The drive from Chattanooga to the Nashville area is a long haul. I wasn’t looking forward to the almost five-hour round trip as I prepared to speak at an interfaith conference sponsored by the Tennessee Holocaust Commission.
Fortunately, a friend offered to drive and I ended up loving the trip for its incredible beauty. I’ve always felt a spiritual presence in trees, and there we were, surrounded by plenty of them. It’s always emotionally difficult speaking about my dad, a World War II liberator, but I could feel his spirit encouraging me. I was reminded that I’d been invited to speak about my dad’s legacy for good reason. So by the time we arrived at the conference in Hermitage, at the Emmanuel Lutheran Church, I was ready to do my presentation: “Lessons of a Liberator Assigned to Interrogate Nazi POWs.”
I always write out my presentations like a movie script, practice reading it and then pretty much toss it out when I get up to speak. My “instruct and inspire” process brings old stories to the surface and makes them come alive so I can share them with the audience. The process works well for me, but it’s quite emotional. When I asked my hubby to read the script, looking for needed edits and unwanted repetitions, he did. But he brought it back to me sobbing, “Never ask me to read this Holocaust stuff again!”
I didn’t want to cry either and was heartened by reading about the church’s Pastor Andrew Abraham. His history includes serving in an Army Reserve unit deployed to the Persian Gulf in the 1991 Operation Desert Storm. Inspired by the life and theological insights of Martin Luther, he was moved to become a Lutheran pastor. Pastor Andrew seemed like the perfect person to read from my script, especially my father’s letter.
Thank you, Pastor Andrew for giving me time to breathe by reading from dad’s letters: