in his name and, in 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr. was the first recipient of the Edwin T. Dahlberg Peace Award.
John's detailing of Dahlberg family history and the legacy of his grandfather did not detract from his tribute to his mother's courage, faith, integrity, joyful spirit, or tireless service. Rather, John helped us understand the context of service and bravery his father and mother's service to the endangered and the impoverished grew out of.
John's tribute uplifted and stirred awe in me.
2. Following the service, many of us gathered in the Mountain View Congregational Church's fellowship hall for a delicious buffet luncheon featuring chicken, salads, and desserts.
I especially enjoyed talking with classmates -- Sharon W. told me how her mother is doing, Susan K. and I reminisced about a (now closed) fish and chips shop in Brooklyn, the Atlantic ChipShop, we both enjoyed, Stu gave me a detailed update that I fully appreciated on his brother's recovery from two recent surgeries, and I got to join in some other really good conversation and story telling.
It was heart warming to me that so many of us from the Class of 1972 turned out today to honor Lois Dahlberg and support Sue in her time of loss and grief. I felt proud to be a member of such thoughtful, kind, and generous classmates.
3. Back home, Debbie arrived after she had a fun visit at The Lounge, and we enjoyed leftover curried chicken wings from last night along with basmati rice. We yakked about a lot of stuff, including our plans for Saturday, December 21, Debbie's 74th birthday and her day of travel from Spokane to Newark to begin a holiday visit at Josh and Adrienne's house, to eventually see almost all of our family (I don't think she'll see Hiram), and to enter into the buzz and excitement of the holiday season with all of them.
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