By: Scot Bear Re: Re: Some sendoff 1/2 From Pentode BBS, San Luis Obispo, CA Date: Sat, De

By: Scot Bear
Re: Re: Some sendoff  1/2

   From Pentode BBS, San Luis Obispo, CA
 Date: Sat, Dec 31, 1994 3:49:55 PM

      My friend Bob always told us that when he died he was
  going out
  with a bang. And what an understatement that was. The service
  could not have been any more unnerving if Fred Phelps had
  delivered the Eulogy!

  From the front page of our STATE newspaper in Columbia
  SC
  Without permission:

      MINISTER JUDGES GAY MAN IN EULOGY
      Shocked, angry mourners walk out

       More than 25 people walked out of the Columbia funeral
  of an AIDS patient Wednesday after a First Presbyterian
  Church minister said the man's homosexuality was a mortal
  sin and his place in eternity was questionable.

      "I'm not sure where Bob is right now," the Reverend
  John Hopkins said during a eulogy that some mourners called
  a half hour diatribe against the 43 year old man's lifestyle.

      The man, whose mother requested that his last name not
  be published, died Monday. His funeral was held at Dunbar
  Funeral Home, Gervais Street Chapel.    "To say it was in
  poor taste is to put it mildly," said Harriet Hancock, a
  Columbia attorney who was at the funeral.  "It was simply
  the most upsetting  thing I've ever witnessed. People were
  in shock; they were angry and hurt. And then they started
  leaving."

      Hopkins declined to comment.

      The senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church, who
  was in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, said he had no plans
  to disipline Hopkins, an associate pastor.   "I have no
  statement to make",said the Rev. Glen Knecht, who leads
  the 2,200 member congregation on Marion Street. "I wasn't
  there, but I have every confidence that the pastors who
  are there will handle this in the best manner."

      About 100 people had turned out to say goodbye to Bob,
  who worked at the University of South Carolina and was active
  in Palmetto AIDS Life Support Services.  But about a half-hour
  into the service, mourners started walking out and slamming
  the door behind them. One woman said loudly "that son of
  a  -----" before leaving, witnesses said.

      So many people left that Dunbar workers thought the
  funeral was over and started to enter the chapel to remove
  the casket.

      Elise Campbell, who lost her son, Bill Edens to AIDS
  in 1993,said that out of respect for Bob's family, she didn't
  leave the service. But Campbell said she was horrified when
  the minister started talking about Bob's homosexuality in
  detail. In particular,Hopkins said Bob had "gone astray"
  into a gay lifestyle during college, several mourners told
  The State.  And although Hopkins said he wasn't necessarily
  superior to Bob morally, homosexuality was a mortal sin
  according to his church's teaching.  And, he said, it was
  questionable whether Bob could be reunited with God,according
  to the mourners.

  [Continued on next message]


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------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(240)   Sun 8 Jan 95  8:54
By: Scot Bear
To: All
Re: Re: Some sendoff  2/2
St:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@EID:c38e 1e2846cc
* Original: FROM.....Scot Vertullo (154/69)
* Original: TO.......All (154/69)
* Forwarded by.......OPUS 154/69

  [Continued from previous message]

      "I wanted to shake him until his teeth rattled down
  his throat," Campbell said.  "There was no excuse for what
  he did.  It was just so crass. He was supposed to be giving
  sympathy and help to his mother and sisters and friends,
  and they didn't need this."

      The family asked Hopkins to leave after the funeral
  and not offer the traditional prayer at the cemetary.  Instead,
  friends prayed and offered personal memories of Bob at the
  Greenlawn Memorial Park mausoleum.

      The family didn't want to talk with The State about
  the funeral. Diana Driggers, a family friend, sadi they
  didn't
  want  Bob's full name used because "people who care about
  him will know who it is, and those who don't don't need
  to know."

      Jack Thorpe, Bob's companion for more than 10 years,
  said Bob had picked Hopkins to do his funeral after the
  minister had visited him during the past year.  "And we
  knew that the issue of
  homosexuality did not jibe with him," Thorpe said. "But
  to tell people- his mother, his sisters, his nephews and
  nieces, who he loved so dearly--that he might be in hell
  is unbelievable."

      Hopkins deferred to a formal church statement issued
  Wednesday night.

      In the statement church pastors said:  "We extend deepest
  sympathy to Bob (last name)'s family. We loved Bob and ministered
  to him. Though we differed with him on this issue, we affirm
  the truth of Ephesians 6:24---'Grace be with all who love
  our Lord Jesus Christ with love undying.'"

      That statement, however, is little comfort to those
  who felt that Hopkins' comments were an affront to Bob's
  family and friends.

      "I know that I don't think you're very Christian when
  you do something like this in front of someone's parents,
  family and friends." Campbell said. "There's a time for
  all this soapbox preaching, and this wasn't it.

      -------------------------------------------------------------------

      I talked to Harriet Hancock yesterday and the national
  news had gotten wind of this and so had some of the news
  magazines. I told Harriet I was posting this to at least
  soc.motss and if someone else wants to cross post this please
  do so. Harriet also said that if you call, they will likely
  take the phone off the hook, but writing is a different
  story.

      First Presbyterian Church
      1324 Marion Street
      Columbia, SC 29201

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