MEMORIAL SERVICE

OPENING WORDS: Mark DeWolfe underwent a long illness before dying. When close to death, he wrote these words:

"Know that the love which blooms inside you is stronger than fear, for people who love, find strength they didn't know they had.

“Know that the love inside you is stronger than illness, for people who love hang in there when physical health is gone.

“And know that love is indeed stronger than death, for people who love are like stones tossed into a pool. Their love continues to radiate out and echoes back long after they are gone."

Those words so aptly describe Tom Hahn whose life we celebrate and whose passing we honor.

We gather this afternoon here by this flowing river to celebrate Thomas F. Hahn, who sailed on waters far and near:

“For every thing there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die…a time to weep, and a time to laugh…a time to mourn, and a time to dance…for every thing there is a season.”

Some people come to Florida and after being here a while, complain that there are no seasons of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter, which others of us would say is kind of the point for coming to Florida. Tom was born in Topeka, Kansas in 1926 and literally traveled all over the world, and experienced all kinds of weather and clime. But he chose to spend his final years here in Florida.

And in between 1926 and 2007, he had an incredible life. Let me give you a brief insight to just four arenas in which he excelled, but not too many of us are aware of. First, Tom’s education:

He graduated from Topeka, Kansas High School, where he is listed in their Hall of Fame. He then enrolled at Kansas University in the College of Engineering. He was in the symphony orchestra, the band, on the track team, an active member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity and the Phi Mu Alpha Music Fraternity, and member of the Methodist Church choir. He enlisted in the United States Navy at Kansas City, Missouri on 6 October 1943.

Later, he attended the University of Texas, at Austin, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree. As a part of his naval intelligence training and language immersion, he attended the following graduate schools:

He was fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese, Japanese, Bulgarian, Russian, German, French, Spanish, and perhaps several others.

In the Navy, he rose from seaman to Ensign; certified as a Russian Interpreter and Russian Translator; member Armed Forces Security Agency; Commissioned Lieutenant (junior grade); promoted to Lieutenant Commander; selected for Special Duty Only in cryptology; special Projects Officer/ Special Intelligence Officer, Far East Area, National Security Agency; Alternate Member for NSA on the Unites States Intelligence Board (USIB) Committee of Overhead Reconnaissance (COMOR); February 1961, Commendation from the Central Intelligence Agency; October 1962 Commendation again from the Central Intelligence Agency; in 1964, promoted to Commander; in 1968, promoted to Captain, U.S. Navy.

How many remember the Gulf of Tonkin Incident that led to justification for the Vietnam War? Tom received the Legion of Merit Medal for service in the Gulf of Tonkin at that time.

He received an Air Medal for Reconnaissance Missions as Aerial Observer, against North Vietnam and China (1965-1966). He received the Secretary of the Navy Commendation Medal Combat Action Ribbon, plus some 12 other medals.

But it was not all drudgery. While in the Mediterranean, he cites with pictures, the presence of Prince Phillip as the Commanding Officer of a British Ship…dancing with Rita Hayworth…flirting with Elizabeth Taylor…getting a French friend elected as Miss Riviera of 1950…the presence of Gregory Taylor at the filming of one of the Hornblower movies…a confrontation with Errol Flynn and his yacht, being detained in Damascus by the secret police – as he remarked, “these were among the things that made life hum in the Mediterranean.”

Then he left the Navy and became an Industrial Archaeologist. He was on the Civil Service Register as a GS-15. His dissertation was on the history of concrete. He was a Management Assistant for Canals, George Washington Parkway, National Park Service, Washington, District of Columbia; a Supervisory Ranger Chesapeake & Ohio Canal; Contractor/Consultant in Industrial Archaeology for such canals as the Illinois & Michigan Canal (Illinois), Blackstone Canal (Massachusetts), Industrial Canals at Patterson, New Jersey; Potomac Canal (Great Falls, Virginia), Susquehanna & Tidewater Canal. He was the author of books on historical transportation and industrial archaeology; one of which sold more than 200,000 copies.

He was also an Indian – a member of the Kansas Delaware Indian. He was elected their chief, and was also a shaman. He was a major force in a successful federal lawsuit reimbursing the Delaware Indians for lands taken and never paid for.

