Eulogy given at the memorial service for Hendrina Hospers, October 2, 1968 at Immanuel Presbyterian Church, Albuquerque, NM. Eulogy was written and presented by J. Denton Simms

Simms, J. Denton

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Northwestern College, IowaNWCommonsDocuments Hendrina Hospers1968Memorial Service Tribute to Hendrina HospersJ. Denton SimmsFollow this and additional works at: https://nwcommons.nwciowa.edu/hendrinahospersdocumentsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Hendrina Hospers at NWCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Documents byan authorized administrator of NWCommons. For more information, please contact ggrond@nwciowa.edu.October 2, 1968 MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR Albuquerque, New Mexico HENDRINA HCSPEEIS Immanuel Presbyterian Church We are paying t r ibute  today t o  an unusual person. By her quiet  and reserved manner; by her lack of ostentation, not many would think of her i n  term6 of the  extra-ordinary. Her humility and self-effacement would not give a stranger a clue t o  the unusual about her. Because the most of you have known and appreciated her, l e t  me share with you i n  a s p i r i t  of reminiscence this evening. Hendrina Hospers was born of aff luent  parents i n  Orange City, Iowa, September 18, 1880, of Holland Dutch extraction, the youngest of eight children. Her father  f o r  sometime, was a banker i n  the  tam of Orange City. Two of her brothers had become ministers of the Dutch Reformed Churhh .  The th i rd  brother was a newspaper publisher and printer .  Her four s i s t e r s  were mamied. rr.A.4a-t) Miss Hospers taught i n  the schools of Orange City, u n t i l  nearing her twenty- seventh birthday. She was made Superintendent of a Mission House of the Reformed Church a t  Ft .  S i l l ,  Oklahoma, fo r  the  Chiracahue Apaches, whom tl:e warrior Geronlmo made famous. They were prisoners of war resul t ing f romthei r  capture some years before because of t h e i r  h o s t i l i t i e s  i n  the southwestern s ta tes  of New Mexico, Arizona, and The Republic of Mexico. Two days before her twenty-seventh birthday, she arrived a t  her Mission Station, September 16, 1907. Her dedication placed her quickly in the affection of a people who had known l i t t l e  or  nothing of Christian love. For almost s i x  years she gave herself t o  the  giving of C h r i s t  t o  the Apaches there, and i n  the Spring of 1913 when the Ft .  S i l l  Indians, a s  they had become known, were given freedom from military supervision, then they were given the  choice of remaining i n  Oklahom or joining the  Mescalero Apache Indians of southern N e w  Mexico. Miss Hospers came with the majority of the Ft. S i l l ' s  who chose t o  join t h e i r  ancient cousins a t  Mescalero. It was a fascinating privilege t o  have met the special t r a i n  which brought them. Miss Hospers was the only Anglo woman with the company. We r e c a l l  the  scene so vividly, with the several hundred Indians alighting from the t ra in ,  and f o r  a far minutes standing as statues,  looking toward the mountains t o  the  East, with Miss Hospers moving along the l i n e  assuring t h e  l i t t l e  children who were hiding i n  the huge skirts of the i r  mothers, t h a t  they need not be afraid.  After spending a year and a half with the Ft .  S i l l ' s  a t  Mescalero, and becondng deeply concerned about and interested i n  the plight of the J icar iUa Apaches t o  whom Mrs. Simms and I were committed t o  begin the f i r s t  Mission i n  October of 1914, M i s s  Hospers was granted her request that she join us a t  Dulce, and followed us by Just one month. The sorruwful condition and circumstances of the  J i c a r i l l a s  a t  tha t  time re- quires volumes t o  describe -- but they were a vanishing race due t o  starvation and tuberculosis. Miss Hospers, with us, plunged in to  what many had already described a s  a hopeless and thddess  situation. When we would find a family member and some- times several whom were dying, she would spend days and nights nursing and feeding t h e m ,  r iding great distances t o  and from the  Mission, taking food and clothing. r -mrnu~~smVTCE FOR HENDRINA HOSPERS Page 2 I Miss Hospers recognized no fear  of contagion, although there were m i m u m  ex- posures, not only t o  tuberculosis, but a l so  i n  times of epidemics t o  other c m -  cable diseases. If ever the promise of "He Shall Give H i s  Angels Charge Over Thee" was granted l and f u l f i l l e d  fo r  a f o U m e r  of Jesus C h r i s t ,  it was f o r  this one whose memory we honor tonight. Because she did not contract these i l lnesses from the Indians, and rare ly  was she indisposed for  any reason, very few times did she f a i l  t o  make her da i ly  t r i p s  t o  the  huts and hovels of a suffering people. It was not long u n t i l  she had a routine and consistency of program as t h a t  on a certain day, the  Indians of each vrllage would know the exact day they were t o  see her. I