Celebration of the Life of Frank Hartlen
Parish of Stewiacke & Shubenacadie, March 19, 2015
Message by Rev. Cheryl Rafuse
Opening Prayer: May only the truth be spoken and only the truth be heard all to Your glory and honour, O God of all creation.
I want to take this time to extend my most heartfelt condolences to Frank's children Janette, Mike, Stephen, Margaret and Denise and to your spouses Donald, Charlene, Marie, and Doug, Frank's grandchildren Sean, Kelsey, Tyler, Devon, Thomas and Ryan and great grandchildren Seamus and Lochlan, Frank's brother Arthur and sisters-in-law Audrey, Marie and Marie, brother-in-law Wendell, nieces and nephews and all of Frank's extended family and friends.
Friends, we come together on this winter afternoon to celebrate and to give great thanks for the life and times of Frank Hartlen. What a full life he had!
Frank was born 93 years ago in Dartmouth and he was the middle child of seven. Frank was one of our national heroes. He was a veteran of WW II and he served overseas in Italy, France and he was there for the liberation of Holland. After that to the Peace Corps.  Frank was a member of the West Novies and a member of the Special Forces known as the Devils Brigade which was just awarded the US Congressional Gold Medal. This is the highest honour bestowed by the US Congress and has been awarded to other great people such as Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, Billy and Ruth Graham, Winston Churchill, Bob Hope, past presidents of the United States, royalty and many more honourable people. Now I know I am namedropping  but think of it! Frank Hartlen, the quiet, shy, humble farm boy from Westphal name stands among theirs. I know his family is so very proud of him and that he is their hero.
After the war when Frank came home, the shy guy went out to a dance one night. There he met the love of his life, Lorna Greenough through friends, Ross & Marilyn Daniels. Frank got up the nerve and asked Lorna to dance and then the match was made in heaven and lived out literally in the land. Frank and Lorna were avid gardeners and no small patch either. Lorna grew flowers and Frank grew vegetables. Beautiful produce that he fed his large family with and shared generously with the neighbours. Frank and Lorna bore beautiful fruit also and abundantly at that. They bore five beautiful children together and were richly gifted with six amazing grandchildren and two great grandchildren. 
There was a story that Frank loved to tell about when he first arrived back home from the war. The family dog was still with them and he had grown quite old. The old dog kept growling at Frank and finally Frank growled at the dog and asked him, What the matter with you? It was with that that the old dog remembered him. I loved hearing Mike tell that story. I heard so many sweet stories of good times and hard times, money was scarce but food, fun and good parenting was plentiful. Lorna was a stay at home mom who worked tirelessly looking after Frank and the children. 
When the kids were young, Frank was forever dragging home old bicycles. One time he drug home three. The red one was really bad Janette said, the sprocket among other parts was broken. It was so bad she said! Mike said the frame was bent, they complained to their father and Frank said, It's good enough. So one day Mike was struggling along the roads with the old bike, sitting sideways trying to steer the bike and he got hit by a car. Mike flew into the air and landed on Ettinger's Funeral Home lawn. 
In time the bikes ended up being stolen. The siblings laugh at themselves now because they reported the blue one stolen because it was the best one of the three. They ended up finding the bikes kicked to the curb not so far away. It was obvious that the thieves discovered just what they had, nothing but junk. The kids had many fond memories of camping when they were growing up, 7 of them in a five person tent.  Trips to Martinique togetherDenise and Margaret recalled that the kids would be sent off with bags for each one of them to fill with seaweed. Frank and Lorna used it for fertilizer for their gardens. The parents would bribe the kids with ice cream to get them to go for a drive. Frank himself loved ice cream. He was noted for that on 5 East VMB. Frank loved to eat. The nursing staff would ask him, Are you hungry Frank? And he'd reply, Hungry like a bear. Everyone in the unit loved Frank.  
Another cute little story of Frank's was when his brother Lorne and his wife Marie were getting married. Frank was away and he tried to send them $20 for a wedding gift. They never got it. For Lorne and Marie's 60th wedding anniversary, Frank gave them $20 and told them that since the first $20 didn't arrive, here it is now. I can only imagine the laughs everyone got out of that one!
Charlene told the story of their visit to the Grand Canyon. Frank hated walking. While overseas he walked up the mountains many times and walked many miles while in Italy. Frank's view of the Grand Canyon was from the car. He was content to see it from there. Mike said there was no changing Frank's mind. He was stubborn!!! And being a man of few words, he'd just respond with a short answer, Nope.
Frank retired from the Halifax International Airport where he was the supervisor of Airfield Maintenance. He and Lorna continued to camp after the kids grew up. They enjoyed their trips away, much time gardening and they both loved to read and Frank would read his newspaper everyday from cover to cover without fail. No one touched the paper until Frank was done with it. 
The kids said that they never ever heard their parents argue although once Lorna did respond with a pbsttt to Frank. Hahah! 
