Welcome
We thank you all for coming today to celebrate the life of our beloved Lies! We know there are a number of you who have traveled at great lengths and personal cost to be here, and a number of you are watching the livestream from around interstate and internationally. We thank you all.
On behalf of Marga and our family, we also thank you for your support during the last few weeks, especially to the carers, doctors and nurses of Silverchain, Kathy and your team at Guardian Funerals, Ruth for officiating today, and Andrew for being the music man with such efficiency! Lies would also be so thrilled to have her nieces sing at her funeral, and we are grateful for the special effort you have made to be here to do that for her.
In your order of service you will find a loose sheet, Lies requested everyone have a copy of this as ‘rules to live by’. We invite you to have a read, when you have a quiet moment. Lies also loved making calendars for her family and friends with different sayings for each day and she requested for her funeral that everyone take a heart as they leave, these are supplied in the basket.
After the service we would also like to warmly invite you all to some light refreshments at West HQ at Rooty Hill RSL, entry via the Novotel entrance, to share memories and stories of Lies’ life.
Nina Bobo
Nina Bobo, Oh Nina Bobo
Kalau Tidak Bobo, diggit nya muk
Nina Bobo, Oh Nina Bobo
Kalau Tidak Bobo, diggit nya muk
Tidurlah sayang, ah diku manis
Kalau Tidak Bobo, diggit nya muk [Indonesian Traditional]
Letter from Marie
Good morning every-one.
I am Marie van Tongeren, and was married to Michiel (we call him Miel) van Tongeren. Miel was Lies’ brother number 3, after Rudi and George.
So Lies and I were sisters- in – law.
The last time I saw her was in 2016 and my daughter Ria and son – in – law Jeff and I stayed at Lies’ place. Marguerite already looked after her mum I think and we had a happy time talking about the past, e.g the time in Papua New Guinea, where Lies got married to Alex Warlicht.
Both Lies and Marga picked us up at the airport and we took the train to Mt. Druitt.
I remembered we went to her friend’s place for a get together with other Dutch Indonesian friends and to enjoy home prepared Indonesian food.
Before Miel died in 1991, we were at her place also and he took many photo albums with him to show his photos.
Yes, I remember her house well and my grandson Michael also stayed at her place when he was in Sydney.
Thank you Lies for letting Miel and I stay at your place when our son Aschwin was at the Royal North Shore hospital after his car accident in 1971 and looking after me, when Miel had to go home and back to work .
The last time she was in cairns was on my 90th birthday in December 2014; she came with her daughter Marguerite and son -in-law David.
This was a very happy occasion.
Dear Lies, Rest in Peace.
Candle Poem
If we lit a candle,
For every kind word you’ve spoken,
every caring deed you’ve done,
every life you’ve ever touched,
the room would be filled with
a radiant glow.
Nature Boy
There was a boy,
A very strange enchanted boy
They say he wandered very far
Very far, over land and see
A little shy and sad of eye
But very wise was he.
And then one day
A magic day he passed my way
And while we spoke of many things
Fools and kings
This he dais to me:
“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return”
“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return” [Nat King Cole, 1948]
The Mountains of Life
There are many mountains in this life.
Some impossible it seems.
Each mountain has a passageway,
That overshadows our dreams,
With its rough and rocky trail,
It is all you truly need,
To climb your way to victory,
Don’t give up, you will succeed.
No mountain is impossible,
Every mountain can be beat,
Then you’ll ride the wind on high,
Like an eagle on the mountain top,
Wings outstretched and perched to fly.
Money
Money can buy a house, but not a home;
It can buy a clock, but not time;
A position but not respect;
A bed but not sleep;
A book but not knowledge;
Medicine but not health;
Blood but not life;
So you see, money isn’t everything. It often causes pain and suffering.
I tell you this because I am your friend and as a friend, I want to take away your pain and suffering. So, send me all your money and I will suffer for you. Cash only please.
Irish Blessing
May your glass ever be full,
May the roof over your head be always strong,
May you be in Heaven half an hour before the devil knows you’re dead.
An Interview with God
“Come in,” God said. “So, you would like to interview me?”
“If you have the time,” I said.
God smiled and said, “My time is eternity and is enough to do everything; what questions do you have in mind to ask me?”
“What surprises you most about mankind?”
God answered: “That they get bored with being children and are in a rush to grow up, and then long to be children again. That they lose their health to make money and then lose their money to restore their health. That by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present, so that they live neither for the present nor the future. That they live as if they will never die, and they die as if they had never lived…”
God’s hands took mine and we were silent for a while and then I asked.. “As a parent, what are some of life’s lessons you want your children to learn?”
God replied with a smile: “To learn that they cannot make anyone love them. What they can do is to let themselves be loved. To learn that what is most valuable, is not what they have in their lives, but who they have in their lives. To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others. All will be judged individually on their own merits, not as a group on a comparison basis! To learn that a rich person is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least. To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in the ones we love, and that it takes many years to heal them. To learn to forgive by practising forgiveness. To learn that there are persons who love them dearly, but simply do not know how to express or show their feelings. To learn that money can buy everything but happiness. To learn that two people can look at the same thing and see it totally differently. To learn that a true friend is someone who knows everything about them… and likes them anyway. To learn that it is not always enough that they be forgiven by others, but that they have to forgive themselves.”
I sat there for a while enjoying the moment.
I thanked him for his time and for all that he has done for me and my family, and he replied, “Anytime. I’m here 24 hours a day. All you have to do is ask for me, and I’ll answer. People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”