My deepest condolences. May these few words from the Holy Scriptures bring you comfort in your time of grief...
John 11:32-45
32 And so Mary, when she arrived where Jesus was and caught sight of him, fell at his feet, saying to him: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 Jesus, therefore, when he saw her weeping and the Jews that came with her weeping, groaned in the spirit and became troubled; 34 and he said: “Where have YOU laid him?” They said to him: “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus gave way to tears. 36 Therefore the Jews began to say: “See, what affection he used to have for him!” 37 But some of them said: “Was not this [man] that opened the eyes of the blind man able to prevent this one from dying?”
38 Hence Jesus, after groaning again within himself, came to the memorial tomb. It was, in fact, a cave, and a stone was lying against it.39 Jesus said: “TAKE the stone away.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to him: “Lord, by now he must smell, for it is four days.”40 Jesus said to her: “Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Therefore they took the stone away. Now Jesus raised his eyes heavenward and said: “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 True, I knew that you always hear me; but on account of the crowd standing around I spoke, in order that they might believe that you sent me forth.” 43 And when he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice: “Laz´a·rus, come on out!” 44The [man] that had been dead came out with his feet and hands bound with wrappings, and his countenance was bound about with a cloth. Jesus said to them: “Loose him and let him go.”
45 Therefore many of the Jews that had come to Mary and that beheld what he did put faith in him;
Please go to the following link for more information regarding the Hope expressed in this passage
http://www.watchtower.org/e/200809/article_01.htm
Extending my deepest condolences to your family at this difficult time. It is nice to see so many memories from West Intermediate Students in Mt. Pleasant and what a positive impact Mr. Wirth made on our lives. He was ahead of the times - - - teaching Chinese to students now is the norm.......he was a very nice man and I have fond memories of my Social Studies class with him.
John was a fine man. I always enjoyed talking Michigan geology with him. His generous contributions to Habitat for Humanity in the Mount Pleasant area helped many, many people.
Mr. Wirth was great! Loved that he taught us to write in Japanese caligraphy. I think I still have the practice sheets from 30 years ago. I have used them when teaching ink wash paintings to students. We used some of the symbols in the artwork. Thank you Mr.Wirth. You were one of the best.
I was a student of Mr. Wirths' in Mt. Pleasant. It was a wonderful experience to be in his classroom and listen to his stories. My thoughts and prayers are with you. He was a wonderful teacher.