They were a real team, Frank and Lorna. Tragically in 1988 Frank lost his beloved Lorna and with that he lost his spark the family said. Their lives were forever changed and now it will be again with the loss of their mother and father. We as their friends need to hold them up in prayer and to be here for them whenever they need us during the difficult days to come. And I urge you, the family, to reach out to anyone of us here when you need a friend. For you see my friends, in that you will be living out the two great commandments, Love God and Love one another. Some people ask the question in difficult times, Where is God now? Friends, God is alive and well today. He is alive in our hearts and so if you seek Him, He will reveal Himself. The neighbours that looked out for Frank, watching for his light or to see him in the window reading the paper, or the kind person that brought Denise a pie. You will find Him in those ways.
Stephen and Denise took Frank back to Europe to his old stomping grounds after Lorna died. Again Frank wasn't interested in walking but he enjoyed seeing what he wanted from the wheelchair. He responded with his usual short snapper, Nope. 
What a wonderful time for them to have had with their dad! Margaret shared many special times with her father at the VMB. I remember seeing her there a number of times.
All these sweet stories and there are many I am happy to say, reminded me of the Frank that I grew to honour and respect. The quiet man confined to his wheelchair, the man who taught me so much in such a short period of time. You see I am just finishing up an internship at the Camp Hill VMB 5 East and I was blessed to be a student of Frank's. I read a line recently that speaks volumes. The writer said, I have learned that the best education in life is at the feet of an elderly person. I too have been so blessed to have learned that. Frank helped me to cut my teeth so to speak, he taught me about the integrity of a human being, he taught me how to communicate without speaking, how to be still, be patient and provide a presence and to not give up. He gave me joy when we'd make a connection, and he squeezed my heart when he shed tears at the sight of his wife's picture. I'd ask him each time if he'd like me to pray and he'd say yes or nod his head. We'd hold hands and I'd pray and the look in his eyes would change. I felt the presence of God there on more than one occasion.
Frank loved you his cherished family; his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren very much. Each one of you had your own special thing with him. You grandchildren, he was so very proud of you. Nothing will ever change that love or take it away. It is your forever precious gift that is in your hearts and so when Dad or Grampie feels far from you or in those times when you are missing him; hold your hand to your heart and remember that he is with you. We heard Jesus' promises in the readings today and in particular in the gospel. That gospel is from Matthew and it is Jesus' first sermon which is called the Beatitudes. 
That gospel stood out to me because I saw Frank in it very clearly. Just to quote a couple, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. 
Frank was a soldier, a war veteran, a peacekeeper who sacrificed a whole lot to serve his country. Lest we never forget! 
 Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. Meek as defined in Wikipedia, a possible attribute of human nature and behaviour. It has been defined several ways: righteous, humble, teachable, and patient under suffering, willing to follow gospel teachings, an attribute of a true disciple. Jesus was a man who was meek and mild, humble and true. Jesus was a peacemaker too, like so many others, Jesus made big sacrifices too, didn't He? He made the ultimate sacrifice for us, John 3:16, For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son so that everyone who believed in Him may not die but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to be its judge but to be its Saviour. And friends we are given more promises and teachings. This one taken from John's gospel ch 14 Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. Now this is Jesus talking, In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. Personally speaking friends, I hang my everything on that. I know that someday I will be joined in heaven, whatever it looks like, I will be joined, reunited with all of my loved ones. We will be together again, and just like it says in today's Second reading from the New Testament, from the book of Revelations, there will be no more suffering, no more sorrow or crying and that everything will be made new. Friends that is our assurance. We too will live out the Easter story, we will die and we will rise again and we will be safe in the arms of Jesus. HOPE. And that is not to say that we don't and won't grieve. Of course we will. Jesus grieved! The shortest verse in the Bible is Jesus wept. Grief is the price we pay for loving someone. It is a costly consequence of love. The writer, Hilary Stanton Zunin observes that The risk of love is loss and the price of loss is grief. We grieve because we feel the pain of loss but we also grieve because of the strength of our love for the person that we have come here to remember and to celebrate today. That love continues and grief does not diminish it and often in the early times after a death we feel that love even stronger than we did before. The only way we can avoid the pain of grief is by avoiding the joy of love. And all those times with Frank, all those memories sure are worth it, aren't they. And so you see what really bring us here together today, is love. Love for Frank who has died, love that carries on in spite of his death, love that will live on. Today we are not alone. We have come together to share our grief, to share our love for Frank, Dad, Grampie, whom we have gathered together to remember but we are also here in this building, on holy ground which is a symbol of God's love for each one of us, here or absent, a symbol of God's deep desire to be involved in each one of our lives, to have a living relationship with us. Friends, believe me, God longs to be with us as our life goes on, to show His love for us and to transform us  to turn our sorrow into joy and our mourning into dancing.
My God how great thou art! 
Amen.

