CREMATION SERVICE OF ELIZABETH CORNELIA VAN DER BERG LATE OF PROTEA RETIREMENT VILLAGE, THE WILLOWS BORN: 28 FEBRUARY 1925 DIED: 4 FEBRUARY 1998 ********** The service will be conducted by Rev. D. Buwalda at the Glen Methodist Church, Garsfontein on Tuesday 10 February 1998 at 12h00. ********** ********** TRIBUTE BARRY ROBINSON ********** PALL BEARERS AT THE CHURCH Charmaine Robinson (Granddaughter) Shane Wolff (Grandson) Charne van der Berg (Granddaughter) Ronald van der Berg (Grandson) Kevin Robinson (Grandson) Justine Wolff (Granddaughter) ********** ********** THE CREMATION WILL TAKE PLACE PRIVATELY ********** | AMAZING GRACE Amazing grace! How sweet the sounds that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see. 'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils and snares, I hae already come. 'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home. The Lord has promised good to me, his word my hope secures. He will my shield and portion be, as long as life endures. THE LORD'S MY SHEPHERD The Lord's my shepherd, I'llnot want, He makes me down to lie In pastures green. He leadeth me The quiet waters by. My soul He doth restore again, And me to walk doth make Within the paths of righteousness, E'en for His own name's sake. Yea, though I walk in death's dark vale, Yet will I fear no ill. For Thou art with me, and Thy rod And staff me comfort still. My table Thou hast furnished In presence of my foes, My head Thou doest with oil anoint, And my cup overflows. Goodness and mercy all my life Shall surely follow me. And in God's house for evermore My dwelling-place shall be. |
10 February 1998 I thank Vivien, Vaughn and Linda for allowing me the extreme privilege of paying tribute to Mom, to Elizabeth Cornelia van der Berg, to Bets - wife of the late Ronald van der Berg. To ma, to gran, to Coetzee, friend, confidant, all rolled together to make... Betty van der Berg. This tribute is directed mainly at Vivien, Vaughn, Linda, Charmaine, Shane, Charne, Kevin, Ronald, Justine and Claire - but I am sure that many of you will identify with and accept as belonging to you what I will say. Please forgive me if I don't mention by name the many who were so wonderful especially over the last 6/7 weeks as I would be bound to forget someone and that would be very unfair and unkind. What was mom like? Who was this very dignified lady? She was different things to different people... often very different things to herself. She was not unlike a giant puzzle with many parts... each part being integral to the whole... if one part was missing it wouldn't be Betty. But unlike a puzzle she was very uncomplicated, plain, direct, simple... in the very best sense. At the hub was her God... I will never forget how early one morning at about a 1/4 to 7 a couple of weeks ago... exactly how long ago I can't remember... the last few weeks just seemed to roll together into one exhaustive haze... I walked into her room at No. 1 Military Hospital... Ma was propped up in bed her hands raised to heaven praising God telling Him just how wonderful He was... Her face literally shone as she said things like... "Jesus I didn't know how wonderful you are. You're so good to me..." and here she was critically ill, wracked with pain... yet unbelievable in her worship of God. That same morning she asked : "Barry, am I going to die? Because I love my children so much, I want to be there for my grandchildren, I want to be at their weddings." At the corners of her puzzle were her husband, whose death she never got over - she missed him terribly - and her children : Vivien, Vaughn and Linda. Woven into the other parts, inextricably so, were her 7 grandchildren. The other parts of Betty van der Berg : what were they made of? Tremendous loyalty, love, caring, of course some hurts, regrets, loads of fun... she loved a good joke... compassion, propriety, her own rigorous sets of rules of do's and don'ts, honour, dignity, unbearable sense of loss following Dads' death, an infectious laugh, boldness, and many, many precious moments. You may be thinking... Barry, you make her sound like a saint, as though she were perfect. In the biblical sense she was a saint, she had recomitted her life to Jesus, had asked extensively for forgiveness and had forgiven unconditionally. But no! Mom was not perfect. She had her faults... some parts of her puzzle had some very rough edges but they were all part of the puzzle that made the whole, and that whole presenting the complete Betty van der Berg was a beautiful picture, the different hues and moods flowing together to present a glorious sunrise, a magnificent day, and to us, a very sad sunset. We don't judge her faults. Jesus expressly forbad us to judge others. We just remember her goodness. Remember how the Scribes and Pharisees brought the sinful woman to Jesus?... and Jesus said : He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. As for me I personally would also sneak away as those Scribes and Pharisees did. Also, mothers among you... when you think back to the birth of your children you don't remember or harp on the pains in child-birth - but you glory in the beauty that you brought forth. All of us are here today to say goodbye to Betty, we are here because, in some way, she was precious to us all. Each of us have our own Album of Memories of mom... of Betty van der Berg... each one unique and precious memories. And... in time... as we allow our minds to page through our own personalised albums we will doubtless be moved, sometimes laugh, sometimes cry, maybe wishful some things had been different, sometimes regreful that we'd been denied certain expectancies, some unfinished dream, but each one personal, private, to be cherished, treasured, rememberd with love, and jealously guarded yet at times longing to share what she meant to us. Tears are not a sign of weakness, but of love - Jesus wept - and we will undoubtedy and selfishly shed tears for mom because we love her and will miss her terribly. But we know she is happy now without pain, without suffering, at peace because the Bible tells us in the book of Revelation that the Father Himself wipes away our tears. Finally, we rejoice and take courage in the fact that according to Genesis we who are Christians according to Romans chapeter 10 will be united with our loved ones who have preceeded us to heaven. Bye mom, and thanks for all you did and were. |
