Funeral Service—February 16, 2000
Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
Louise Dygoski's life was lived in love for the Word, and with love for words. Dr Dygoski was a pioneer, who broke new ground for women alumnae of Eastern Nazarene College with her PhD from the University of Wisconsin. A star pupil of Audrey Williamson, Dr Dygoski went on quietly and humbly to in many respects accomplish more than her teachers; more, in fact than will ever be fully known until heaven's records are opened.
It is fitting that this service is being held here in the college church, for Louise Dygoski was first of all a churchwoman. She loved to read the scriptures in worship services; she also very effectively gave dramatic readings in times past. She effectively served as Sunday School teacher. She was faithful in every way. She was a pastor-encourager. I testify to that.
Dr Dygoski was a teacher. Hundreds of students came through her classes, and left with a deeper appreciation for saying the right thing in the right way, and s a y i n g i t c l e a r l y ! More about that in a moment.
Louise Dygoski was a friend. She was a friend to many, and her ready smile could lift your spirits. But there was a deep friendship Dr Dygoski shared with the faculty of her generation that was absolutely beautiful to behold. We students never suspected how much fun our teachers had enjoying each other's company. We rightly revered them, and so we probably thought they never came down off the pedestals we set them on in our minds. But after I came here as pastor i got glimpses into the sheer fun– fun with puzzles and word games played with true friends who were investing their lives in God's work.
But most of all, Louise Dygoski was a friend and servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. She loved words, but most of all she loved THE WORD! She knew the Word. She memorized the Word. She lived the Word. She never stood over the Word, but humbly sought to let it speak to her and in her and through her. That is why she was so effective.
While people stand in judgment of the Word, the heavens remain silent, and there is no delight in God's law. But when ,as did Louise Dygoski, we look to the God of creation with faith, and when we come humbly, seeking to listen with the ear of faith to the God who speaks, we will find. to paraphrase another, that 'God is there, and He is not silent.'
Louise was very human. The last few wasting years were a hard trial for her. I want to say that she passed her test. Some time ago, before I retired, and before Dr Dygoski had pretty much stopped speaking, she told me how that sometimes the nights were dark and long for her. She did not complain, she was simply saying they were hard at times. And she said that sometimes in the darkness she thought she could hear Jesus saying her name: "Louise!"
I am humbled by the life of this great and good woman.
Emily Dickinson once wrote a short poem:
A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.I would paraphrase that to say:
Some say a life is over
When it has been lived.
But that depends
On how it has been invested.
Some lives
Live on in heaven
And on earth!
Just last Sunday I received a letter from an old ENC-er with whom I have been having an absolutely fascinating cyberspace conversation. I close with a letter from Herb Dodge, a distinguished ENC alumnus from the class of 1953:
Hello again Russell,
This note is about Miss Dygoski. When I enrolled at ENC in the fall of 1949, the same year you did, I believe, if you recall we had to go through a series of tests. Somewhere in the tests they caught the fact that I had a speech impediment. I could not pronounce the sounds of ch, sh, j, or the like. As a result, I would never volunteer to speak in a high school class because kids sort of made fun of my problem which would cause me to blush, and stammer, and then just stop talking.
Consequently, I was told that I had to take private speech lessons from a Miss Dygoski and I remember going to those lessons on the third floor of Canterbury Hall with a sense of trepidation. I found a lady who diagnosed the problem and put me into a set of exercises with a small mirror that I had to observe myself when I spoke. In one semester of private lessons the speech impediment was gone and I could enunciate all sounds clearly and with confidence. What a change that made in my life. No more embarrassment when I spoke, no more sneers by peers, and no more embarrassment. Perhaps I even began to talk too much in my new found confidence.
But, I also found Miss Dygoski to be a person of great heart, unbounded empathy, and one who turned out to be a true friend. She helped us with the first debate teams in which we competed with some of the, shall we say, more famous schools such as MIT, West Point, Tufts, and such. She instilled a confidence in us that we could hold our own and the record shows that we did just that.
In the early 1990s I was privileged to see Miss Dygoski again when she was living in one of the apartments on campus. I bought a bouquet of flowers and knocked on her door and we had a happy visit reminiscing about the old days. Also in the early 1990s I sent a monetary gift to ENC through President Paul and asked him to tell Miss Dygoski that the gift came from an unnamed student who was grateful for her help and always appreciated her memory.
I did a great deal of public speaking when I was working. I spoke to large groups of teachers when I was a weekend employee of Educational Testing Service. Many times I would reflect on the fact that all of those speeches (most of which were easily forgotten, I suppose) would not have been possible without the influence of this one person on my life. She was a great lady in every respect.
Thanks for allowing me to share these memories.
Herb
The Psalmist prayed to God: "Let the words of my mouth be acceptable! Let my meditation please My God!" The words of Louise Dygoski, and the meditation of her heart, sanctified by the grace of God, is abundantly acceptable! Thank God for Dr Louise Dygoski!
Let us pray: