Artie Yeatman

I just got home from Meeting for Worship at London Grove Friends Meeting to celebrate the life of Artie Yeatman, who died on Nov. 11 at age 84. He was a kind, patient, gentle, loving man who lived a full, joyful and principled life. I don't think I've ever seen the meetinghouse so crowded: the pews were filled and people sat on folding chairs in the library and even upstairs in the balcony.
And for an hour and a half, people stood and spoke about Artie's kindness to them and the profound impact he had on so many lives, his love for gardening and the Earth, and his strong pacifist and Quaker beliefs.
Elinor Thomforde read a moving passage from "The Prophet":
"For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
 Only when you drink form the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance."
What I'll remember is Artie's gentle smile and twinkling eyes and his unfailingly cheerful and positive outlook. Deepest sympathy to his family.