Fort Myer, Virginia, Old Post Chapel
October 25, 2000
Memorial Service, Pastor Bob Curry
Fort Myer, Virginia, Old Post Chapel
October 25, 2000
"NEVER HAD TO YELL 'FORE!'"
He address the ball on the tee with the most odd stance I've seen. When we first played together I said to myself - "Surely he'll miss the ball." He reached way out for the ball, bent his hands in an odd sort of way, and took a full swing. Well, was I wrong. Fridge seldom missed a fairway; the ball was almost always in play and he certainly never needed to yell "fore".
It's a parable on the life of the man. Always gracious and kind. Impeccable in dress and manner. Honest to a fault.
The family tells the story. He was born in Mississippi - a country boy. The doctor who delivered him was Dr. Fridge. Guess how "Fridge" got his name? So Fridge was born September 21, 1921.
Years later Fridge needed a birth certificate, so he wrote to the State of Mississippi for his birth certificate. When it arrived, Fridge, according to the state of Mississippi, was born on September 21, 1920. Fridge decided then and there that the state of Mississippi was not present at his birth, but his mother was, therefore he was born, September 21, 1921. Even though, according to the government, he qualified for Social Security a year earlier, he refused to apply until he was 65, according to his mother.
He seldom hit the ball out of bounds and he lived that way too.
Fridge had another habit of his person that was at the same time endearing and profound. If he had been a dancer, I would call it a "hesitation step". But it was that "hesitation" before he responded.
As I walked into his home one afternoon I glimpsed a plane in its landing pattern over the Potomac. As I walked up to his bedroom to visit I said, "Fridge, you were pilot. Whenever I see these pilots with all that power and speed at their finger tips I wonder what they think and feel? What about you?" There was that "hesitation step" and he said with a wry smile "Terrified! Terrified until the wheels touched down." Then I remembered Fridge was a navy pilot landing on aircraft carriers. Forget power, forget freedom—think terrified!
Before he became very sick, he was very miserable. He and Lois had come to grips with the horror of pancreatic cancer, and he was miserable. We were alone, and I ask him, "Fridge, what are you feeling? Are you angry? What are you feeling?"
Again, there was the slight pause and he looked at me very carefully and said with a frustrated grimace. "Agitated!" His agitation would soon be anguish and his anguish turn to despair and his despair to letting go.
How does one pray with a man who has finally let go? The only way I know how, and for those last days of his life I prayed with Fridge: "Dear God, receive this man into your loving arms. Amen."
Be assured Lois, Jeff, Michael, God has indeed received Fridge into those loving arms. Let us praise and give thanks to the Lord, for a gracious and loving husband and father, for a brave and honest servant of his country, for a good man, and child of the Covenant: Captain Morris Fridge Lovern.
Amen.
Rev. Robert C. Curry, Pastor, Heritage Presbyterian Church
Col. Edwin A. Porter, Chaplain USAF (Ret)
Captain Ann Lovern Penhale, Baltimore Salvation Army
Barbara Gilliam, Heritage Presbyterian Church Choir, Soloist
Corrie Miller, Granddaughter
Jack Barnes, Good Friend
Burial at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
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