Posted by Rev Harry Crandall on July 30, 2010:

ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY THURSDAY IN EASTER WEEK 8 APRIL, 2010 THERE IS SIMPLY NO BETTER SEASON FOR COMPREHENDING THE SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF DYING THAN THE EASTER SEASON. AND SO IT IS WITH "RESURRECTION VISION" THAT WE GATHER TODAY TO CELEBRATE THE LIFE OF OUR DEAR FRIEND AND GREAT LOVER OF LIFE ...ERNEST BAILEY WILSON." ...ERNIE" FUNERALS ARE FOR THE LIVING AN OPPORTUNITY NOT ONLY TO SAY FAREWELL TO A FATHER, A FRIEND, A WEST POINT AND A PREP SCHOOL CLASSMATE; BUT A CHANCE TO REFLECT ON A LIFE LIVED..... SO THAT WE WHO ARE HERE TO PICK UP THE PIECES AND CONTINUE OUR JOURNEY MIGHT PROFIT FROM THE GLEANINGS, AS IT WERE,OF A LIFE COMPLETED.... I NEED TO SAY SEVERAL THINGS AT THE OUTSET THAT WILL HELP EXPLAIN WHERE I AM COMING FROM. FIRST IS THE PERSPECTIVE OF ALTITUDE WHEN ERNIE AND I WERE CADETS, MANY LONG YEARS AGO, MANY LONG YEARS AGO.... YOU WERE ASSIGNED TO COMPANYS OF THE CADET CORPS BASED ON HEIGHT. THE TALL, IMPOSING, IMPRESSIVE CADETS WERE QUARTERED TOGETHER....AND THEY DOMINATED INTRAMURAL ATHLETICS NOT NECESSARILY BECAUSE OF TALENT...BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY BECAUSE OF SHEER SIZE. ERNIE WAS ONE OF THOSE. I TELL YOU THIS BECAUSE ALTHOUGH ERNIE AND I WERE GREAT FRIENDS AND CLASSMATES AT BOTH THE ARMY'S PREP SCHOOL AND AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY I WAS......(IN THE VERNACULAR OF THOSE NOT HEIGHT CHALLENGED) A RUNT.... AND ERNIE, OF COURSE, WAS A FLANKER. AS WITH THE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM AMONG WOMEN, THAT BLONDS HAVE MORE FUN....WITH MALES...SIZE MATTERS. FLANKERS LOVE TO PHILOSOPHIZE THAT THERE IS SUCH A THING AS "THE RUNT COMPLEX" AND THEY WERE SO SUCCESSFUL IN PROMULGATING THIS THEORY THAT TODAY...... CADETS ARE NO LONGER QUARTERED OR ORDERED BY SIZE. WHICH MEANS, AT LEAST FROM MY VANTAGE POINT, THAT PARADES ARE NO LONGER AS IMPRESSIVE AT THE ACADEMY BECAUSE THE VISUAL PRESENTATION OF EVERY ONE APPEARING TO BE THE SAME HEIGHT IS GONE. ERNIE WAS A BOXER OF NO MEAN TALENT..A CORPS SQUAD LIGHT HEAVY WEIGHT BOXER WHOSE PROWESS AS A FIGHTER STOOD HIM IN GOOD STEAD IN RANGER SCHOOL AND LATER AS AN INFANTRY COMMANDER AND INSTRUCTOR AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY IN THE MILITARY PSYCHOLOGY AND LEADERSHIP DEPARTMENT. THE RUNT COMPLEX HAS BEEN POOH POOHED BY PSYCHIATRISTS....I REMAIN UNCONVINCED. THAT IS THE ERNIE WILSON I KNEW....THE GREAT BIG FRIENDLY BEAR OF A MAN WHO LOVED LIFE AND LIVED IT TO THE FULLEST... AN ARMY BRAT, LIKE MANY OF US, WHO MOVED WITH FAMILY EVERY TWO OR THREE YEARS WHETHER HE NEEDED TO OR NOT... WHO CONTINUED THIS NOMADIC LIFE AFTER GRADUATION. WE ALSO REMEMBER THAT WE ARE SAYING FAREWELL TO AN HONORED SOLDIER WHO SERVED HIS COUNTRY WELL. A HOLDER OF THE COMBAT INFANTRY BADGE, THE SILVER STAR, AND TWO BRONZE STARS FOR VALOR AND A FELLOW SCREAMING EAGLE FROM OUR EARLIEST DAYS IN THE ARMY. A CHRISTIAN WHO STRUGGLED TO BE BOTH THE WARRIOR HE WAS TRAINED TO BE AND THE PEACEMAKER HE WAS CALLED TO BE.....WHEN THE SMOKE OF WAR CLEARED. IT IS NOT AN EASY TASK OR A SIMPLE LIFE TO LIVE. ERNIE LIVED AND LOVED WITH AN INTENSITY THAT WAS OFTEN TOUGH TO DEAL WITH......REMINISCENT OF A POEM WE STUDIED IN PLEBE YEAR WRITTEN BY EDNA ST VINCENT MILLAY. WE COULD NOT APPRECIATE THEN HOW PRESCIENT IT WOULD BECOME: "MY CANDLE BURNS AT BOTH ENDS; IT WILL NOT LAST THE NIGHT; BUT, AH, MY FOES, AND, OH, MY FRIENDS..... IT GIVES A LOVELY LIGHT." AFTER RETIREMENT FROM THE ARMY, ERNIE LIVED LIFE IN THE FAST LANE AS A MOST POPULAR AND SUCCESSFUL REALTOR... HE LIVED ON A LOVELY SPIT OF LAND