EULOGY  -  BROTHER ANTON EBERHARD        OCTOBER 17, 2010    

Written and Delivered by:  Paul S. Yarmo                    Nashua NH Stake Center

Brigham Young once said,   “I honor and revere the name of Joseph Smith. I delight to hear it;  I love it. I love his doctrine. I feel like shouting Hallelujah, all the time, when I think that I ever knew Joseph Smith, the Prophet whom the Lord raised up. I am bold to say that, except for Jesus Christ, no better man ever lived or does live upon this earth. I am his witness.

Likewise, I  paraphrase... “I honor and revere the name of Anton Eberhard. I delight to hear it; I love it. I love his doctrine. I feel like shouting Hallelujah, all the time, whenever I think that I ever knew Tony Eberhard,  the person, the father, the husband, the neighbor, the home teacher, the friend, the co-worker,  the brother,  the Latter-Day Saint.    

Here is another parallel of Joseph Smith and Anton Eberhard.  These are the words of Joseph.

I soon found . . . that my telling the story (of my vision)  had excited a great deal of prejudice against me among professors of religion, and was the cause of great persecution, which continued to increase; although I was just an obscure boy, only fourteen years of age......

However, it was nevertheless a fact that I had beheld a vision.... I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, and reviling me, I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it,

Tony Eberhard was not persecuted like Joseph Smith but as we all know, as was evidence by the way he lived his life and from his many many proclamations,  he had received a personal witness, a revelation from on high that this Joseph Smith story was true, that the Book of Mormon is the work of God and that fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ had been restored to the earth in these latter-days.    

He knew it and he knew that God knew that he knew it.  He could not deny it and would never deny it but rather looked for every opportunity, every day that he lived to share his pure,  profound knowledge of what was his most prized possession,  his testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ..

How do I know this?        

In May of 1976, as an investigator of the church, I walked into an LDS Chapel on Windsong Avenue in Manchester NH,        I thought I recognized a man on the stand, serving in the bishopric.  It was Tony and all his kids were seated on the front row.   Tony then became a regular at my missionary discussions.

Well, just as Tony knew that Joseph knew, I know both to be true as well.

Good afternoon Brothers and Sisters,  Family, Friends from near and far.   It is an honor and a privilege to be chosen by Pam to eulogize  Anton Karl Eberhard.

About a month ago I attended a seminar that allowed participants to step back for a day and reflect on their whole life, then prioritize and set goals,   During this day,  we completed an exercise where we were asked to write a eulogy for ourselves that we'd hoped, in a perfect world, would be read at our own funeral by someone that knew us very well.        The idea is that by completing an exercise like this, we'd get a better feel of what we hope for our lives, what was important, and where we were falling short.  At the end of the day, we could than plan to make out lives better by focusing on what mattered most.

As I reflected on the life of Tony Eberhard, I realized that Tony's life was full of what mattered most.   Of every one I've ever known, of everyone I've ever met or even knew about,  I know of no one more prepared for leaving this world, who feared death less or for that matter,  who looked forward more to this adventure of passing through the veil into the next life than Tony Eberhard.  

As I mentioned I've known Tony for over 30 years.   We attended the first meeting every held in Nashua Ward.        It was a Priesthood Meeting held at Mt Pleasant School just down the road.  

We help raised money for building this building.   Members of the Nashua Ward,  were asked to donate 1 months salary in addition to tithing, and fast offering etc for 3 years in a row.  

I could tell you countless stories of his great faith, hope, charity, and example but rather than talk about Tony's life, his accomplishments,  his personality, or sense of humor (and he had a great sense of humor), after prayer and much thought,  I concluded that the only true way to justly pay tribute and to honor Tony is to talk about the passion of his life and to try to express what I think he would say to you if he had time to prepare for this one last talk.          

And for those of us who knew him, even in passing, we all know what his passion was or still is.  To make this point, I'd ask you a few questions...

If you could be anywhere, where would you want to be and with whom?

If you could do anything, what would you be doing?

If you could have a discussion on any topic, what would you like to discuss?

For many or most of us,  our passions range from watching football, or playing golf, or reading or hiking, or flying, surfing, playing basketball,  quilting or whatever.  but... For Tony Eberhard,

Answer #1 would be to be with his family or those he loved, talking about the gospel.

Answer #2 is  he would be out with the missionaries talking about the restored gospel to those that don't know of it.

Answer #3 -  The default conversation throughout his life was the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Tony Eberhard's  passion was a search for TRUTH.        And that Truth was found and embraced in the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  

At the end of one of my missionary discussions, Tony handed me small red book titled "Added Upon".   It's a book that brings to life the Latter-Day Saint's Plan of Salvation.  (If you google Added Upon, you can download this book for free on the internet.)

The story concerns several spirit children of God who move from the Pre-Mortal life, to this mortal sphere, to eventually their eternal reward, interacting with each other at each step.  

These spirits in this pre-mortal life, experienced the grand council in Heaven and live through Satan's rebellion.   Perhaps the most touching part is when two best friends,  spirit friends,  are about to leave the pre-mortal world and receive bodies by being born into this world,  they realized that they were be sent to different families on earth at slightly different times and thousands of miles apart.  

One was going  to earth, born to a family where he were going to have every opportunity to hear and embrace God's plan.  The other to a distant part of the world with probably no chance to learn about God's plan of salvation.        

Knowing that a veil of forgetfulness was going to be draped over their memory of this pre-mortal life,  one spirit turns to the other as he's about to depart and with tears in his eyes he mouths the words "find me".

In Tony's mind, he was always  central character in that same story, as we all are.   Tony was keenly aware that he lived before this life and always on the look out for those who were pure in heart and wanted to know the truth.   He didn't view his life as starting in the 1940s.  He knew that his personage of spirit was thousand and thousands of years old.   He also knew that death wasn't the end.  He knew that his life would continue  forever, that this earthly existence is but the blink of an eye when compared to eternity.         And he wanted nothing more than for those he loved to embrace that self same truth and knowledge.

The preface to the Third Edition of this book  reads....

"A religion, to be worthwhile, must give satisfactory answers to the great questions of life:        What am I?        Whence came I?   What is the object of this life and what is my destiny?        True, we walk by faith and not by sight, by yet the eye of faith must  have some light by which to see."

Tony knew that in addition to the veil of forgetfulness that I mentioned, there is also a veil drawn between this life and the spirit world.   He also clearly knew that at times if enough righteousness, faith and prayer were exercised that this veil could be thinned to the point where he could learn of God's will  and where eternal truth's could be revealed.        He wanted nothing more than for us to realize this, that the heavens are open. He wanted all to experience this as well.

I remember as a brand new member asking him a very deep question about God's beginning or the creation or something about the universe.  Its funny how I don't remember the question today but I remember his answer.    

He told me that the answer to that question wasn't found anywhere in the scriptures.  He knew the answer but he wouldn't  tell me because it would mean more if I studied it out on my own,  researched it, and prayed about it and asked God for an answer, as he had.        He said, "That's the only way you're going to really know and if I just told you why would you believe it?  You should never trust in the arm of Flesh"

And then he recited  2nd Nephi 4:34

O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm.

I guess we all have been wondering  why God would take Tony from us at this crucial time.  He was healthy and strong and vibrant.  I pondered this and have concluded that Tony's work was done, his earthly mission was over.  

 As I look back on 30 years of my memory of Tony, he was remarkably consistent in his testimony and his faithfulness.  He was a pillar of strength.  When I first heard of Tony's passing, I was sad but I was OK with it because I had a vision of him meeting his dad that he lost at 5 years old in a Russian prison camp and all the others that have gone before.

But then yesterday,  as I got home from work,  melancholy set it.   I got really really sad.   And I thought gee, why they delay?   And then I realized that Tony was a consistent pillar of strength for me and for all of us.  Whenever I would see Tony  I was strengthened by his testimony.  Now that this is gone, that strength is missing.    

In a sense I was  putting my trust in his arm and relying upon him.  I think that there were many of us who were doing this.   Now that he's gone, we need to heed his advice, and put our trust in God fully.  Now it is time for us all to step up be strong in his absence.        There are things we can only learn from him being gone.  

That would be Tony's first message to us today.  

As I discussed with him many times, the greatest dichotomy of this life, the greatest problem in the entire universe, consists of two facts.

The first we can read in Doctrine and Covenants 1:31: "For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance."

That means God can't stand it, he can't tolerate it, he can't blink, or look the other way, or sweep it under the rug. He can't tolerate sin in the least degree.

The other side of the dichotomy is very simply put: We all sin.  Tony and you and I are not perfect.   If that were all there were to this equation,  the conclusion would   inescapable be that we, as sinful beings, cannot be tolerated in the presence of God.

Tony's second and last message to you today, would be that the Atonement of Christ,  can resolve this dichotomy.  It played a central role in his life and can play a central role in ours as well.  

He loved  Isaiah 1:18.

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Tony's message throughout his life was that the Lord is saying is over and over to us.  

"I don't care what you did. It doesn't matter what you did. I can erase it. I can make you pure and worthy and innocent and celestial."

To have faith in Jesus Christ is not merely to believe that he is who he says he is. Sometimes, to have faith in Christ is also to believe Christ when he says, "I can cleanse you and make you celestial."

Tony knew he wasn't perfect but he also knew he didn't need to be.   None of us are! None of us qualify on the terms of perfection required for the presence of God by ourselves.  

There is good news and bad news with this though. The bad news is that God still requires our best effort. We must try, we must work--we must do all that we can. But the good news is that having done all we can, it is enough--for now.   Together we'll make progress in the eternities, and eventually we will become perfect--but in the meantime, we are perfect only in a partnership with Christ, in a covenant relationship with him.  Only by tapping his perfection can we hope to qualify.

As I mentioned Tony wanted nothing more than for those he loved to embrace these self same truths and knowledge.         It is my prayer that we will all honor Tony's remembrance by embracing and implementing these principles in our lives....

There are no words that Tony wanted to hear more than....

My son, your sins are forgiven you.   and

Well done my good and faithful servant.

I am confident that heard both as he passed through the veil last Friday afternoon..... in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.