Eulogy Rebecca Glover --Funeral Service

Eulogy Rebecca Becky Glover

2-/15/2020 Psalms 139:13-139:16

There was one commandment that God gave that Betty and Henry Thornton took to heart to obey with all their body, soul and strength and that was “to be fruitful and multiply.” They established the twelve tribes of Thorntons in the land of Stafford, Alabama. If they had of all stayed in Stafford, they could have taken over the area.

Stafford is so big today, they do not have a website, if you go to Facebook, there is no place recommended in Stafford to eat, sleep, drink or visit. I suppose it would have been different in the twelve tribes would have stayed.

Betty would have opened a restaurant, Eula would have been in charge of transportation, Rose would have been mayor, Willie would be in charge of the Police Department, Annie in charge of Music, and Becky would have been director of the Performing Arts District. Cleveland’s gain of the Thornton tribes was a blow to Stafford, Alabma.

It was on a Thursday in the year 1951, that God did something special as God so often does. God presented the world with a wonderful gift through the lives of Henry and Betty as Betty gave birth to her eighth child, Rebecca. Many of us called her Becky.

Becky came into the world in 1951, which was a dark and cruel time in the state of Alabama and in this country. Segregation was the law of the land, and Jim Crow laws reigned supreme. She was born into a society with white only and colored signs over water fountains, bathrooms, and places to eat. With twelve kids in rural Alabama, you might have seen them as just another poor Negro family.

But if you stepped in their world, from their perspective, they saw themselves as blessed by God. They didn’t care what the society said about them, they knew they were somebody in the eyes of God.

They knew what was it was to have family that loved each other and cared for each other. When one of them made it in anyway, they knew how to turn back, reach their hand out, and seek to pull the one behind them up another rung on the ladder.

There are some people in the Bible who we know instantly at the sound of their name. Names like Moses, Esther, Peter, Mary and Paul. Yet there are people whose names we don’t know yet their actions changed history, the little girl who told Namaan the great Syrian General how to be healed, the little boy who shared his lunch with the disciples so that Jesus could feed 5,000, or the woman who used her hair to wash Jesus’ feet with her tears and her perfume so that Jesus could teach us the heart of forgiveness.

Though we do not know their names, their actions are emblazoned in the Christian hall of fame.

God creates some people who are to become well known in the world, and God creates some people who to be very special in the world. Now some would say it is better to be well known than to be special, but I think when we come to the end of our days, we’re not looking back to see how well known we were, but rather were we special in the lives of others.

When death is staring at us in the face, we do not usually take great pride in our degree from Cleveland State University or Ohio State or in our position as executive vice president of the Cleveland Clinic, nearly as much as we do from a child saying I love so much because of all that you did for me and I’m going to miss you, or from a person coming in and saying, when I was hungry, it was you that saw to it that I got a meal and for that I am grateful.

Rebecca Glover was not created by God to be somebody well known whose name would cover the country and the globe at large, but I cannot think of anyone else who has been more special in the way that she has touched the lives of others.

You will not find her name listed in the Who’s Who Book Of American Directors And Actors, but her family has great memories of all the plays she began writing, directing and producing as a child. She used the talent to write skits for them to participate in our church talent shows in the past.

You will not find her name listed in the Who’s Who Book of American Counselors, but her family has testimonies of her ability to genuinely listen to you share your pain and to be able to walk with you through it.

She never was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, but she lived such a life of humility and putting others first, that if you couldn’t get along in peace with Becky, you just got a problem.