Class Memorial Service at Battell Chapel
(Continued)

Litany of Remembrance - Philip Parham

Almighty, gentle God, author of our being, present here and now as always and
everywhere, speak your words of reassurance and comfort in the silence of our hearts.
Hear our prayer, O God.

For lives of loving devotion to family and friends,
We give you thanks, O God.

For lives of faithful service to community and country,
We give you thanks, O God.

For gifts of heart and mind and hand, gifts given and received,
We give you thanks, O God.

We pray for those bereaved, that they may know your care.
Hear our prayer, O God.

As our own evenings lengthen and the shadows fall, may we too find you near.
Hear our Prayer, O God, and grant us peace.

The Mourner's Kaddish - Anne Kimball

Let the glory of God be extolled, let His great name be hallowed in the world whose creation He willed. May His kingdom soon prevail, in our own day, our own lives, and the life of all Israel, and let us say: Amen.

Let his great name be blessed for ever and ever. Let the name of the Holy One, blessed is He, be glorified, exalted, and honored, though He is beyond all the praises, songs, and adorations that we can utter, and let us say: Amen.

For us and for all Israel, may the blessing of peace and the promise of life come true, and let us say: Amen.

May the One who causes peace to reign in the high heavens let peace descend on us, on all Israel, and all the world, and let us say: Amen.

A Time of Silence

Hymn - Now Thank We All Our God
(Tune: Nun Danket All)

Now thank we all our God with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers' arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us;
And keep us still in grace, and guide us when perplexed;
And free us from all ills in this world and the next.

Closing Prayer - Philip Parham

Almighty God, in your loving mercy and through your divine providence, you brought us here in 1948. As Freshmen first we came to Yale 59 years ago. Nearly all graduated. Paled by examinations, tasks taken, parts played, hearts broken, pipes smoked, ease taken, glees sung, with much fun and some study, we came to New Haven. We give thanks to you, O God.

Most of us were just teenagers or young vets when we came. We still come and will keep coming back to this hallowed ground, no longer paling at exams yet still taking our tasks, playing our parts, having more fun and singing our glees along with our beloved Whiffs. Yet in all these years we cannot sincerely sing the last verse to that old freshman song. No farewells. How can we sing the saddest song we've yet to tell and bid old Yale farewell? Rather, for ten reunions or more we have bidden her fare-thee-well, lovingly contributing to her welfare and to her light and truth. Dear God, we do so love old Yale and all our classmates - here and wherever they may be.

Many of us will soon join our departed brothers. It has been our honor to have remembered them today in this holy chapel. You have taught us to hope for life beyond the grave. Help us all to cross over that bar gently and with dignity. May we see death as a horizon, merely the limit of our human sight. Lift us up to see beyond all earthly bounds. When our last classmate leaves this earth, may our entire class rejoice together in a grand final reunion with the complete and original one thousand plus as freshmen first we came to Yale.

We request no halos for any of us, no wings, no heavenly shoes, and no harps (we will have the Whiffs). We ask only for white robes, a palm branch in one hand to sing your Hosannas and in the other, a white handkerchief, to wave over our hearts as sing our own song in all our after years. Amen.

Benediction - George Dole

Little Lamb - The '52 Whiffenpoofs

Organ Postlude - Prelude in G Major - J. S. Bach