Farewell Address

(My grandparents were Methodist medical missionaries in Alaska, Nepal, Afghanistan, and, finally, in Yadgiri, India)

to Dr. and Mrs. Carroll H. Long
by Central Methodist Church, Yadgiri, India
31st March, 1968.

"To come, to meet, to love and then to part
Is the saddest story of many a human heart."

Beloved Dr. & Mrs. Long:

It is with an emotion charged with sadness we have gathered here this afternoon to bid you a farewell. It appears but yesterday when we with anxious expectation received you into our midst with open arms and bound our fellowship with hoops of steel. The inexorable hands of the clock have moved and moved with such relentless rapidity that it is impossible for us even to imagine that you will be missed from this gathering in a few days.

The Church in India has arrived at a perilously critical juncture. The era of rapid change in political, econonic and social spheres have demanded a rethinking on issues vital to its very future. The days of passive and callous dependence are giving way to a more intense active independence. There is a discernible change in our mental attitudes from that of utter indifference to immense involvement. It is in this context that you have come here with your reputation as a greay lay leader in your own national church.

You have set an example of how our frontiers of lay activity could be expanded. At a time when the laity is urgently summoned to march towards the new horizons, hitherto untread, we have drawn inspiration from you as a remarkable giving layman—giving not only money but time, talent and energy.

As a man you have a rich glow of Christianity about you. Easily accessible to all levels, you had a comforting honesty, humour and modesty which endeared you to all. Your sympathy was evoked from every quarter, be it the poor hosteler's food in Gulbarga or a struggling church at Yadgiri to build its parsonage.

As a Surgeon Sir, you brought to your professional work a refreshingly rare combination of skill of your hands, the cool reasoned decisions of the head and a compassion of the heart. A willingness to suffer for and with the patient added a novel dimension to our routine. No wonder there will be a countless numbers of patients who, being recipients of your succour, will profoundly miss you henceforth.

Your service was not constricted by narrow considerations of denominations nor restricted by geographical confines. You were ready to serve humanity whenever and wherever—a veritable ambassador par excellence of your God and Country.

Mrs. Lou Ann Long, you have been a delightful companion and a fountainhead of inspiration to Dr. Long. In your own quiet way, unassuming and uncomplaining, you have put the artistic touch of your hand to scores and scores of letters. We will remember you not only for the courageous donation of your blood to a poor Indian child but for more profound qualities of perception and kindness.

Both of your lives have been lives of usefulness and there is nothing in the world as important as that. It binds your fellow creatures to you by bonds far more secure than steel and gives you importance much beyond and far superior to what artificial station can bestow.

We, the Members of this Church will miss you both immensely as you go back to your country. But in a strange way your presence will always be felt.

May God bless you both and use you even more in future.

Respectfully submitted,

THE MEMBERS
CENTRAL METHODIST CHURCH
YADGIRI; MYSORE STATE - INDIA