BETWEEN SAN FRANCISCO BAY AND THE PACIFIC OCEAN. HE WAS AS MUCH A WEST COAST KIND OF GUY AS I AM AN EAST COAST KIND OF GUY.... I LIVE ON A LOVELY SPIT OF LAND BETWEEN THE CHESAPEAKE BAY AND THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. WE ARE ALL CAPTIVE OF OUR OWN TIMES AND OUR OWN PLACES WHICH IS WHY LIFE CAN BECOME SO DIFFICULT WHEN CHANGING CULTURAL NORMS AND TECHNOLOGY BEGIN TO MAKE US OBSOLESCENT. WHEN ERNIE ASKED ME TO PRESIDE HERE TODAY IT WAS FOR ME A LIFE CHANGING BOLT FROM THE BLUE. REN HART, ERNIE'S WEST POINT ROOMATE AND LASTING FRIEND EMAILED THE REQUEST.....I TALKED BRIEFLY ABOUT ERNIE'S LAST YEARS WITH REN AND HIS DEVOTED CAREGIVER MARTY WICKENHEISER, WHOM I MET HERE TODAY FOR THE FIRST TIME. SHE WAS A GODSEND FOR ERNIE. TWO YEARS AGO, ERNIE ADOPTED MARTY'S DAUGHTER, LINDSEY, SHE JOINS ERNIE'S OWN DAUGHTERS NANCY, JENNIFER AND TRACY. I HOPE EACH OF YOU HERE TODAY WILL TAKE SOME TIME TO SHARE WITH ERNIE'S GIRLS AND THEIR FAMILIES YOUR MEMORIES...YOUR STORIES OF ERNIE...SO THAT HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND EXPLOITS WILL LIVE ON. IT IS A MARVELOUS WAY OF MAKING PRESENT THE MAN WE ALL REMEMBER. AFTER A TIME OF PERSONAL REFLECTION AND SOUL SEARCHING.... CONTEMPLATING THE HONOR AND THE RESPONSIBILITY OF ERNIE'S REQUEST..... I TALKED WITH ERNIE HIMSELF....BUT ONLY ONCE. OVER THE TELEPHONE, HE SOUNDED STRONG AND UPBEAT AS I REMEMBERED HIM BEING....BUT IT WAS AN ILLUSION.... WITHIN A FEW DAYS HE WAS GONE. AND ERNIE IS NOW IN THE HANDS OF THE LOVING GOD OF WHOM JESUS SAID: "ALL THAT THE FATHER GIVES ME WILL COME TO ME, AND THE MAN WHO COMES TO ME I WILL NEVER TURN AWAY.......IT IS HIS WILL THAT I SHOULD NOT LOSE EVEN ONE OF ALL THAT HE HAS GIVEN ME, BUT RAISE THEM ALL UP ON THE LAST DAY." THERE IS MUCH TO BE LEARNED FROM THE LIFE OF THIS FRIENDLY, OUTGOING AND LOVING MAN. THERE IS A PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE THAT ADVOCATES FOR PLAYING THINGS SAFE. IT HAS MANY DISCIPLES.... THOSE WHO AVOID RISKS AND SELDOM CHOOSE THE HARDER RIGHT WHEN THE EASIER WRONG CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED (TO PARAPHRASE THE CADET PRAYER). SUCH THINKING WAS ANATHEMA FOR ERNIE. ERNIE WAS A RISK TAKER IN THE MOLD OF JESUS' PARABLE OF THE TALENTS...WHICH PRAISED THE INITIATIVE OF THOSE WHO INVESTED THEIR MASTER'S "TALENTS" AND REBUKED THOSE WHO SIMPLY PUT EVERYTHING IN A SAFE DEPOSIT BOX AND HOPED FOR THE BEST. ERNIE RISKED MUCH IN HIS LIFE THE NEAREST LITERARY CHARACTER I CAN COMPARE HIM TO IS PETER PAN....THE BEAUTIFUL AND MAGICAL YOUNG BOY WHO NEVER REALLY GREW UP...BUT LOOKED AT LIFE AS AN ADVENTURE: FILLED WITH PIRATES AND CROCODILES... FRIENDS AND CO-CONSPIRATORS... AND THE ABILITY TO FLY. ERNIE LOVED LIFE. HE COULDN'T IMAGINE LIMITATIONS AND OFTEN DISREGARDED THE REALITY OF CONSEQUENCES....AND THERE WERE, AS THERE ALWAYS ARE....CONSEQUENCES. AS I STUDIED HOMILETICS IN SEMINARY, I PREACHED ON MANY OCCASIONS BEFORE MY PEERS AND I CAN STILL HEAR THE VOICE OF MY MENTOR ASKING "WHAT'S YOUR ONE LINER? IN OTHER WORDS, IF YOU HAD TO SUM UP IN ONE SENTENCE OR PHRASE WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO SAY.....WHAT IS IT YOU WANT LISTENERS TO REMEMBER? WHAT IS THE GOOD NEWS? TODAY, IF ASKED WHAT MY ONE LINER IS IN THIS HOMILY, I WOULD ANSWER WITH A QUOTE FROM THE ORATION OF TEDDY KENNEDY AT HIS BROTHER ROBERT'S FUNERAL: "LOVE IS NOT AN EASY FEELING TO PUT INTO WORDS. NOR IS LOYALTY, NOR TRUST OR JOY. BUT HE WAS ALL OF THESE. HE LOVED LIFE COMPLETELY AND LIVED IT INTENSELY." FAREWELL MY FRIEND. MY LIFE IS RICHER FOR HAVING KNOWN YOU AND LEARNED FROM YOU AND PRAYED WITH YOU.

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