27 NOVEMBER 2023

 

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated for Bernice Petz at Saint Joseph Church in Ellinwood by Father Terrance Klein.  Although living in the Kansas City area for the past five years to be close to her family, Bernice first joined the parish in 1945.

 

Link to the obituary

 

Audio of the homily

 

The Plans I Have for You	Bernice Petz
Father Terrance Klein	Saint Joseph 27.XI.2023

Proverbs 31: 10-13, 19-20, 30-31   1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18   John 14: 1-6 

It's hard to imagine a more difficult time to move than just before one’s senior year of high school.  All those years of waiting to be on top, enjoying that extraordinary year with one’s friends, only to discover that your family must move several hours to the east.

Bernice was born, bred, and educated in Menlo, Kansas.  She graduated from Ellinwood High School because her father, Frank Moos, came home to manage the elevator here.  It’s as if the Lord were saying to Bernice, in the words of the Prophet Jeremiah:

 I know well the plans I have in mind for you,

plans for your welfare and not for woe,

so as to give you a future of hope (29: 11). 

And the Good Lord knew what he was doing.  Bernice did thrive here.  After continuing her education at Salt City Business College, she came back, first to work at the Stevens Isern store, which is where she met Ray.  Many here in town recall the twenty-five years that Bernice worked for G. I. Robinson, though she was also the executive secretary of the district school superintendent and later the president of the community college.  Richard Kimple wrote of those years,

 I loved Bernice. She was a mentor to me along with G. I. Robinson. She taught me a lot about how to persevere during rough times. She was a calming presence in our small Kansas town.

It was at this altar, on December 30^th, 1947, that Bernice and Ray were married.  They would have almost sixty-three years together.  I reckon it’s a blessing that none of us can see everything that awaits us when we walk down these aisles to pronounce our vows.  Might be hard to put one foot in front of the other if we could. 

I asked the family to remind me where they lived in Ellinwood.  The house on third and Goethe—or, as proudly German heritage Ellinwood pronounces it, Gothey—I remember, but not the three or four that came before that.  As her children explained, there was always a new baby to provide for, and that meant finding a bigger home until there were seven Petz children. 

All that moving!  Yet the Lord was still saying,

 I know well the plans I have in mind for you,

plans for your welfare and not for woe,

so as to give you a future of hope (29: 11).

 The Lord planned, and Bernice labored.  Her family describes a mother who was a strong woman, one who took care of nigh everything, and who was always thinking of others, Or, as Merle put it, “the most giving and loving mother one could imagine.”

And the work bore fruit.  Bernice was so proud that all seven of her children earned college degrees.  Her family suggests that the world will never know all that Bernice sacrificed for them. 

Bernice was a member of the altar society, and she gave seventy-five years of service to the Daughters of Isabella, first as their local regent and then as state regent.  We’re honored to have members of Circle 744 with us this morning and at last night’s vigil.

Through the years, Bernice remained a generous caregiver.  I can’t count how many cards of encouragement I received from her, along with her five-dollar bills.  All the grandchildren received the same, year after year, on their birthdays. 

Bernice was a woman of deep prayer.  She was so faithful to this altar.  She charmed us all with her gentle manner and constant smile.  It was difficult to come to Ellinwood, and it had to be hard to leave it.  But the last five years of her life, to be near her family, Bernice lived in the Kansas City area.  Again, the Lord seemed to be saying to her,

 I know well the plans I have in mind for you,

plans for your welfare and not for woe,

so as to give you a future of hope (29: 11).

 Bernice was blessed, all these years, to live in a home she could call her own.  Her final illness was brief, and once again she heard the Lord call.  This time he said,

 I will not leave you orphans;

I will come to you.

In a little while the world will no longer see me,

but you will see me,

because I live and you will live (Jn 14: 18-20).

Bernice leaves such a witness of service and faith to her children.  She taught them to pray, to fill their devotional books with cards and intentions.  She teaches all of us to be supple and to trust in the Lord. 

Today we gather to pray Bernice home, to one she will never surrender.  She passes beyond our sight, but we do not pass from her loving eyes. 

We marvel at the life she lived, the one she offered so fully to the Lord.  Perhaps we can’t help but to wonder how she did it. Will we be able to do the same?  It’s so simple really, that is, with enough prayer.  As Saint Paul told his little flock in Thessalonica:

Rejoice always.

Pray without ceasing.

In all circumstances give thanks,

for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thes 5: 16-18)

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