I'd like us to think for a little while today about Ed Sawatzky whose death we mourn as we remember his life.

Ed has been around the Austin and MacGregor areas for a long time. He ate in local restaurants regularly. He was easily recognized, driving around on his scooter, and before that with his little quad, and years before that driving back and forth on the back road to Austin with his tractor. He was a quiet presence at community gatherings and church events. He was easy to recognize and you could count on him being engaged in conversation with one or two people at the edge of the crowd - both with the group and separate from it.

He was a friendly man with an astonishing memory for people and events. I grew up in this community but not in this congregation and had been away many years. When we started attending this church in 2013 I met Ed in the entrance before the service on one of the first Sundays.  Without surprise or seeming to struggle to recall who I was he greeted me by name, asked how my parents were, and told me an interesting story about something he had done together with my grandfather many years ago. He did the same with Donna with connections in her family. He was happy to see us, quick to connect, and ready with a good story that linked past and present.

To me Ed seemed about the same age, beginning in the 1980s when I was a child until now, some forty years later. For reasons of his own he did not observe some social conventions and he stood out in a crowd. I recall as a teenager making a comment about a 'weird old man' who I had seen in the community. My dad told me that was Ed who was smart, capable, talented, a good friend, and I should learn some respect. By watching my parents' relationships with Ed and others I took first steps toward setting aside childish notions of being 'cool', recognizing the variety of unique gifts that each person has. Those are lessons that I need to keep on learning over and over.

I did not know Ed well enough to know what his faults and shortcomings were. I'm sure he had his share as we all do. But today as we recognize his passing I would like to honour a man who demonstrated caring, direct interest in relationships and memory.  He helped me feel recognized and connected when I felt new and out of place.  He helped me learn about the unique presence of God's grace in each person.

To read Erdman (Ed) Sawatzky’s full obituary, click here.

The viewing will be held from 6 pm to 9 pm, Saturday, August 8th at Clarke’s Funeral Home in MacGregor. It will be held as a drop in, in order to maintain social distancing.