Saturday was the first day Bob and Linda (my brother and wife) had in their new home in Georgia. People back in Florida had so many good things to say about them on leaving that it sounded almost like they were being eulogized. Bob left the town council having served twice as mayor. The following tributes were reported in the Clay Today (4/6/11):
Though the atmosphere was relaxed and festive, the mood changed briefly at the end of Tuesday’s meeting when council members addressed Standifer for the first time in eight years as a private citizen.
"I can’t say enough about what a great job you’ve done, especially in these difficult times economically," Morgan said.
"You put your heart into everything you did," added Meeks, who referred to the former mayor as his friend and mentor. "There was no personal agenda in everything you did. It just doesn’t get any better than that."
"I can’t say anything," said Howard, his voice shaking with emotion. "Bob, you know how much you mean to me."
Their church in Jacksonville organized a special tribute for them. Bob and Linda had been active in many programs of the church. The sharp emotions remind me of when our family would be moved to a new church when I was a youngster. Often we would sing (or try to sing) the following hymn (If leaving friends and hometown isn’t death, it makes a pretty good trial run emotionally):
Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.
Before our Father’s throne
We pour our ardent prayers;
Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one
Our comforts and our cares.
We share each other’s woes,
Our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows
The sympathizing tear.
When we asunder part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again.
This glorious hope revives
Our courage by the way;
While each in expectation lives,
And longs to see the day.
From sorrow, toil and pain,
And sin, we shall be free,
And perfect love and friendship reign
Through all eternity.
John Fawcett, Hymns Adapted to the Circumstance of Public Worship (Leeds, England: 1782).
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