Funeral, Eulogy, and Memorial Talks
FUNERAL EULOGY FOR ULLMAN DUFFIE EDWARDS
[Talk by John E. Enslen on December 31, 1994.]
I am truly honored to participate with you today in this special service. I am especially humbled that my friend of more than twenty years would express his personal desire that I deliver the eulogy at his funeral. I hope that I say only that which he and the Lord would have me say, and that we might be consoled and comforted on this sacred occasion.
First of all, Duffie would have me say that he loves each of you, especially “Mama,” the children, and other family members, and that he misses all of you, and that he looks forward to a certain reunion with all of us which, in light of eternity, will be very soon. Duffie would have you know that he is very happy in his present circumstances, and he acknowledges with gratitude the wisdom of God in his delivery from earth life after 66 years of probationary testing.
I believe that Duffie would also have me preface my remarks about him with this disclosure—that he has never made a claim to perfection in any aspect of his life. He would be the first to admit that he, like the rest of us, had his own set of mortal weaknesses, shortcomings, and imperfections with which to deal on a daily basis. I have never known him to be proud or boastful in his opinion of himself. He would probably be embarrassed even by the inadequate tribute I am about to pay him. Notwithstanding the admission of faults which I have heard from his own lips (none of which I would consider to be very serious), when weighed in the balance, Duffie Edwards was, in the highest sense of these words, a good, decent, humble, kind, honorable, generous, friendly, fun-loving, hard-working, righteous man.
His mother dreamed she would have a boy, and she did. His mother also dreamed she would name him “Duffie,” and she did.
Ullman Duffie Edwards was born June 22, 1928, in Coosa County, Alabama, the forth of twelve children born to William Homer Edwards, a cotton farmer, and his wife Alma Lillian Cooper Edwards.
His early years were spent in rural Coosa and Talladega Counties. It was in the second grade in Talladega that he first met his wife-to-be; Margaret Frances Magouyrk, known by all as “Sally.”
Duffie was a teenager during WW II and times were hard. Like many young men in his generation, he dropped out of school in junior high to help his father with the work around the farm, trading the three “Rs” for the three “Ps”: plowing, planting, and picking cotton. Duffie has never been a stranger to hard work. He later obtained his GED, and certainly had sufficient educational skills to read and study the scriptures, which he often did.
In his latter teenage years, he went to work in the cotton mill in Sycamore, Alabama, and in 1947, at the age of 19, he married Sally, a union which has lasted for nearly half a century. That same year, Duffie took a job with Sabel Steel in Talladega. Soon thereafter, in 1948, when the opportunity presented itself, he transferred to Sabel’s yard in Montgomery.
At age 25, after working for Sabel Steel for five years, Duffie was drafted into the U.S. Army and was sent to Korea where he served during the last part of the Korean War. After his two-year tour of duty, he returned to his work at Sabel Steel.
1955 brought a new dimension to family life with the birth of Frances Delores Edwards.
A life-changing event occurred in 1960 while living on Rotary Street in Montgomery. This event had an eternal impact which will continue to reach far beyond mortality.
Duffie and Sally prayerfully considered a message which was delivered to them by two missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints names Elder Souter and Elder Ashley. The message plainly outlined the Savior’s divine Sonship, his perfect life in mortality, his atoning sacrifice in Gethsemane and on the cross, his glorious resurrection, his subsequent visit to the early inhabitants of the Americas, and his restoration through revelation in our day of his authority and church upon the earth in preparation of his forthcoming return in great power and glory. Though there was much opposition to this message by well-meaning, but unfortunately misinformed, family and friends, the message took root in their hearts and lifelong personal habits were discarded and modified forever. Duffie and Sally were baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They attended church at the Forest Avenue Chapel. Duffie remained an active and faithful member of the church throughout the remainder of his life, bearing fervent witness to others that he would stake his eternal destiny on the truthfulness of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
The year following baptism, Duffie and Sally took six-year-old Delores with them to Idaho Falls, Idaho, where they were united by the authority of the holy priesthood in a temple of our God.
While living in Montgomery, Duffie served as an absentee Branch President of the Sylacauga Branch of the church, as well as numerous other leadership positions, including service in the branch presidency in Montgomery.
In 1966, Duffie and Sally were blessed with the birth of a son, Ullman Duffie Edwards, Jr., known as “Little Duff,” eleven years younger than his older sister.
