MY PERSONAL MEMORIES OF MY
SWEETHEART
ELIZABETH ROSENBERG
Rev. Bill Malick, Rev. Steve
Riley, Rev. Cliff Bowman, Rev. Steven Boyle, brother pastors and wives, my two
awesome nieces Dr. Luise Roseberry from New Jersey, Mrs. Katharine Steward from
Maryland, Yvonne Read, Perlita Uyboco, my brother and sisters from the San
Bernardino C.& M.A., colleagues of my wife, neighbors and friends.
The Glendora CMA church holds
special, warm, cherished memories for Elizabeth and me. In the summer of 1961,
my wife was with me, I came to candidate in the newly formed CMA church in Glendora.
Jack Cauwels was here, Bill
Warner, Al Prentice, Bill Maize and others. Since they had no other candidate,
I was called and thrilled beyond words to actually be a pastor after three
years of seminary study.
That was the start of my
pastoral ministry and ten wonderful years were with my wife. I am so pleased
that Cliff and Elaine Bowman are serving with passion, commitment and spiritual
fire after 16 years. And Pastor Bowman thank you for use of the church.
The death of my sweetheart,
my only sweetheart ever, Elizabeth has totally shocked and stunned me deeply.
Not until the day before Elizabeth
died, did it even occur to me that her homegoing was only hours away. But when
Father God says, “My child come home, it is supper time. We come.
The medical staff at Queen of
the Valley were absolutely wonderful. They did everything humanly possible to
heve her life. She had four specialists, dialysis and at the end chest
pressure. But her heart did not respond.
I value and appreciate your
testimonials and want to just add a little something more.
Elizabeth’s final words were “go to the dentist.” I told her I
had a dental appointment but because she was so sick, I hesitated to leave her.
She said, “go to the dentist, GO.
This in microcosm is my wife.
She constantly loved me, and put my needs and the needs of other people ahead
of her self. “Jesus, others, you”. Mother Kramer was her example.
Elizabeth’s father and mother brought her to America from Germany when she was but four years
old. She and her sister, Luise, also with the Lord, learned English rapidly.
Elizabeth graduated from Weaqueck high school in Newark, New
Jersey in 1943. The school was about 95% Jewish and on
the Jewish holy days she often was the only student in some of her classes.
Elizabeth was not the student body president, nor a cheer
leader, nor an athletic, but she enjoyed high school and had a few special
friends.
She was attracted to nursing
and was accepted as a live-in student at St. Barnabas hospital in Newark, NJ.
In those days, nurses were often trained in hospitals. In 1945 during WWII Elizabeth applied to the
Navy to be a nurse, but the war ended and so many nurses were no longer needed.
I have no doubt she would have become an admiral or general.
My wife had various nursing
positions with the VA hospital and served as a nurse with paraplegic war
veterans. She also served as a nurse at the Florence Critten home for unwed
mothers.
In 1950 my sweetheart applied
to the army, to be a civilian nurse at a high school for children of US service
men, stationed in the army of occupation. She was accepted and served three
years as school nurse in Nuremburg.
After three years in Germany, Elizabeth
felt her life was not going anywhere. She returned home and enrolled in Rutgers School
of nursing for a master’s degree. Elizabeth
was so outstanding that the nursing department hired her as an instructor, a
position she held from 1953 to 1960.
During that period Elizabeth
and I met. I still remember the first time we rode home from an IVCF conference
in Tom’s River New Jersey and I put my arm
around her. She looked at me with a “what the heck to you think you are doing”
look.
But we did draw closer
together because love is a plant that grows. I was always drawn to her more
than to anyone else.
When the Lord called me to be
a pastor and I shared this with Elizabeth,
her response was, Either go to seminary or forget about it. I had no idea what
seminary to attend. Elizabeth helped me to
decide on Fuller Seminary in Pasadena.
In August 1960 we were
married right after my brain was numb from studying Hebrew in summer school and
having to memorize 4- new words of Hebrew a day.
I returned home to NJ and we
were married by Dr. Mc Kaig, a professor at Nyack College
of the CMA, in the CMA church in Nyack.
Our honeymoon was the drive
across America
in the old, stick shift Chevy given to us by her father. It was an adventure
including a breakdown in Texas
on a weekend.
Elizabeth wanted me to concentrate on my studies with still two
years of school. So, she applied for a teaching position at the school of
nursing at Pasadena City College.
She was accepted, rose to rank of full professor, and taught for 34 years.
I can tell you we have met Elizabeth’s students in
all the hospitals we were in. She was a true trainer of healers. I have seen
the faces of nurse after nurse light up as she said, “Oh yes, I remember Mrs.
