Eulogy for Suzanne Pavlet
Norfolk, Virginia
August 16, 2001
Given by Bruce Rader
I doubt if there is anything that challenges our faith as much as the death of a child.
What merciful higher power could allow such a thing to happen, we ask?
But on this day, as we say goodbye to Suzanne, we must not challenge our faith. Instead we must challenge our resolve. Challenge our commitment to do everything we possibly can so that other children will not suffer, so that other families will not suffer what Suzanne and the Pavlets's have had to suffer over these years.
Virginia and I had the wonderful opportunity to visit with Suzanne on Friday night. On her bed stand were pictures from the golf tournament, and her night at the NorVa. It was a happy time for her, and her family, as none of us knew then that she would soon get sick again.
And while we thought, we were there for her, in reality, it was Suzanne that was there for all of the other children that were in the St. Jude Hospital in Memphis. It was not us that raised almost a hundred thousand dollars to help find a way to end this terrible cancer in children.
It was Suzanne that inspired the giving.
How silly for us to think that "we" were the driving force behind this.
Suzanne was the dominant force that inspired all of us to get involved. The force that gave us the will to want to help. We were healthy, and may at times have questioned weather or not we wanted to put so much time in our fund raising efforts for St. Jude. Suzanne was a child, a sick child. Tired after the golf tournament, but insisted of resting, she insisted on coming to the NorVa to plead for help. Not for her, but for all of the other children she lived with in the hospital in Memphis.........
What merciful higher power would allow such a thing to happen, we ask.
A higher power that is wise enough to wait. And instead of taking a child away from us and making her an angle in heaven right away. Instead making her an angle on earth for a while. Giving us a chance to see her, and touch her, and laugh with her and cry with her and know her.
An angel who is alive, so we can see how petty our problems are, and how selfish we are.
An angel who inspires us to give. Give our time, give our money, and give our love.
Suzanne is that angel.
Jack and Barbara, on behalf of all of us, thank you for bringing Suzanne into our lives. We were never there enough for you, and we will never know the life you have lived. But we do know that God obviously thought you were special, because he would never have given just anybody the responsibility of caring and raising, a real, living angel. Suzanne did more during her young lifespan, than most people do if they live to be 90 years old. And we promise you; we will keep her memory alive by continuing to do what she did. And that is worry about her friends. And the children and families in he future who may face what she and your family had to face.
Today we celebrate a wonderful transition. Suzanne's work on earth is done. It would have been easy for her to leave us years ago and go on to heaven and probably be the prettiest, spunkiest, and most personable angel up there.
But that wasn't Suzanne's style. She had work to do here. But now it's done, and it's up to us to continue what she started.
Now she's an angel where angels are supposed to be. In a better place. And nobody, nobody, deserves it more.
