A love 'stronger than death': Loved ones honored during Dalton State College's remembrance service

Dec. 1—"What we have once enjoyed deeply we can never lose; all that we love deeply becomes a part of us."

Those words, penned by famed author and activist Helen Keller in 1929, hold a deep meaning for Jodi Johnson, the vice president for student affairs and enrollment management at Dalton State College.

On Thursday, just as she has done in years past underneath the James A. Burran Bell Tower on Dalton State's campus, Johnson echoed Keller's words during the college's annual service of remembrance, a tradition that dates to 2016.

"Dalton State's annual service of remembrance honors alumni, students, faculty, staff and members of the greater community whose deaths were recorded during the calendar year," Johnson said, surrounded by family members, friends and co-workers of the honored departed.

"The holiday season can be difficult for those who are grieving with loss," she said. "Dalton State's annual memorial service offers family and friends an opportunity to come together during the holiday season to remember and celebrate their loved ones who have passed away. Today, I hope we gather not in sorrow, but in reflection to honor and to remember those we have lost. We need to come together with open hearts and minds to celebrate the lives that have touched ours."

After a moment of silence, Johnson quoted an old Hebrew proverb: "Say not in grief 'He is no more,' but live in thankfulness that he was."

Johnson also called to mind the words of theologian Frederick Buechner.

"(Buechner) wrote, 'When you remember me, it means you have carried something of who I am with you,'" Johnson recited. "'That I have left some mark of who I am on who you are. It means that you can summon me back to your mind even though countless years and miles may stand between us. It means that if we meet again, you will know me. It means that even after I die, you can still see my face and hear my voice and speak to me in your heart.'"

People lit candles to honor those who had passed on.

"Today we are honoring the light that the individuals we have lost brought into our lives," said Johnson. "To say that light is stronger than darkness. That hope is stronger than despair. And our love for those we have lost and the love we received from them is stronger than death."

Names of the recently departed were then read aloud as candles ignited. Individuals honored and remembered included Raymond Kertulis, Lorraine Jean Byron, Jason Battles, Carol Wersich, Joseph Smith, Jennifer Tartar, Levi Kilgore, Richard Courtney, Vicky Manley, Carlos Lerma and Isabel Lerma, among others.

Two Dalton State faculty members, Doris Shoemaker and Reed Krause, were also honored during the service. Shoemaker helped pioneer the medical technology program at the college in the early 1970s and Krause was a nursing instructor for 34 years.

James Adams, whose father William A. Adams Jr. was honored, and Amanda Smith, whose stepmother Sammie Lynn Saylors Smith was honored, spoke.

"My father was 94 when he passed away in September," Adams, a biology professor at Dalton State, said. "I am truly thankful, however, for the circumstances — not leading to his death — but the circumstances this year."

Adams said his father had been sick and was expected to pass last year, but he continued to fight on into the majority of 2023.

"I had anticipated going out in July to scatter my father's ashes, but instead we went out in July to celebrate my dad's 94th birthday," he continued. "We got to spend that time with him and we had a chance to say 'I love you' to each other. He did not linger and he was not in pain; I'm just incredibly thankful we had seven-and-a-half extra months."

Smith, a science lab coordinator at the college, followed with a tribute to her stepmother.

"My stepmother took me in and helped me when I was a student here at Dalton College," Smith said. "She (babysat) my young child when I did homework through all of those many long nights of studying and I don't think I would be here today without her and her help through the years of struggle I had being a young mother and being a nontraditional college student. I'm so thankful for her; even though she was my stepmom, she was kind of my second mom."

After the service, Krause, who passed away in April, and another long-time Dalton State co-worker, Janet Vetter, who passed away in October 2022, were memorialized with dedicated trees that were planted on campus.

Johnson closed the service with a recitation of a poem by Shirley Jeffrey titled "In Memoriam."

"We remember the smile, the frown, the quizzical look, the love, the courage, the hurt, the sorrow, the significant moments, the fun times, the searching times, the times of risk, the great time of affirmation," the poem reads. "As long as we live, we will bear the imprint of their influence. They opened many doors for us — doors to hold new sets of meanings. Because of them, we will forever be sensitized as to the importance of life. Because of them, we will live differently."