In 1973, misfortune struck. While working at Sabel Steel, Duffie fell thirty feet from an overhead crane rail to the floor below, landing on a pile of half-inch metal rebar. Duffie once pointed out to me the place where he fell. I cannot image how any mortal man would be able to survive such a fall. The Lord obviously had more work to be done, so miraculously, Duffie survived; but his health was never the same thereafter. The accident adversely affected his body in countless ways. Although he suffered tremendously from debilitating migraine headaches and other problems, he was not one to complain. Even in the worse of circumstances, there was a handshake and a smile for everyone.
About a year after the accident, with Duffy and Sally now living in Elmore County, a branch of the Church was established in Wetumpka. Duffie and his family were part of the handful of original members of The Wetumpka Branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which met for the first time on October 20, 1974 in a small house on the corner of Autauga and Osceola Street.
Duffie was a stalwart leader in the church, serving as Elder’s Quorum President. He helped remodel the Stowe Warehouse on Tallassee Street, and served as first and sometimes the only, counselor in the branch presidency. That was 1976 and 1977.
In September of 1977, a medical decision was made that Duffy should undergo open heart surgery in Birmingham, at the time a relatively new and very risky procedure. A priesthood blessing fortified by the faith and prayers of many gave assurance of a successful operation and speedy recovery. Duffie was back on the yard at Sabel Steel when December came.
In May of 1978, eight months after heart surgery, Duffie was called to serve as the third branch president of the Wetumpka Branch. He was the first branch president to occupy an office in this building, the first phase of which was completed at the same time he was called. That seemed particularly appropriate in view of the hard work and energy he had personally expended in the many fund-raising projects which made the construction of the chapel possible. Duffie served as branch president for two years.
In 1987, Duffie was called to serve as a member of the stake high council. His judgment and opinions were solid, fundamental, and trustworthy. He had a seven-year tenure, and at the time of his release, this past October, was the senior member of that body and served as Stake Sunday School president with supervisory responsibility over thirteen separate congregations of the Church in central Alabama.
I want to mention just a few of Duffie’s desirable character traits:
• Duffy faced adversity with a smile and a good sense of humor. Despite poor health and physical suffering, he never lost his zest for life or the ability to see the lighter side of life. It would have been so easy for him to surrender to pain or affliction, but he did not. He was not a complainer, but pressed forward with a positive attitude to the full extent of his strength in every circumstance. When I recently visited Duffie at Elmore County Hospital, he was still cheerful despite the most desperate of circumstances.
Death held no fear for him.
• I have always been impressed with Duffie’s loyalty and devotion to his family, his church, and his employer. 48 years of marriage; a keen interest in the welfare of his wife and children, both temporally and spiritually; 43 years with the same employer; 35 years as a member of the Church, putting his hand to the plow and never looking back. Duffie provided a sterling example of loyalty, stability, and persistence.
• Duffie was quietly generous with his time and resources. He constructed, delivered, and installed my metal arbor for my scuppernongs, and wouldn’t take a penny for his labors. The same with the metal stone-covered chimney in my law office, the original basketball goal in the church parking lot, and the metal anchors in the YMCA pavilion. I suspect everyone here has their own account of what he did for them. He was a good Samaritan, helping others who found themselves on the side of the road of life. His friends were numbered many because Duffie Edwards was a man who would literally give you the shirt off of his back.
• He was not caught up in the accumulation of material wealth. He had a well-balanced perspective about the worth of “things.” He did not spend much money on himself. He could be perfectly content with a pickup truck, a fishing boat, a garden tiller, and a modest home. I have never known him to try to impress others with the quality or quantity of his possessions.
• Duffie was fiercely jealous of his independence even to a fault. He would hardly accept help from anyone, and he would not let himself be a burden to someone else under any circumstances. He believed in self-help, self-reliance, never putting on others that which he could do for himself.
I conclude with this thought. Duffie did not enjoy public speaking. He was better at it than he gave himself credit, but he did not feel comfortable behind the pulpit; but his life has preached for us an eloquent, unforgettable sermon. Across the nation today, I am sure that there will be many men who are eulogized with much flattery. We have all attended numerous funerals where, by using the standards of the world, a man is judged to have greatness. It is my opinion that Duffie Edwards has true greatness when measured by the standards which will really count 100 years or 1,000 years from now. He was a great friend to all of us, and it was my privilege to have been associated with him in morality. May our feelings of gratitude overwhelm our feelings of loss.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.