When I am gone, release me, let me go;
You have so many things to see and do.
You must not tie yourself to me with tears;
Be happy that we had so many years.

I gave you my love, you can only guess
How much you gave me in happiness.
I thank you for the love you all have shown
But now it’s time I travelled on alone.

So grieve awhile for me – if you must –
Then let your grief be comforted by trust.
It’s only for a while that we must part
So bless the memories within your heart.

I will not be far away, for life goes on –
So if you need me, call and I will come.
Though you cannot see or touch me, I’ll be near,
And if you listen with your heart you’ll hear
All of my love around you soft and clear.

Then when ‘you’ must come this way alone,
I will greet you with a smile
And a “Welcome Home”.

We speak your name
with love and pride.
We smile through tears
we try to hide.
Thank you Mum/Dad for
the time we shared.
The love you gave
and the way you cared.
You left a place
no one can fill.
We miss you Mum/Dad
and always will.

That man is a success
who has lived well,
laughed often and loved much;
who has gained the respect
of intelligent men
and the love of children;
who has filled his niche
and accomplished his task;
who leaves the world better
than he found it;
who has never lacked appreciation
of earth’s beauty
or failed to express it;
who looked for the best in others
and gave the best he had.

Think of me as one at rest, for me you should not weep,
I have no pain, no troubled thoughts for I am just asleep.
The living, thinking, me that was, is now forever still.
And life goes on without me, as time forever will.

If your heart is heavy now, because I’ve gone away,
dwell not long upon it friend, for none of us can stay.
Those of you who liked me, I sincerely thank you all,
and those of you who loved me, I thank you most of all.

The answer to life’s riddle, in life I never knew,
I go with hope that now I will, and even so will you.
Oh, foolish, foolish me that was, I who was so small,
To have wondered, even worried at the mystery of it all.

And in my fleeting life span, as time went rushing by,
I found some time to hesitate, to laugh, to love, to cry.
Matters it now if time began, if time will ever cease?
I was here, I used it all, and now I am at peace.

When I come to the end of the road,
And the sun has set for me,
I want no rites in a gloom filled room,
Why cry for a soul set free.

Miss me a little – but not too long,
And not with your head bowed low.
Remember the love that we once shared,
Miss me – but let me go.

For this is a journey that we all must take,
And each must go alone.
It’s all part of the Master’s plan,
A step on the road to home.

When you’re lonely and sick of heart,
Go to the friends we know,
And lose your sorrows in doing good deeds,
Miss me – but let me go.

Don’t think of her as gone away
Her journey’s just begun
Life holds so many facets
This earth is only one.

Just think of her as resting
From the sorrows and the tears
In a place of warmth and comfort
Where there are no days and years.

Think how she must be wishing
That we could know today
How nothing but our sadness
can really pass away.

And think of her as living
In the hearts of those she touched
For nothing loved is ever lost
And she was loved so much.

God saw you getting tired
And a cure was not to be
So he put his arms around you
And whispered, come with me.
With tearful eyes we watched you
And saw you pass away
And although we really loved you
We would not make you stay.
A golden heart stopped beating
Hard working hands at rest
God broke our hearts to prove to us
He only takes the best.

You can shed tears that she is gone,
Or you can smile because she has lived.

You can close your eyes and pray that she’ll come back,
Or you can open your eyes and see all she’s left.

Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her,
Or you can be full of the love you shared.

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,
Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

You can remember her and only that she’s gone,
Or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.

You can cry and close your mind,
be empty and turn your back,
Or you can do what she’d want:
smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was
walking along the beach with the LORD.
Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene, he noticed two sets
of footprints in the sand; one belonging to him,
and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him,
he looked back at the footprints in the sand.
He noticed that many times along the path
of his life there was only one set of footprints.
He also noticed that it happened at the very
lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him and he questioned
the LORD about it. “LORD, You said that
once I decided to follow You, You’d walk with me
all the way. But I noticed that during the most
troublesome times in my life, there is only
one set of footprints. I don’t understand why
when I needed You most You would leave me.”

The LORD replied, “My precious, precious child,
I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you.”

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am the thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle Autumn’s rain.
When you awake in the morning hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft star that shines at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there, I did not die.

Death is nothing at all;
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by my old familiar name;
Speak to me in the easy way you always used.
Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, and pray for me.
Let my name be the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effect.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was;
there is absolutely unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of your mind
because I am out of your sight?
I am but waiting for you, for an interval,
somewhere very near just around the corner.
All is well. Nothing is past; nothing is lost.
One brief moment and all will be as it was before,
only better, infinitely happier and forever,
we will be one together with Christ.

I’d like the memory of me
to be a happy one,
I’d like to leave an afterglow
of smiles when life is done,
I’d like to leave an echo
whispering softly down the ways,
of happy times and laughing times
and bright and sunny days,
I’d like the tears of those who grieve,
to dry before the sun
of happy memories that I leave
when life is done.

A wonderful man laid to rest
For everyone he did his best
His deeds were good
His heart was kind
A better husband and dad
No-one could find

Loved by all who knew him

Sadly missed – Sleep peacefully