Funeral for Benson Moses

Colleague and friend Benson Moses passed away on the 19th of December. Friends, colleagues, and traditional leaders gathered the next day in Mand to join the family in mourning their loss.

Spensin, Paul, and Bruce lead services in his home. At this point the home was filled with family and college colleagues.

After services in the home, the casket was carried over to the Mand Congregational Church for mass.

Just after this image was taken, the church filled to standing room only, with an overflow crowd on the lawns outside. One observer noted that the funeral was the largest he had seen in Mand.

Isipao Madolehnihmw led the traditional leadership's participation in the funeral.

Traditional tributes included sakau, yams, pigs, and giant swamp taro.

As the sun set in the west, the time had come for his final rest. At any age there is sorrow in the loss of a loved one. If one passes away at 115 years old, there is a sense that one has lived as full a life as possible. When someone young leaves us, when there is young wife and children grieving, there is a physically painful sense of grief and loss.

The drive home provided a chance to be lost in thought and sadness, the rivers overflowing with two days of rainfall, as if the sky had joined in mourning the loss.