Stan and April and family would  like to offer our sincere condolences at this very sad time. What a great man he was , I wish I had known your mom,  I am sure they are together at last . Please try and celebrate his life I think he would want that. May he rest in peace. April macdougall.

Dear Janette:
Thank you so much for your kind words.  Your gift was too much but know that I really appreciate it.  Thank you and please thank the family for me.  I'm feeling a loss. I miss your father already and so I can't even imagine what you and yours are feeling.  I just have to tell you that you people are such fine, fine people & I am forever blessed by you.  It is so funny how God brought us together.  I am so glad that he did.  If you decide that you'd like to have prayer or an interment service in the spring, don't hesitate to contact me. 
Love, prayers and friendship Janette.
Cheryl

For those of you who don't know me I'm Tyler; and Frank was my grandfather who will always be known to me as Grampie.  After I was asked to write this eulogy, I sat down and found myself trying to come up with words to describe my grandfather. Where would I begin? Pride? Humble? Loving? Work ethic? or maybe even food?  Grampie lived a life full of all these things; and all of us who were fortunate enough to be a part of his life know this.  Grampie retired in 1980 as a Supervisor of Airfield Maintenance after a dedicated career at the Halifax Airport.  Most of us have heard stories and jokes surrounding his career, however very few of us ever really heard about another incredible aspect of my grandfather's life.  Ever since I can remember I was always told by others what an incredible unit the Devils Brigade was.  I remember seeing things on TV, hearing stories from my mother, but few of us ever heard the words or stories from Grampie. I was in elementary school when I was dreading yet another homework assignment, a history project.  Mom had suggested I go to Grampie's and see if he could show me a war medal (neither of us expecting what would happen when I showed up at his house that night).  I walked inside, marched over to the faithful corner of the kitchen counter where Grampie insured 'the Maid' always had cookies or some sort of treat for us.  We sat down and for the one and only time in my life I listened to Grampie talk about the war.  I'll always remember that conversation and the lessons it taught me, his dedication and desire to help others are qualities I aspire to.  Grampie has grandchildren spread across the country, each of us with our own special memories and characteristic's of him we'll always carry with us.  But if there's one thing we all have in common, I'm almost certain it's his appetite.  I remember when I was living here and volunteering as a firefighter, I was sitting in the station one day when the pager went off for a medical emergency at my grandfather's address.  Naturally I rushed to his house thinking the worst.  When I showed up I was greeted in the kitchen by the two paramedics, and Grampie sitting on his kitchen floor.  When I asked him what happened, he told me that he dropped a cookie on the floor and he fell.  I took a minute; looked around; and I just had to ask; "where's the cookie Grampie?  He looked back at me with that grin on his face we've all seen, and he calmly replied "well I had nothing else to do while I was down here, so I ate it".  As Grampie aged certain things began to change.  One of the most amazing vegetable gardens Shubenacadie has ever seen was seeded over, I began making weekly trips to his house to mow the grass, and he needed that little extra help getting into Aunt Nettie's house for those pool parties and Christmas dinners.  Although he may have changed physically, some things always stayed the same.  He loved to sit and talk about hunting, looking at pictures, or question me about the amount of trout I caught that spring.  When Grampie moved to Camp Hill for the remainder of his life, he quickly became one of the nurses favourite patients.  Although he grew up in Cherrybrook and may have occasionally been a little rough around the edges; he was a soft, caring, and compassionte man everyone grew to love;  so I guess some things never change.  There's countless memories I have of my grandfather, but I guess like Grampie I'm a little shy and a man of few words.  Unfortunately there's one large portion of Grampie's life I was never lucky enough to be a part of.  My grandmother Lorna (or Nanny Hartlen as I've always known) passed away in October 1988.  Even though I never got to meet her, I'll always remember the pictures of her and my grandfather that remained in his house until the day it was sold.  Although today we sit here in sadness and sorrow, we can take comfort in the fact that after 27 years, my grandparents are finally together again. I stand here today and ask everyone to cherish their memories, and celebrate the life of my grandfather, Frank Hartlen.  Thank you.

