72. A Temporary Loss

Claudia’s mother, Barbara Jean Fraughton Lange (1928–1994), was born April 27, 1928, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the older of two daughters born to Lowell Dee Fraughton and Bernice Dixon. She married John Marvin Lange on June 15, 1949, and they were the parents of two children: Claudia and David. Grandma Lange died on February 24, 1994, in Bountiful, Utah, at the age of 65 from causes incident to kidney disease. Bishop Richard R. Clegg, bishop of the Mueller Park Ninth Ward, conducted Grandma’s funeral on Monday, February 28, 1994, read the obituary, and offered brief remarks. His comments were published a month later in the March 28, 1994, issue of the Family Journal.

Brothers, sisters, and friends, we are here today as an expression of our love and respect for Barbara Lange, who passed away last Thursday evening, February 24, here in Bountiful.

These services are under the direction of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I am Bishop Richard R. Clegg of the Mueller Park Ninth Ward, whom the family has asked to conduct these services. I wish to extend to Marvin, Claudia, and David my deepest sympathy and love on this sacred occasion as we honor and pay tribute to their mother and sweetheart.

Seated on the stand with me is Alan Collier, who is a counselor in the Ninth ward bishopric and who will be conducting the grave-side services.

We want to thank Nan Knoles for the music provided in these services. As part of these services, the family prayer was offered by J. Marvin Lange. The opening song will be "I Am a Child of God," sung by Barbara’s grandchildren. The invocation will be offered by a neighbor and friend, John Harmer.

OBITUARY

"Barbara Jean Fraughton Lange, 65, died February 24, 1994, in Bountiful.

"Born April 27, 1928, in Salt Lake City, the daughter of Lowell Dee Fraughton and Bernice Dixon. Married John Marvin Lange on June 15, 1949, in the Salt Lake LDS temple.

"Attended school in Provo and Salt Lake City, where she graduated from East High School in 1945 and the University of Utah in 1949. She taught first grade at Wasatch Elementary [for one year] before moving in 1954 to San Gabriel, California. In 1987 she returned with her husband to Bountiful.

"Active in the LDS Church, she held many positions in the Sunday School, Primary, and Relief Society. She delighted in her family, especially her grandchildren who loved her dearly. She spent her life serving others and being a generous friend and neighbor. She had a special gift of bringing family and friends together and loved to host them in her home.

"Survived by her husband, Marvin; daughter, Claudia (and Dean) Cleverly, Bountiful; son, David (and Janice) Lange, La Crescenta, California; and 14 grandchildren. Preceded in death by her parents and her only sister, Patricia Fraughton Smedley Hunter."

REMARKS

Prior to the foundations of this world, in heavenly council with our spiritual parents, brothers, and sisters, the plan of mortal life was presented to us all. We were to receive a mortal body and be guided through trials and tests by earthly parents. This transition from spiritual preexistence to mortal existence is called birth.

We have all made this transition. Even our Savior, Jesus Christ, was required to enter this earthly realm the same way.

Even as birth was the way we arrived to begin our test here, death will be the means by which we will pass from this earth back to a spiritual existence, to await the reuniting of our resurrected body and spirit, having been tried and tested, never to die physically again, exalted and glorified through our faithfulness while in this proba-tionary state.

Our Savior was released from these earthly bonds this same way as well.

We mourn today, not the death of Barbara Lange, but we mourn our temporary loss. I emphasize our loss as well as temporary, for we believe, as did this faithful woman, that death was as I described—a welcome return to a limitless coexistence with Deity, even eternal life. What a glorious promise!

Who would not look forward to such a promise? To rise with a perfected, resurrected body and continue to serve man and God as one has served on earth, but without the earthly restrictions and imperfections of the natural man.

I emphasize our loss because we have been separated from a wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. This will create an admitted and understandable void in our lives.

I also emphasize temporary because we too, at some future time, must pass from here to there by means of death, at which time we will have the opportunity to see those waiting for us to return.

Barbara Lange understood and accepted these eternal principles and would admonish us to continue in the paths of righteousness.

As the Lord disclosed to His apostles the certainty of His approaching death and resurrection, He gave them a blessing, which may appropriately be extended to each of us here today. "Peace I leave with you," He said, "my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27).

Permit me a brief quote from the late President Harold B. Lee: "Having gone through some similar experiences in losing loved ones in death, I speak from personal experience when I say to you who mourn, do not try to live too many days ahead. The all-important thing is not that tragedies and sorrows come into our lives, but what we do with them. Death of a loved one is the most severe test that you will ever face, and if you can rise above your griefs and if you will trust in God, then you will be able to surmount any other difficulty with which you may be faced" (Teachings of Harold B. Lee, 53).

I bear solemn witness of the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know by the powers of inspiration and revelation that God lives, that the Lord will come again to the earth in power and bring with Him those who have been faithful. I further testify that the faithful, whose bodies yet lie in their graves, will be resurrected and caught up to meet Him in glory.

I fervently pray that our lives may be so ordered that on that day, at the appointed signal, we may be ushered into the presence of loved ones once again, and that we may merit their never-ending association, for this is the plan. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.