Memorial Services for Henry Visser June 19, 1987 Murray 8th ward
I'm including this information on this blog because it has so many details about the Visser family
Reading:
Should you go first and I remain To walk the road alone,
I'll live in memory's garden, dear, With happy days we've known.
In Spring I'll watch for roses red, When fades the lilac blue,
In early Fall when brown leaves call I'll catch a glimpse of you.
Should you go first and I remain For battles to be fought,
Each thing you've touched along the way Will be a hallowed spot.
I'll hear your voice, I'll see your smile, Though blindly I may grope,
The memory of your helping hand Will buoy me on with hope.
Should you go first and I remain To finish with the scroll,
No length'ning shadows shall creep in To make this life seem droll.
We've known so much of happiness, We'be had our cup of joy,
And memory is one gift of God That death cannot destroy.
Should you go first and I remain, One thing I'd have you do:
Walk slowly down that long, lone path, For soon I'll follow you.
I'll want to know each step you take, That I may walk the same,.
For some day down that lonely road, You'll hear me call--your name.
Speaker: Julius Visser:
Friends, family, loved ones, it is with mixed emotions that I stand here today to try to express my thoughts, and the thoughts of my brother, Henry, to you as family, especially after These lovely ladies took part of my speech, and I'd like to pay a dear tribute to my brother, Henry. He is one of four sons of Mathew and Amelia Visser, the fifth child born into the family.
We've had many choice days together as young brothers. memories that will now pass away unless someone in the family writes a record. So we have come to another intersection in our life; the crossroads, and each and every one of us have the opportunity to choose which way to go. That was one of the greatest gifts that our Heavenly Father gave to each of us-The gift of free agency. To choose for ourselves what we want, and what we want to make our lives. Not only in this mortal life, but in the eternities to come.
Let me start by trying to follow the outline that I have, and I'm going to read the last verse, "should I Go First." You've heard it just sung.
Should you go first and I remain, One thing I'd have you do;
Walk slowly in that long, lone path, For soon I'll follow you.
I'll want to know each step you take That I may walk the same,
For someday down that lonely road You'll hear me call your name.
And for a lot of us that are here today, as I look into your faces, it won't be very long as time passes rapidly.
Lola asked me to give a sort of life history of Henry to the best of my memory. I'll try to do that. Dad and Mom moved from Salt Lake City out into Sandy area and homesteaded a little piece of ground out there where all of kids were born and raised, except John, the oldest boy. My oldest brother was born in Sal Lake city. The rest were born at home. We were all delivered by Dr. Born, that as at home, the give of us. Didn't have hospitalization at that time: the closest hospital was in Salt Lake at that time.
He was born on September 29, 1925, and the address was Star Route at that time which was on 17th East and about 9550 South. There were only eight families that lived in that area from, with my memory chuch goes back a few years, 1918 about until 1972- Eight families that lived within an area of about four or five square miles each way. And the life that we lived we made for ourselves. Most of the time it was diggin an existence out of the farm to live. We all had our responsibilities as the sisters know. Dad and Mom had moved out there with a little four-room frame house, had chickens and pigs, some sheep and some cows. And that was a good living in those days because all you got was what you could eat and a few clothes to wear. When we started school, we each got a pair of new overalls, two shirts, and a pair of Boy Scout shoes. I know some of you have never heard of Boy Scout shoes, but some of you might remember. And that was usually our clothing for the year to go to school. Each Saturday Mom would wash the clothes, and we'd have clean clothes for the following week. And when we got old enough we went to school down in old Sandy, and we had the opportunity of riding a school wagon with a team of horses on the front, and in the wintertime it was a bob sleigh. Tom Kelly was the, what they call the bus driver now.
We had a lot of happy times going back and forth to school. We'd play and run along side the wagon and the bob sleigh we'd get in the wintertime, and we'd slide underneath in the back. We enjoyed our life as young boys and girls. And on December 7, 1943, Henry enlisted into the Marine Corp and fought in the Southern Pacific for 26th months. He was in some serious battles--Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima. A lot of you have seen some of the films and know the battles that were fought for our freedom. Yes, he had many close calls with death.
