Dear Stokes Family,
Although we don't know each other, I had the privilege to enjoy working with Dallas for years. I am thinking of you and sending all the Light and Love to give you strength and comfort when this pain is so raw.
Below is a reading by Canon Henry Scott Holland (1847-1918) that gave me solace and comfort when I was faced with the sudden loss of my husband. I hope that the words will offer you the same.
"Death is nothing at all, I have only slipped away into the next room. I am I, and you are you, whatever we were to each other we are still.
Call me by my old familiar name, speak to me in the easy way which we always used. Put no difference into your tone, wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was, let it be spoken without effort, without a trace of shadow in it.
Life means all that it ever meant; it is the same as it ever was; there is absolute unbroken continuity.
What is death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner. All is well…"
With my sympathy & love,
Deborah