n  our knowledge of missionary work and workers, we have never known anyone who so unreservedly, so continuously and f o r  such a long period of time, gave of themselves t o  the  comfort, the sp i r i tua l  and physical welfare of others, as Hendrina gave t o  the  JicariLla Apaches. There was not a single Indian who did not love and respect her, and who did not look forward t o  her coming t o  t h e i r  homes. But she gave herself a lso  t o  others. She was present a t  the b i r t h  of each of our children save one. She would get up early t o  do the necessary laundry for  Mrs. I i S i m s  and the babies, a s  well a s  fo r  the whole family, before getting on her l i t t l e  pony t o  make her rounds of the Indian villages,  r iding f i f t een  t o  twenty miles i n  a day. Later she drove an automobile. She would take her turn a t  night v ig i l s  when any of us were seriously ill. It seemed t h a t  her strength was always suff icient  for  the need. I When, by request of the U. S. Government, it was decided tha t  a Mission Board- ing School was necessary, because of the abandonment of government schools of which the majority of the children were a f f l i c t ed  with tuberculosis, Miss Hospers was the  key person upon whom rested reconciliation of parents t o  the i r  children attending school -- the children knew her and trusted her. In the annals of self-sacrif ice and unheralded services which are being written on the pages of the book of eternal  l i f e ,  by Him who inser ts  no fa l se  entry, we be- l ieve  that Hendrina Hospers' name w i l l  be inscribed by t h e  Divine Keeper of all re-  cords, and one t o  whom was addressed the words by our brd, "Inasmuch as you have done it unto the l eas t  of these, you have done it unto Me." You who have known her bave seen the reflection of what we have been saying i n  the punctuality and intensiveness w i t h  which she did what she was privileged t o  do, and interpreted by the devotion which she revealed i n  her Christian Fai th 1 and diligence. Somewhere, obviously, i n  Miss Hospers young womanhood, t h i s  unusual woman mastered the  secret of self-sacrif ice with a dedication t o  the service of her Lard and Master t h a t  made l i f e  r i c h  fo r  her, and wMch brought a contentrent unlike the organist who happened on a chord of music t h a t  fo r  the moment transformed l i f e ,  and then could never find it again. She caught and held a symphony i n  lowly Service, the s t ra ins  of which w i l l  resound through eternity.  MEMORIAL FOR HENDRINA HOSPERS 0 l iving God i n  whom there i s  no death and i n  whose s ight  a thousand years are  but a s  yesterday when it is passed, and our years as a tale t h a t  is  told: Thou a r t  the author of our being, the one whose thought called us in to  existence and whose purpose awoke in us response t o  t ruth,  with longings of soul that  can never be sa t i s f i ed  i n  t h i s  world and poss ib i l i t i e s  f o r  service t h a t  this ear th ' s  passing years can never fulfill. Our S p i r i t  bears witness with Thy S p i r i t  that we are Thy children with yearnings which earth cannot grant satisfaction. Spi r i tua l  hunger lures  us toward Thee, making us aware of the immortal nature of our s p i r i t s .  Deep within us is  a sense of our incompleteness, the half-formed purpose, the wavering w i l l ,  the d i m  vision, the things we feel ,  yet see but darkly. The completed purpose, the clearer s ight  -- these w e  want, cer tain t h a t ,  not i n  time, but i n  Eternity and by Thy grace can we come t o  such attainment. But we thank Thee t h a t  dedicated purposeful, divinely directed l ives  i n  quietness and humility, can by Thy grace and strength accomplish so  much i n  the  years of a l i f e  time. We give Thee our hear t fe l t  thanks and gratitude f o r  the  l i f e  of this one whose name is upon our hearts, because of her Christian deeds in an  unbroken ministry of devotion t o  Thee and Thy Church, i n  the cause of C h r i s t .  We pray t h a t  our gratitude for  her, fo r  her companionship, the  enriching years of her experiences, may be strengthened, and our memory of her never grow dim. May our gratitude t o  Thee for  a l l  l ives  l ived and served i n  the cause of Christ, renew within us the  divine assurance of Thy love which is the same yesterday today and forever. Grant us, we beseech Thee, a f a i t h  t h a t  i n  approaching the end of our earthly days, they w i l l  not be as a shadow, but the promise and conviction of a glorious sunrise. So grant us f a i t h  i n  the dependability of the  Divine purpose that we m y  surrender our beloved in to  Thy care without fear ,  knowing t h a t  under- neath a re  the everlasting arms and that a l l  things work together for  good t o  them that  trust Thee. J. Denton Simms 

Memorial Service Tribute to Hendrina Hospers

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Memorial Service Tribute to Hendrina Hospers

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