Saturday, October 10th, Aunt Lillian Janet Salzman

Lillian Janet Stearman Salzman
September 10, 1921-October 5, 2009
Funeral with Military Honors
October 10, 2009
Military Nurse Corps
World War II
Children: Allen, Janis, Lauralee, Roger, and Lydia

Funeral at Immanuel Baptist Church, Kankakee, Illinois

My closest in age cousin, Lydia Thompson; 10 days older than me.
The farm in the background is the "home" place where now Roger lives with his wife Renee, pictured on the left.
Roger and Renee's first baby is laid to rest in this little cemetery. Renee maintains the grounds, therefore decorates the family graves here.


She will be buried next to her husband, Uncle Billy, my dad's oldest brother.
The best tribute I can give is what her son Allen said at the funeral:

"The Salzmans, whatever jobs we are engaged in now, however widely we are scattered these days, are still defined by our origins and roots in the land. We are the people who come from the soil. The blood of the nation’s agricultural past runs through our veins. It is not a mystical bond. We just have that simple, matter-of-fact confidence that comes from knowing the right way of going to work, the certainty that there will be some kind of crop next spring, even if we don’t live to see it. We attend church, volunteer in our local communities, and serve our nation, in peace and war. That’s who we are.

My mom was just a really nice farm lady. She was not ostentatious. She was a woman of grace, dignity, and modesty.

But you must not confuse her humility with weakness. She would not give you her opinion unless you asked for it, but if you did, it would put you back on your heels, because she was so right. She had an inner sweetness, but she also was self—possessed, she was strength in reserve. She would teach in the Sunday School, bring the guys lemonade out on the baler, put a band aid on your scratch and dry your eyes, serve on the PTA, and then make you Sunday dinner.

She survived it all; she relished everything that God sent her way : births of babies and grand-babies and great-grand baby, marriages, divorces, Depression, war, tornadoes, blizzards, the isolation and struggle of farm life, good times, bad times, and the changing times, her own disabilities and failing health. She never wavered. She affirmed life. Through it all, she was sure of her mission on this earth, of her place in your hearts, and assured of her salvation in Jesus Christ. Above all, she was confident of all of you, that you will live out the rest of your lives now, as good and decent people, straight and strong, caring for each other, with courage from prayer and Christian virtue, and the special bond we all somehow still share with the land, even if we don’t live on it, and because of that, through God’s grace, you will continue to receive God’s strength and blessing"