8:49 a.m. - 2013-07-14
Remembering well-known United Church of Christ minister-leader Roger D. Knight, 1935-2013, of Uplands Village, Pleasant Hill, TN
"Roger D. Knight (Dec. 1, 1933-May 22, 2013) Memorial, July 13, 2013, Uplands Village, Pleasant Hill, TN," by Franklin Parker and Betty J. Parker, [email protected]
Betty Parker and I appreciate sharing our brief thoughts of beloved friend Roger D. Knight. Roger's gift in friendship is best described in Shakespeare's Hamlet as (Quote): "The friends thou hast and their adoption tried, grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel." Ref.: ACT 1, Scene 3.
Roger and I were swim buddies in Ruth Peeples' pool, whenever he was free from meetings/duties at church, Uplands board, writers group, Shalom Center, Blue Barn, gardening, greeting, entertaining, ad infinitum.
Roger swam the pool's length under water. He could stand on his hands, head in the water, feet in the air. No, he did not walk on water!
He shared with me his writings for the writers group, shared his thoughts on profound articles he read in The New York Review of Books, shared that magazine, shared vegetables and fruits he'd grown, shared foods he had prepared, shared so many things with so many people.
Cheerful as ever two days before first entering the Knoxville hospital. Roger jokingly told Betty and me: �When I get over this hospital visit, I�m going to the Playhouse and try out for a role in �The Wizard of Oz."
Roger's Yellow Brick Road (the road home to happiness) in life was his dear wife Beth, their children, family, church, friends, and--Beth and Roger's unlimited ways of doing good.
Roger, who brightened my life and many other lives, now brightens his Heaven's Yellow Brick Road.
I must share these few lines of lament for Roger Knight (Quote):
�Close by, I have a friend,
In Uplands Village that has no end.
�I too-seldom see my old friend's face,
For life is a swift and terrible race.
"Tomorrow" I say! "I will call on Roger
Just to see that sweet old codger.
The phone rings: "Roger died today."
What to do? What to say?
At a sudden end?
Of a valued friend?
Ref.: http://tinyurl.com/kox63gb and http://tinyurl.com/bfz7l8t
But end I must and end I do again with Shakespeare's words on his fallen hero Hamlet (Quote): "Now Cracks a Noble Heart. Good Night, Sweet Prince; And Flights of Angels Sing Thee To Thy Rest." Ref. Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 2. Thank you, Roger in Heaven's Yellow Brick Road. Thank you Beth Knight, children, family, friends. Amen. Amen.
Find online Obituaries-Rememberances of Roger Knight at:
1. http://tinyurl.com/mnph4sp
2. http://tinyurl.com/lol8soz
3. http://www.cos-ucc.org/news.php (scroll down to: "Memorial�")
4. http://preview.tinyurl.com/knts8fl
5. http://tinyurl.com/nt25haq
END. Corrections, additions, comments: [email protected]
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