Rosenberg. She was strict but a caring teacher and I learned so much from her.”
When I became pastor in Glendora my original
salary was $5.00 a week. After a while the man said, what were we thinking and
raised my salary to $100.00 per month.
Elizabeth kept working and supported my in every way. She
served as choir director and did crafts for junior church and VBS.
When I accepted the call to San Bernardino, as a last
ditch stop-gap measure to save the church, the salary was $400.00 per month and
our tithes paid half. Elizabeth
never complained or whined.
At her prime, my sweetheart
on Sunday would play the piano then when I got up to preach, she always walked
out (we joked about this) and went to Junior Church
as the craft lady. The kids enjoyed her crafts and at peak, working with Mrs.
Jean Gossard, there were 30 children.
Then after a quick lunch,
choir practice. Then she led singing or played piano at evening service. Afterward
we went for a snack.
Elizabeth would go to work early Monday morning. Elizabeth was truly a
combination of wonder woman and super man for the Lord she loved so much.
My wife’s health started to
fail in January 2000 when she suffered a stroke.
Then in 2005 Elizabeth suddenly was
afflicted with a sarcoma, an incurable form of cancer.
The city of Hope doctor said she would scream in pain and
the cancer would double every three months. This never happened. And she kept
the arm until May 13th of 2009 when amputation was necessary. Then came a bout
with pneumonia, then back to emergency with atrial fibrillation, then back with
toxic poisoning.
When the amputation issued
had to be faced, she did it in characteristic way with prayer and Scripture....
My beautiful sweetheart,
Elizabeth fell at home on Saturday, December 19th, while I was at church. She
broke two bones in her ankle and on December 21, underwent orthopedic surgery
to have two pins inserted.
When her doctor recommended
rehabilitation therapy at Queen of Angels we agreed and she was transported by
ambulance on Christmas Eve. Not the best place to be on Christmas Eve but I
said, “Sweetheart, at least we are together and that is all that matters to
me.”
She seemed to be doing well. Our
sister Casandra Walker called and told me later she thought Elizabeth was in good spirits.
Then that sudden heart attack
and she was transferred to ICU. Not until the day before she died, did it even
occur to me that my beloved wife would be called home Thursday, January 7, 2010
at 4:00 p.m.
We planned to celebrate our
golden wedding anniversary in 2010 and were in early stages of planning with
our friend Yvonne Read. We were going to renew our wedding vows and invite
other couples at church to do the same with us.
What am I going to do now,
Lord willing? I have three pastor friends in San Bernardino who lost their wives but
continued to serve as pastor. This too, is my hope.
My wife said to me in no
uncertain terms, even when she was so sick, YOU BELONG IN CHURCH.
Never whined, “Retire, take
care of me ~ YOU BELONG IN CHURCH.”
I will continue to wear my
golden wedding ring she placed on my hand that summer evening 50 years ago. I
will always be married to my Elizabeth.
Death will not separate us.
In a few months I may seem to
have recovered from my terrible loss, working even smiling. Not so. Since
January 7, I am a wounded spirit until our Lord comes for me in the rapture, or
I am called Home personally. The choice is Christ’s, not mine.
I do take deep comfort in
knowing that soon all of us who are born again believers in the Lord Jesus
Christ will be together with our Lord and with one another forever and ever.
So long, my dear sweetheart
Elizabeth. You were a tower of strength to me for half a century. I will think
of you every day of my pilgrims journey. I miss your bright, beautiful smile
and hearing you say, “Hello, sweetheart Alan. I love you.”
I miss not being able to tell
her things. When I heard our niece Luise was coming from New Jersey and niece Katharine, I
instinctively wanted to run to her and say, “Sweetheart, guess what. Our nieces
are coming”.
A little preaching here. Bible
says, “Husbands, lover your wives AS Christ loved the church and gave Himself
for her.” To me that meant being a full service husband. I was the servant
leader, serving my wife in every way, large and small.
Just one quick final word. That word is FROG.
Sometime ago someone shared with Elizabeth, FROG;
·
FULLY
·
RELY
·
ON
·
GOD
My wife liked that and shared it with others.
So if you forget everything
else about my wife and sweetheart Elizabeth, I know you won’t but remember
Elizabeth Rosenberg and the frog lady, “fully rely on God”, and be a frog
person yourself.
Come soon, Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ.
Delivered
by Dr. Alan Rosenberg
at the
Memorial Service of his wife, Elizabeth
SATURDAY,
JANUARY 16, 2010
C.M.A. CHURCH, GLENDORA,
CALIFORNIA