Henry and I talked just before he came out of the hospital this last time for some span of time. The doctors told him his time was short. Said we could extend your life for maybe three weeks, three months, maybe six months, if your wanted to take chemotherapy and the other treatments to cook your body. And as he sat in the doctors office and meditated for a span of time, he had seen his other brothers suffer. They both, John and Dick, died "Can you keep me comfortable without too much pain and let me drift away?" That was his personal choice. The doctor said we can do that if that's what you would like. That was about three weeks before he passed away.
As we came home, I'm going to tell you a choice experience that I had with him. Henry never had much of an opportunity to learn of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and he had been meditating for a few days and I came in by his bedside. Lola was out working in the yard, trying to get some peace of mind. And he said,Brother Jude, what's going to happen to me? Where am I going? Do I have to lay in that grave for years and years and years?" And that opened the door to tell him of the plan of salvation that our Heavenly Father so gratefully gave each and evyone of us an opportunity to know.
I told him, in the beginning, Henry you and I, all of us, had a Heavenly Mother and Heavenly Father and there we were raised in their presence, just as we were raised in our mother and father's presence. We grew to maturity in the heavens with our heavenly parents. As we grew older we noticed tthat they had bodies different than ours so we asked our Heavenly Father, can I have a body lie yours? And he told each and every one of us that he would provide a world for us that we may inherit the immortal body. That's when the earth was created. So our elder brother, Jesus Christ, and Michael, who is also our brother known as Adam, under the direction of our Heavenly Father created this world for each and every one of us to live on. And when that seventh dispensations it took to create this world for each and every one of us to live on. And when that seventh dispensations it took to create the earth was finished, he placed Adam on the earth, our first earthly parents, all of us are related to Adam and Eve. They were the beginning of this generation. And time went on and all the bodies that were created by Adam and Eve's posterity gave you and I, they were our first earthly parents, as you are the earthly parents of you sons and daughters and you young people will be parents of more spirit children of our Heavenly Father who will come to this earth before it's complete.
So I told Henry that you are now in your second estate. You inherited eternal life from your Heavenly Father which He gave so graciously for you that you may progress in the heavens above in the eternities to come. You've inherited a mortal body and you have raised a choice family- you and your wife as a unit, and if you accept the gospel of Jesus Christ and are sealed and married for time and all eternity, you will then live as a family forever. If you do not do that, you will be administering angels to the others.
Henry was born under the covenant of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is sealed to his mother and father. His spirit is still with us today, and it will remain until his body is laid in the grave so that when his day, appointed time of resurrection, comes to him, he will come and raise that body and become an immortal person reunited body and spirit the same as the Savior, Jesus Christ did when he laid in the tomb and his spirit went to Paradise to the spirit children that were in prison that had never had the opportunity to receive the gospel and there he went. That was the appointed assignment by his Heavenly Father to open the graves of resurrection so that everyone good or bad who came to this earth will be resurrected. That's a free gift that the Savior did for you and I.
As I told Henry the story, peace came to his heart and to his mind. He said, and where will I go? I said, Mom or Dad John or Dick will come, take you by the hand and there you will be led to your eternal home in Paradise until the appointed time comes to receive your body again and become a resurrected being. And he said I can accept that. I told him I promised him through all the power of the priesthood and the love as a brother that this would happen. The Prophet Joseph Smith was privileged to open the veil and see into the heavens. You and I can do that if we could live honorable life-a life without sin. The veil is very, very thin. The spirit that has gone before according to the writings of Joseph Fielding Smith, one of the prophets of our Heavenly Father, had that opportunity of seeing into the eternities, and he wrote it down for us to read and to understand and to enlighten our knowledge. It's a sorrowful life for people that don't understand the plan of salvation. Death is but a parting of moment to us. We all must sacrifice for each other and for ourselves, our families, I mean, just as the Savior scarificed his life for you and I to receive resurrection.