Mike, Charlene And family, so sorry to hear of the loss of Frank. Our thoughts are with you. Take care. Cora Pictou

Steve, Marie and all the rest of your family...so sorry to learn of your Dad's passing.  He was a wonderful man and the many memories you hold will help in your healing. Those of us lucky enough to have our parents until age 93 are truly blessed - I lost Mom in November, another 1921 baby.  Sincere condolences to all, Colleen Rector

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time.With the passing of your Beloved Father Frank to his "Eternal Rest".Frank was a very special friend to us.  Leo& Hazel Wagner

Mike, my condolences go to you and all your family in the loss of your Dad. He will always be with you, in the many happy memories he shared with you all.  Know that many thoughts and prayers are with you at this time of sorrow. 

Betty MacLean, Halifax

My condolences to Brother Hartlen's family - a 60 year member of the craft.
Ken Conrod - Treasurer Eastern Star Lodge #51

On behalf of the Warrant Officers and Sergeants of the West Nova Scotia Regiment, I extend our condolences on the loss of Frank.

Semper Fidelis

J.R. Mills
Chief Warrant Officer
Regimental Sergeant Major
West Nova Scotia Regiment

Stephen, Marie and family,
So sorry to read the sad news of your father's passing. Your memories will help you through this sad time. Cherish every one. Thinking of you all. May he rest in peace,
Ivy and Stephen Piercey

From one West Novie to another, Semper Fidelis Trooper, RIP thank you for your service and Bless your family at this time. WNSRRA

Janette,Michael,Stephen,Margaret,Denise and families.
Please accept our deepest sympathies in the loss of your father and grandfather. Sorry we are unable to attend the service and express our condolences personally as we are presently in Florida.
With love,Tom and Jewell Bateman.

I would like to express my condolences to the family of Frank Hartlin, who I knew many years ago and can still remember the happy times going there especially at Christmas parties with Frank and Lorna. A finer gentleman there never was. My name is Gary Leslie and I used to go there with Linda and Turp when I lived next door to them in the early seventies.

Deepest Sympathy from the Master, Officers and Brethren of Eastern Star Lodge #51 AF and AM Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia

We were sad to get news of uncle Frank's passing.  My memories of him will always be how much of a kind and indulging man he was.  We're sorry we cannot be there with you ito extend our sympathy.  God speed and blessings.

So sorry to hear of the passing of another West Nova soldier who served his country so well. RIP Frank. Semper Fidelis.

To the Hartlen Family,
On behalf of the West Nova Scotia Regiment Regimental Association, I offer our sincere sympathy on Frank's passing. His service to his country has not gone unnoticed. Semper Fidelis.
J. Ron Stonier,
Colonel (Retired)

Deepest condolences from Gordon Miller and family. Our thoughts are with you at this time of loss.

Hello to the Hartlem Family so sorry to hear of the Loss of your Farther Frank ,he was a great neighbor and a great Man ,I know when growing up in Shubenacadie that Frank was always Joking around and a Fun fellow to be around ,I remember sitting with him on the Front steps at your house when a Lighting storm was going on and Frank would always knew when and where the next Lighting strike would be ,and I always wondered how he would know this ,but by timing with his watch he would know this ,he will be always remembered and will be sadly missed .
                          Regards Jo Jo Cormier

Our sincere sympathy to the Hartlen Family in your loss.  Our thoughts are with you.  Marion and Angie Williams

Our deepest sympathy to all the family. You're in our thoughts.
God bless.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time. Frank was a hard worker and well respected by all who knew him.

Michael and Debbie sweet

So sorry for your loss.  Your Dad was a wonderful man and will be missed by you all.  Please accept our sincere sympathy at this time.   Johnny and Sandra (Butler) Oickle.

Margaret and Family, please accept my sincere condolences at this sad time. My thoughts and prayers are with you all

   Our thoughts and prayers are with you at this time of sorrow  Gary and Betty Oickle

Hartley family. Thinking of you at this sad time  take care Denise.  Kathy Rogers

Denise, Dougie and family,

I am sorry to hear about your dad. I'll be thinking about you and your family and know that "we" are forever thankful for his service during the war.

Michelle Anthony

OBITUARY

Frank Hartlen

9 December, 1921 – 15 March, 2015

Cruikshank’s Halifax Funeral Home

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