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ENID SCOTT BUSWELL
A Eulogy

by Ted Buswell

Mother has been very ill the past three months. She had become a close companion of pain over the past thirty years with the crippling arthritis which curbed her mobility to a snail's pace. This latest attack of fate upon her human frailty was met by the same stoic endurance we have come to admire and respect as central to her character for many years.

Although her body succumbed eventually to the ravages of sickness and the organic erosion inherent to human life, her qualities of faith, hope and charity shall long remain in the hearts and minds of the many hundreds of people touched by her through the many years of her teaching, in and out of the school house door.

Perhaps her essence is well represented by Albert Schweitzer's thought -- "The full measure of a person is not to be found in the person himself but in the colors and textures that come alive in others because of him." She has indeed endowed others with a fineness seldom seen in this world.

Her keen humor never left her. The other day, as I sat sad with long face by her bed, she looked at me and said "Well, are you going to talk?" to which I replied "Do you want to talk, Mother?" She looked me right in the eye and said "Well yes, if you have anything to say."

The last day she was able to speak to me, when leaving her bedside I asked her if there was anything she would like for me to tell anybody I might see for her. She told me with short breath and labored voice, "Just tell them to do good works." Perhaps no parting words could have been more meaningful nor expressive of her personality.

Our mother may best be eulogized by an essay she wrote a few years ago reminiscent of her years of teaching. Her words lend insights into her soul with great clarity. Allow me to present for you excerpts from "Walk A Piece With Me!" by Enid Scott Buswell.

"Please, teacher, walk a piece with me!"
How often my youthful companions made that request as we trudged homeward after school. These close pupil-teacher relationships have continued through the years and have proved a mutual benefit. We shall ever cherish the warm affection and lasting friendship we kindled when we walked a piece along the road of yesteryear.

Each of us is like a grain of sand intelligently moved by certain forces in order to transmit that movement to other forces. Our puny and mundane aspirations will be erased by time so that the lasting light of love and understanding will shine forth. The only eternal, immortal reality is the aspirations to Good, the ascent of Truth, Freedom, and Justice through Love. The only thing that has purpose is the reality of Goodness.

What wonderful experiences we have garnered in history's Adventures in Human Relations as we walked a piece along life's highway. After forty-six years teaching in the classroom and nearly four thousand students as a "captive audience" -- careful there Mother Buswell, your age is peeking out; (what with snow in the thatch and many fine etchings on the face) -- I extend my sincere thanks to my dear fellow students for granting me the privilege of "walking a piece" with them along the well-worn paths and the well-loved halls of our Kingfisher Schools. I never was acclaimed a great teacher, but according to John Milton, "they also serve who only stand and wait", and work hard at the job. Let's walk purposefully down Broadway again and sing with the old time zip and zest your favorite "chorus":

Full Text of "Walk a Piece with Me"

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