My dear friend Daniel Eaton Pentlarge died one year ago today. May his memory be a blessing.






Photo courtesy of Daniel Porcher


On 24 September 2005, Daniel's gravestone was unveiled.  Here is the text of the inscription:


DANIEL EATON PENTLARGE

Devoted son, loyal brother, loving uncle
Cherished partner and friend
Defender of freedom for all

He did so much to make the world more beautiful
Shared with us his gifts of grace and insight
And ministered to all with kindness

May peace and joy be always with his noble soul




This is the Hasidic tale, retold by Martin Buber, that I read at the memorial service after Daniel's burial in 2004:
'Rabbi Elimelekh once set out for home from a city he had visited and the Hasidim accompanied him for a long stretch of the way.  When his carriage drove through the gate, he got out, told the coachman to drive on, and walked behind the carriage in the midst of the throng.  The astonished Hasidim asked him why he had done this.  He answered, "When I saw the great devotion with which you were performing the good work of accompanying me, I could not bear to be excluded from it!" '

From The Way of the Jewish Mystics, compiled and edited by Perle Besserman (Boston:  Shambhala 1994)