In some of his Internet correspondence, I found this message from a Delaware Indian friend:

I never met Tom Hahn. But for the past 8 years we were online friends. When I had my mastectomy in 2006 I wore a leather necklace with a small pouch holding red & white Indian love beads, a gift to me by Tom. I was plodding along on some colorless, invisible road when he helped me to see there can be color, trees and clouds or anything else I want or need to see along this path life is guiding me. Thank you Tom for your gift of friendship.

Last Sunday, Amanda Evans, whose back yard we’re in, told our kids and congregation of an interaction with Tom. It seems that her cat of many years became very sick. So Amanda and her daughter Mallory took the cat to the vet one Friday, where it stayed overnight. And much the same as with us when we go to the hospital, there were needles and bandages, especially on the cat’s right paw.

The next Sunday morning, Amanda came to services, but Mallory stayed home with the cat, which still had a bandage on its right foot where the needles had been injected. At the services, Tom came up to Amanda and asked for Mallory. He had something he wanted to give her: It was a glass figurine cat. Tom apologized though, because the little cat’s right front paw was broken.

Tom was exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam, which may have contributed to his lung problems. Regardless, he fought a long and hard battle to breathe. On the day that he died, I visited him again in the morning around 11 a.m. He went through a process of hand signs that I didn’t recognize until Elaine Cusic realized he wanted a sip of water. One he had the water, he said four times as forcefully as possible: Die. He wanted the pain, the suffering, the debilitation to end. His wish was granted that afternoon.

APPLICATION

So what do we take away from this service of memorial to Tom? We take our memories of his indomitable courage. We take his innate sense of humor. We take his inner wisdom. And we take the love for so many people here and around the world that we were recipients of as well.

I read of a skydiving instructor who was going through a question and answer period with his new students. One of them asked the question that most of us would want to ask in that situation. She said, "If my chute doesn't open, how long do I have until I hit the ground?"

Whether skydiving or not, that answer is true for all of us wherever we are in living. How long does each of us have to live? the rest of our lives. We just don’t know how long that will be.

On of the lessons that a long life teaches us – and Tom did have four score plus years of life – is that life and death are not two different realities but actually two sides of the same coin. As the ancient Chinese religion of Taoism teaches us, life and death are not great cosmic forces struggling against each other, but instead they are in rhythmic harmony, each giving balance to the other.

We come into the world in much the same way that a leaf comes out of the tree. There are so many branches, and directions and heights. The tiny leaf is connected not only to all the other leaves and twigs and trunk, but also the deep rich roots, which anchor the tree. Life on the tree has many dimensions, and such a wide range of possibilities.

And when a leaf falls from the tree, it doesn’t fall off the planet as much as it takes on a different form on the planet. As Werner von Braun, the great German scientist who led much of our fledgling NASA program at one time, said, “The Universe does not know extinction…only transformation.”

We bless the birth, the life, the death, and the transformation of Chief Strong Swiftwater, U.S. Navy Captain Tom Hahn, Archaeologist Dr. Thomas Hahn, a husband, and father, and to us, a friend, always known as just plain Tom.

Some 1800 or so years ago, the philosopher king and Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius had been forced to go to the battlefield. Rome was being attacked from within by a vibrant new faith, known as Christianity. And on the northern front the barbarians were proving to be a formidable foe.

Nonetheless, each night after the day’s battle, Aurelius took quill and parchment and reflected on life and living. They’re what we now know as the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. But the battles were taking their toll, and Aurelius was not well. One night he realized he could write no more, so he penned this last meditation from Book 12, number 36 (which I’ve adapted for our memorial service in honor of Tom):

CLOSING WORDS: These are our words of benediction, which come from the words of Carl Sandburg: “Loosen your hands Let go and say good-bye. Let the stars and songs go. LeT the faces and years go. Loosen your hands and say goodbye.”

[1] Memorial sermon given May 30, 2007 for Tom Hahn, conducted at the home of Dr. Amanda Evans, 1307 Driftwood Drive, N. Ft. Myers, FL, with the Rev. Dr. Wayne Robinson , minister, All Faiths Unitarian Congregation, officiating.