Obituary of Mrs. Nemmers

Requiem Mass was Monday at All Saints Catholic Church, 2559 S. Federal Blvd., for Mrs. Margaret L. Nemmers, 82, of 2732 S. Quitman St.

The Rosary was recited Sunday evening at McConaty's Boulevard Mortuary. Burial was in Mount Olivet.

Mrs. Nemmers died Saturday at her home.

Mrs. Nemmers was born Feb. 22, 1883 in Sioux City, Iowa. She was educated in Pierre, S.D., and was married to John W. Nemmers Aug. 21, 1906, in LeMars, Iowa. The couple moved to Denver from LeMars in 1944.

Mrs. Nemmers was a charter member of the Catholic Daughters of America and member of the Court Santa Maria No. 179, LeMars; member of the Third Order of St. Francis, Legion of Mary and the All Saints Catholic Church Altar and Rosary Society.

Survivors include her husband; two sons, C.C. and J.C., both of Denver; six daughters, Mrs. Celeste Campbell, Mrs. Melita Amundsen, Mrs. Charlotte Angelo and Mrs. Florine Cornett, all of Denver; Mrs. Clarice Adams, Marcellus, Mich., and Mrs. Margaret Puetz, LeMars; five sisters, Mrs. Helen Lauters, Mrs. Ann Nemmers and Mrs. Ida Thoma all of LeMars; Mrs Elizabeth Faber, Cherokee, Iowa, and Mrs. Angeline Warren of Denver; 32 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.

Funeral of Mrs. Margaret Nemmers - Dec. 20, 1965

Throughout our land at this time of year we see everywhere the frenzied preparation for the holiday celebrations. Tinsel and bright lights arre hung, gay music is sounding, stores are crowded with weary but happy shoppers, schools are closing, homes and offices are beautifully decorated--everywhere there is a mixture of the secular and the sacred, the religious and the profane, in preparation for Christmas. To most people, I suppose, the somberness of a funeral at this particular holiday time is very foreign to their minds. If they even stop to think about it at all, their only comment might be that it is a great pity that death should come at this time of year. Yes, we have to die, but not at this holiday, festival time.

For this good lady whom we lay to rest today, however, any day would have been a good day to die. It was the beloved Pope John XXIII who said that--any day is a good day to die. And for Mrs. Nemmers and for all good Christians the full realization of what Almight God means to us is the Form of a tiny Infant in the Crib makes this Feast of Christmas a glorious one indeed. For only in the infinite wisdom and power of God could such a feat have been accomplished--the union of the Nature of Himself with that of a lowly man in the one Person of the Infant Christ. And this Union, Christians realize, is a kind of foreshadowing of the glorious state to which God wants to raise his children here on earth by grace and in heaven in glory hereafter. To die, therefore, around the time of the Birth of the Infinite, Infant Christ is indeed a very great privilege.

"Let peace come," said Isaiah of old, "let him rest in his bed that hath walked in his uprightness." The angels at Bethlehem sang of Peace. The Saviour is the Prince of Peace. Isaiah speaks of peace for those who walk in uprightness; the angels sang of peace to men of good will. A beautiful inheritance and a great reward are in store for the upright. We are morally certain that this promise will be fulfilled, and it has been fulfilled in this dear, departed mother and wife today. She belonged to those who have walked in their uprightness, and who strayed not to the way of eveil and of rebellion against God. In her long life, beginning with the days of her youth, in her married life, in the training of her children, in her old age, she never considered otherwise than walking the path of righteousness, the way of God in His holy church. In her home life she distinguished herself by the true love that is every ready to bring sacrifices: sincere and honest, simple and modest, she was very industrious and untiring in the care of her family. The blessed task of motherly love she performed most conscientiously for her many children. She was for them a genuine model of virtue, ever ready with advice and help, ever near to them with pious prayer. Her labours were not in vain. She reaped even here a beautiful reward and blessings, for her children were very fond of her, grateful and loyal, attentive and faithful in her long illness, and ever solicitous in her final, difficult days. She will continue to reap rewards in eternity, for she has an enduring place in the hearts of her grateful children, who will never forget her.

This departed lady was a good Christian. How zealous she was in attendance at holy Mass and divine services even in her declining months. She fortified her soul frequently by partaking, at the holy table of the Lord, of the Bread of Life in Holy Communion. To her neighbors she was kind and obliging. To the poor and needy she was merciful and charitable. God the all-Merciful has blessed the work of her hands and of her efforts; He guarded and protected her in danger and temptation; He granted her good health for a great many years, and He has taken her from this life after giving her the time to receive the holy and consoling rites of the Church.

Now, having walked in her uprightness, peace has come and she has found rest. The merciful God, so we may hope, has received her in the mansions of everlasting peace, to let her partake of the magnificent goods of His house. This comfort the survivors may take to heart, with hope they may look forward to a reunion, but they should endeavor to make sure of the reunion by doing good works, that they may surely meet again the dear and beloved one who has preceded them into eternity. She trained her children well, and they have responed in love and loyalty to her and to the principles of holy religion which she instilled into them.

I cannot let this occasion pass by without a word of commendation to you, her dear children, for your truly remarkable concern and care for her, but especially in these last weeks and days of her life. It is the custom in many pagan lands to dispose of the aged, in some places even by taking them outside the village and killing them. We see vestiges of this even in our own country where so often the aged are relegated to a nursing home or in some other way gotten rid of. As men descend into paganism, they lose respect for the aged because they lose respect for God and for themselves; hatred and selfishness come forward, and the aged and the very young are usually the first victims to be unwanted. But Christians know that God promised even in the Old Testament a long life and blessings upon those who would honor their father and their mother. The aged must be respected simply because God thought more of them than us by bringing them into the world before us. You have well understood these truths, and God will bless all of you for your devoted attention and care lavished upon your good mother.

In these final days of Advent, the liturgy of the Church constantly turns to holy Mary, waiting for the birth of her Child on Christmas. In holy expectation the world watches and waits with the Virgin Mother. We feel close to her these days. It was in the wee hours of Saturday morning--a day traditionally called Mary's Day--that the pure soul of this good lady slipped away into eternity. We have confidence that this same Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom Mrs. Nemmers prayed so long, was there to accompany her before the Eternal Judge, the Son of the Virgin.

May all of us remember that peace and eternal rest will be given only to those "walking in their uprightness," to those who avoid sin, exercise righteousness, fulfil faithfully their duties, who submit to God's will in everything, and who live and die in His love. May God give us all the grace to remember these truths, as we resolve to pray for this good mother that whatever stains of sin, the blemishes of fallen nature yet remaining, may soon be remitted, and that she may rejoice with the Christmas angels in the starry brightness of God's Glory for an unending, blessed eternity. Amen.

Rev. Harley Schmitt