I almost just deleted this one, but then I read it. It reminded me of some important things and I thought maybe you would enjoy it also. Originally posted Nov. 4, 2007. I received an email from his family telling me that it was read at his funeral.
Virgil died November 3, 2007, from what appeared to me to be a very quick disease. According to what I have been able to read on his MyFamily.com web site, he went in to the hospital on November 1st because of a Hiatal hernia and elevated blood pressure. By 10:00 p.m. on November 3d he had passed on. He was 75 years old.
A few years back I was kind of testing the waters on some genealogical information and found that much of my family was already recorded on at least one of the most popular web sites for such. When I looked to see who had submitted it I came across this unknown person: Virgil C. Law. I contacted Virgil and was very pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome that I received. After doing a little checking we discovered that his Great Great Grandfather and my Great Grandfather were the same person. I don’t know exactly how that works out for # cousins, maybe something like 5th or 6th, but cousins none the less. Virgil spent his life as a Pastor primarily associated with theWesleyan Church
A few years back I was kind of testing the waters on some genealogical information and found that much of my family was already recorded on at least one of the most popular web sites for such. When I looked to see who had submitted it I came across this unknown person: Virgil C. Law. I contacted Virgil and was very pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome that I received. After doing a little checking we discovered that his Great Great Grandfather and my Great Grandfather were the same person. I don’t know exactly how that works out for # cousins, maybe something like 5th or 6th, but cousins none the less. Virgil spent his life as a Pastor primarily associated with the
Why am I writing this tribute to a man I never personally met? Because I think there are some life lessons we can learn from what I knew about Virgil.
I liked Virgil. Why? Because I think Virgil liked me. And why do I think he liked me? Because he acted like he liked me. You may be looking at this and shaking your head and saying, what is this guy talking about? Virgil had some traits similar to my father, (They would have been one step closer on the cousin line. Maybe it’s a family trait). Both my father and Virgil seemed to be genuinely curious about people, and genuinely interested in them. Most (I’d guess 99.99999999%) people are mostly interested in themselves, even very good people like my dad and Virgil. It stands to reason that if you show an interest in people, and you find their good points, they are going to think that you are a really nice person and we all like a “really nice person”.
When I first contacted Virgil, he made it clear that he was glad I contacted him. He invited me to his family web site and opened up his family and his life to me. He joined in our family web site, and contributed. We exchanged many emails. In some of those emails I told him some of my thoughts and beliefs and shared some personal things with him. He never made me feel that I needed to apologize or be embarrassed. He always made me feel like what I thought or felt or did was important. On my birthday and my wife’s and my anniversary Virgil took a few minutes to send an email to remind us that we were important to him. When I posted items in our or his family web site he took the time to read them and make supporting comments. The more I visited his family web site the more it was clear that everyone was important to him. He loved to post photos and stories of every little detail of his family members’ lives. What they were doing and where they were and it was always done with love and without apology. He genuinely cared about people. Virgil had a true Christ like love for everyone around him. His interest was out more than in. In many ways he appeared to epitomize the principle of Charity. “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these [is] charity.” 1 Corinthians 13:13
As we mourn the passing of this great man, a Christian man, who not only believed in Jesus Christ, but tried to emulate Him, perhaps we can take some time to reflect on how we can, like him, be a true Christian. Perhaps we can see how reaching out with true charity and love can bless others’ lives and bring happiness to them and ourselves.
I never got to meet Virgil face to face and yet I will miss him. I look forward to the day when I can meet him.
May God bless him and his family and the many many people who, like me, feel a void in their lives because he is gone, for now.
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