Our mother was one of five daughters. One of them died young, of a heart condition, so we grew up knowing the four sisters. They were very close to each other. Three of the sisters lived in Montana. The fourth, and youngest, lived in Maryland, near Washington D.C. It was exotic to have an aunt living in a distant location. We had two cousins out there who were a little older than we were and there were a few visits over the years. I was six the first time we went to the Washington D.C. area. Our aunt Lois was part of a professional portrait studio at that time. The photos were taken in black and white and she carefully painted in the colors for dramatic portraits. We each had a portrait taken and those photographs were in our family room until our mother moved out of that house. While there we also visited the Smithsonian Institution and various monuments around the Mall in Washington D.C. We rode the elevator to the top of the Washington monument and descended by the stairs. You could do that in those days. We went to Rehoboth Beach in Delaware and played in the Atlantic Ocean. It was a wonderful trip.

One of the things that I have always remembered was how glad my mother was to see her sister. They immediately took up conversation on many different subjects, including remembering lots of stories from their years of growing up. They were the two youngest of the sisters and had been close all of their lives.

Over the years we got to see our aunt on many occasions – more often from her coming out to Montana than from us going to Washington DC, but we did make another family trip out there when I was a teenager. By that time our aunt was working in the office of Senator Alan Cranston. Our tour of the Capitol building was highlighted by a visit to the Senator’s office to see where our aunt worked. Later she worked in the Congressional office of Gladys Spellman, who represented the 5th congressional district of Maryland. She was working in the Spellman office when the representative collapsed from a heart attack. Spellman remained comatose for the rest of her life.

I was always proud to have an aunt who lived in Washington, D.C. There was something exotic about someone who lived in a distant city and was somehow close to the government of our country. I think there was a bit of admiration for the courage that she must have had to leave Montana for life in a very different part of the country. We knew many people who had grown up and stayed in our state. Knowing someone who had moved a long ways away seemed a bit special. Knowing someone who worked in the U.S. Capitol was unique among our peers.

What I remember most, however, is how close the sisters remained. The three in Montana and the fourth in Washington D.C. were able to overcome whatever physical distance existed between them. They figured out how to stay connected through letters in days when long distance phone calls were very rare. They got together whenever they could and thoroughly enjoyed being together whenever they were able. We enjoyed hearing the stories of their childhood and teenage years and it seemed like there was always a new story each time the sisters got together.

After our mother was widowed and our aunt retired, they were able to get together a bit more often. Our mom was able to make a few trips to Washington D.C. alone and later was able to visit our aunt in her home in Florida where she moved upon retirement. The cost of phone calls decreased and the two sisters were even able to have a couple of video chats over the computer before our mother died.

Our aunt passed away yesterday. It wasn’t a shock. We knew that she was facing serious health challenges. She had suffered a stroke and was a in a rehabilitation center following her time in the hospital. Still, we had no way of knowing that yesterday would be the day. She was the last of the sisters to die. We no longer have any living aunts on that side of our family. Only one of our father’s siblings is still living. The generation is passing.

As a child growing up, you seldom think of the passing of your elders. It seems like your parents and aunts and uncles will go on forever. We were blessed with a close family that made getting together a high priority. We had the example of our parents’ relationships with their siblings as a model of how family should be. Looking back from this moment, I have become aware of how our children have been paying attention to our relationships with our siblings as one of the models for their lives.

There was a special lesson that we learned from our Aunt Lois. It is simply that love is stronger than distance. Even when family is a long way away, close relationships are possible. In seminary we had academic discussions about the transcendent power of love. I already knew about that transcendence from living in a family. The book learning was merely reinforcing a truth that I already knew and understood. Love can overcome big distances.

And so this morning as I reflect on the wonderful family with which I was blessed and the delightful love that was demonstrated all around me, I am cheered by the memory of those sisters when they were able to be together. How much they enjoyed those times. What treasures they were each time they occurred!

And here is one more theological reflection: Love transcends death. The power of love is stronger than death itself. I’ve never been good at speculating the exact nature of heaven or what happens after we die. I’ve been comfortable leaving that to the realm of faith. But I am confident that one of the characteristics of that realm is love. Another, I believe, is reunion.

I am confident that the sisters are reunited and once again taking great delight in being together. Love never dies.

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