Chapter 60—The Memorial Service at Richmond
By special request of the officers of the Pacific Union Conference
and of the California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, a memo-
rial service was held at Richmond, Cal., the day following the funeral
of Mrs. White at “Elmshaven.”
It was not difficult to arrange for such a service, as the annual camp
meeting of the California Conference was in progress at Richmond,
and this city is on the main line of railway travel from the Pacific coast
to the East, where the body was to be taken for interment in the family
burial plot. Accordingly, announcements were sent out to the larger
churches close by, and on the morning of July 19 fully a thousand
friends from the cities surrounding San Francisco Bay and from more
distant points, assembled at the Richmond encampment.
Elder E. E. Andross, president of the Pacific Union Conference,
was in charge, assisted by Elder E. W. Farnsworth, vice president
of the Union; Elder J. N. Loughborough, an honored pioneer of the
advent movement; and Elder A. O. Tait, editor of the Signs of the
Times. [
The pallbearers were Elder J. L. McElhany, president of the
California Conference; and Elders A. Brorsen, E. J. Hibbard, G. W.
Reaser, W. M. Healey, and C. E. Ford. The singers were Brethren D.
Lawrence, C. A. Shull, J. H. Paap, and E. Lloyd.
]
The opening hymn, “Sweet be thy rest,” and the Scripture reading
by Elder E. W. Farnsworth (
1 Corinthians 15:12-20, 35-38, 42-45
;
2
Corinthians 4:6-18
;
5:1-10
), prepared the minds of the congregation to
enter into the spirit of Elder Loughborough’s invocation, in the course
of which he acknowledged that “while afflictions come upon us, and
[457]
while workers in this cause may lay down the armor because of lack
of physical strength,” yet God’s purpose will be accomplished. When
the Saviour was laid away, it was thought by His disciples that His
work on earth was at an end; but His death on the cross was in reality
the very life of the cause He had advocated.
A carefully prepared biographical sketch, written by Elder M. C.
Wilcox, of the Pacific Press Publishing Association, was read by an
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