I'm glad I'm the first speaker 'cause I can take all the time I want. So Henry then understood and knew what laid ahead of him, and he after his few hours of time will go to his earthly parents who lve in paradise and will be reunited with them. Living there without sorrow, without pain, without suffering, and you and I will receive that same thing. From Thereon depends on what we do here in mortality to what degree of glory we receive after that.
Lola asked me to give a little outline of my parents, your parents, grandparents, and great grandparents, Mathew Visser. Grandpa Visser what we found out in 1972, the kind of a life that was of a kind of a man that he was made me very proud of him. My sisters and brothers don't know really the kind of a man that he was. I have a letter here that he wrote to his first wife. He lived in Holland. There married his first wife a gal by the name of Skelton and had three children. The Mormon elders found dad and introduced the gospel to him and he liked what he heard. He was one of the choice spirits in our Heavenly Father's presence also, that accepted the gospel when he came to mortal life and heard it. I'll read a part of it. It tells of how he really felt about his children. How Henry feels about his children and his grandchildren and how I feel. I love my children. Family is the only thing that is worthwhile in this life. You may get riches, lands, and whatever, but it is only yours to use. It belongs to our Heavenly Father. And he left the old country and came to Utah to see what the Prophet Brigham Young had built. And this is his letter to his first wife, he just came to see what it was like and wanted to back to get his family and bring them to Utah to live with the Saints.
It goes like this: "received your letter Saturday and then I understood that you do not plan to come here at least so it seemed. Anyway the content of your letter was that you were not coming. It doesn't seem right to me that a woman who pledge to love a man and who won't follow him, but it was to be expected because you wouldn't move to Dorcrecht and that was so close by. You wrote concerning the money from the pigs, and we shall let that remain as it is. I give the house, all the furniture, and you are free to do with it what you will. You can take the children to my sister, and I will send the necessary money for their education. Be careful that you do not harm them in any way. If you do, because your punishment is close at hand. The talk of the people there in Graysdell leaves me cold. I am far enough away that I don't hear it. You need not write to me again because I won't write you again. I have struggled with you for many years. I think it is long enough. You have teased me enough. Before we were married I asked you if you would serve God as much as possible, but you soon forgot your promise. And the last few years you have tried to pull me away also from the gospel. Therefore, it is better that we end this struggle because if you did come here, it would only begin again and it would be worse than before. I've warned you enough when I was there and also in letters so that you can never say when you stand before the great judge that you did not know. You shall then hear that you rejected the truth and thenit will be very terrible for you. I ask you once again to repent for the last time, and also that you do not let the children whom I received from my Heavenly Father grow up and be wild because they shall judge you and say, Mother, it is your fault that we are not by our father in heavens, and now we must forever stay here by the devil and his angels. That shall be terrible for you to be so judged for your own children. I cannot stop without once again calling you, cast the devil out of your heart and let the good spirit dwell therein. Then there is for you as well as for all of us, still a hoe for the future. Greet the children for their father and tell them they shall sometime be nearby me because my Heavenly Father shall not leave me here un-comforted, and now farewell for this world. Hereafter I shall see you again, maybe in glory if I remain true. And you in sorrow, if you do not repent. So goodbye children, Dad shall pray for you. If you can't see it, he can't see you. Once again I shall put my arms around you and then we shall never be separated again."
That was the kind of man your grandfather was. He loved his children. he came to Salt Lake City and returned. After two or three years he met our mother and raised a second family. Henry was one of these boys.
I hope that these children and grandchildren can be proud of Henry. I hope that you do not mar the name that he left you. Be proud of who you are. The Lord loves each and every one of us. He wants us to come back into His presence and live with our Heavenly Father and our Heavenly Mother forever in joy and happiness
May this be our happy lot for all of us, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen
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