Verna L Luttrell 1926-2010

It's undeniable that my Grandma Verna was loved by so many who knew her. As a child, I remember that everywhere we went, she knew people. She was always running into former students, and they were so happy to see her.

My Grandma Verna was a big part of my childhood. She taught me about conservation, energy efficiency and the difference between a want and a need. She taught me to stand my ground, and hang onto what's important. She pointed out what it meant to be idealistic. She told me to treat myself once a week. She taught my Mother how to cook when my parents got married, and for that and much more, I was given her middle name. I have her nose, her eyes, her stature, and her metabolism. She told me once that I reminded her of her Mother, which I took to be an enormous compliment.

I think the most important thing that I have learned from my Grandma Verna is that I have choices. I may choose how to be affected by what happens in my life. I may choose my situations, my perspectives, my actions. Life is what you make of it. I was fortunate to have such a strong woman as a role model.

I have long thought that to make a difference in this world, you can do the most good by working locally, and working with kids. My Grandma Verna did exactly that. I will continue striving to live a life she would be proud of.

Article published January 20, 2010 VERNA L. LUTTRELL, 1926-2010
Teacher served on neighboring district's board
By MARK ZABORNEY
BLADE STAFF WRITER

LAMBERTVILLE - Verna L. Luttrell, 83, a retired Whiteford home economics teacher under whose watch boys and girls learned parenting and consumer skills and nutrition, died Friday in Marwood Nursing and Rehab, Port Huron, Mich. She had heart and other health problems, her son Bradley said. Mrs. Luttrell retired in 1991 after 23 years at Whiteford Middle School/High School. "She was very dedicated to her profession," said Jerry Wing, Whiteford superintendent from 1985 to 1991. She aced the transition from all-girl classes centered on home skills to the co-ed umbrella, "life-management skills." She once was honored as Michigan consumer educator of the year, said Richard Gunn, Whiteford Middle School/High School principal from 1976 to 2004. Sex education was part of her family living classes. She was on the committee to develop the curriculum. "Her kids respected her," Mr. Gunn said. "In the classroom, a lot of them called her 'Mom.' They would come to her with personal problems, because she created the climate of being open to them."

She volunteered readily for after-school committees, Mr. Gunn said. Next door in Bedford Township, where she lived, she served on the Bedford Board of Education from 1976 to 1984. After her last term, she received the Keys to Boardsmanship Award of Merit from the Michigan Association of School Boards.

Mrs. Luttrell was born Aug. 2, 1926, and grew up on a farm near Secor and Sterns roads. She was a graduate of Whitmer High School and Bowling Green State University. When her sons became Cub Scouts, she was a den mother. She continued to volunteer as they became Boy Scouts, and she received an award for her leadership, her son Bradley said. She and several BGSU classmates traveled the world. "Once she retired, she had a passion to go everywhere," her son said. She was formerly married to the late Hugh Luttrell. Surviving are her sons, Bradley, Richard, and Rodney, 10 grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter. The body will be in the Reeb Funeral Home, Sylvania, after 4 p.m. tomorrow. Services will be at 11 a.m. Friday in Lambertville United Methodist Church, where she was a member. The family suggests tributes to the church or the Whiteford high school library.

Farewell Old Bear

Michael Moore passed yesterday. He will be dearly missed. His presence shall ripple throughout the world for generations to come. He has directly educated a legion of hebalists, who in turn have educated many more. He was generous and real with his knowledge, and I feel so fortunate to have set before him the one time I had the opportunity.


Michael Roland Shaw Moore
January 9, 1941 - February 20, 2009
Husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, friend, teacher,
musician, herbalist.

My Thoughts On Death, Dying And Love

What a difficult post to write. The quotes may not be exact, but you get my drift.

When you find yourself in Hell, keep walking. ~ Winston Churchill

You are made to survive this. ~ Doug Jones

People don't talk much about death as a real event, have you noticed? We as a society (well, not me) make games out of human murder. We abstract death, put it on a video screen or on the TV, and desensitize ourselves to the painful reality of what it means when Humans die. There are video games like grand theft auto, and sniper games, the mobsters game on myspace, and a vast assortment of others. Kill another human, score points, gain status. There are horror flicks, full of blood and gore and gruesome, painful death. These are all meant to entertain us, to stimulate us, to initiate a cascade of stress hormones. Are we really so jaded by our lives that this is needed to make us feel alive?

I have learned that for me personally, death is on the level of politics and religion. I know how I feel, sometimes, and I don't want anyone else to tell me how I am supposed to feel or what I am supposed to believe. I have to figure it out for myself, search deep and feel deep and think deep, and keep moving. This is a sobering, foundation-shaking, life altering REAL experience. I am embracing this process. I can't avoid it, I don't want to put it off. There is no pretending it hasn't happened, although there is disbelief, and the waves of realization and denial and anger and grief and sad and ok but still sad alternate at their own rate.

What I have found, what I am so thankful and grateful for, is the revelation of a previously silent network of friends, family and acquaintances. I feel like I have been initiated into a new level of experience and understanding. Those who have never lost a very close loved one, despite their best intentions, can not relate to how I feel, and so I could not previously relate to how my silent network feels about grief, about death, about still being amongst the living. It has been so comforting to talk with these precious people, these surviving fellow suffers, about what is normal, and what I can expect as the future unfolds. This is different than being told how to feel. This is the sharing of deeply intimate pain, grief and suffering.

Love doesn't die. People die. Love is outside of that phenomenon. What is death, anyway? The body dies, but life is so much more than the body. I don't have answers for all of this, but I don't believe that death is the end. It's counterintuitive. I also don't believe that our short time on Earth earns us an eternity anywhere. I think it's a process, a cycle, an evolution of time and space and matter and energy and experience. We are such an integral part of nature, and nature shows us the cyclical nature of life, if we take the time to watch, look, learn, observe.

So, for now, for me, I am focusing on Life and Living and Love. Death is a lesson, a natural part of our process. All life dies. Plants and Animals give their lives so I may live. One day, if my wishes are followed, my body will feed the cycle. Until then, I consciously enrich the soil wherever I am planted. I want my dash to be significant. The love doesn't die, it swells and takes on a richer meaning, providing opportunities for understanding and appreciation and nuance.

It is so gratifying to meet people with stories about my Dad. He did so much in his life, helped so many, and worked so hard. He wasn't perfect, nobody is, and it doesn't help me to dwell on his shortcomings. He was loved by many, and he will be Dearly Missed Every Day. I am proud to be my Father's Daughter, and I treasure all that he taught me, and all that he is still teaching me now.

Please, if you don't have a will, do it now. This week. No later. It will spare your loved ones from unnecessary pain and troubles after you are gone.