The Memorial Service for
George T. Gavaris
Friday, January 28, 2011

Words of Adoration from the Psalm 34
Psalm 34: ‘ 1 I will extol the LORD at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips. 2 I will glory in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. 3 Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together. 4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. 6 This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. 8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. 9 Fear the LORD, you his holy people, 22The LORD will rescue his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned. for those who fear him lack nothing.’

Remarks and Acknowledgments
Thank you for honoring my father and showing your love for my family by attending this memorial service.


Scripture Reading

Job 1:21: ‘And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”
Psalm 90:10: ‘10 The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.

Prayer of Comfort

Music: ‘No More Night’ as performed by David Phelps

Eulogy for George T. Gavaris
My papou (grandfather) was a Greek immigrant with a 3rd grade education. He owned Olympia Bakeries, selling hot dog rolls and provisions in the early 1900’s in NYC. The company later sold to a company many have heard of – Sabrett.

My dad’s first recollection is that of being five years old and playing near his father’s horse drawn bread truck. My grandfather noticed dad was missing and obviously became alarmed. No problem though – the very mild mannered horse had simply ambled back to the stall, with dad in the wagon in back. The horse knew the way back home and carried dad with him.

Like that horse pulling the bread truck when dad was five years, God knows the ‘way back home’. Some 95 years after that incident God returned for dad, at 8:45am on Sunday January 23rd. to be exact -bringing him safely home to heaven.

In between 1910 and 2011, dad lived a full life, seeing the invention of the car and the invention of the Blackberry Smartphone.

His graduated the high School of Commerce – the same HS that Lou Gehrig attended. In fact, he met Lou Gehrig when he returned to the school 10 years later.

He was a member of the Arista Club (similar to the National Honors Society, whose goals were the promotion of scholarship, leadership, to service to the community, development of good character and citizenship. After HS, dad went on to NYU, graduating with a degree in accounting in 1936.

He and his three other brothers (William, Peter and John) all used their middle initial ‘T’ to honor their grandfather, Theodore. Grandpa never went to college, never even finished grade school – but the boys wanted to ‘take him to school with them’, so from then they were all proudly used their middle initial He managed various basketball teams while working with American Smelting and Refining Company during the late 1930’s.

In the late 1930’s dad was the chairman of the youth division of the Greek War Relief. In 1942, he went off to war, a not so young thirty one year old man. He was stationed in the Pacific, earned seven medals, was a member of the OSS, and waded ashore with MacArthur in Leyte. He joked about being ‘a war hero’ and ‘a commando’ brushing it aside as if everyone who went to war just did their duty – nothing more.

During the mid-1940’s he managed his father in laws ice cream shop in Springfield Massachusetts. In the fifties he and mom moved to Long island, dad becoming chief internal auditor for Haskins and Sells, a major accounting firm in the United States, now known as Deloitte.

When my mom went to be with the Lord in 2002, dad’s first response while at her side in the hospital was ‘The Lord gives and the Lord takes away” - an acceptance that someone else had ownership of mom. Shortly after mom death – October 2nd, 2002, dad trusted Christ as his Savior and Lord. Mom had trusted Christ in 1977.

If one word described dad, it would be ‘Adaptability. Anyone who knew my dad knew that he adapted to every situation in his life. He faithfully stayed by moms side during 56 years of marriage, despite the challenges of moms emotional and mental state. To some that was weakness. To me, that was faithfulness to his marriage vows and I’ll always be proud of him for that. What he said, he meant.

When mom was given three months to live he moved into died Fulton Commons, a nursing home 5 miles from here, to be with her. He really couldn’t have lived alone.

After mom died in 2002, dad he worked hard to see the good of the situation, bringing happiness and encouragement to the other residents.

For the past eight and a half years, we’ve visited dad twice a month, loving him, getting to know him, being loved by him. God gave me more in those eight years with dad than throughout my life growing up and dad knew he was loved.

A week ago, when dad stopped eating, we spent night and day together. He hugged me often, he smiled, he occasionally grimaced in pain. We had prayer, I sang every hymn I knew - he heard Scripture. He was at complete peace. The night before the Lord came for him, he stared out, smiled a huge smile of wonderment as if saying ‘wow! He knew it was time, he wasn’t afraid and he was ready.

From the director of Fulton Commons Care Center (who fed him when he returned back from the hospital a few weeks ago) to the janitor who laid his hand on his head and prayed that the Lord take him home, from the administrator who cried for him to the nurses who cared for him, from his doctor who said he considered him ‘more of a colleague than a patient’ to the residents and their families who enjoyed him - all knew him, all loved him, and all will miss him on this earth, but all who have trusted Christ personally will see him again. God promised that, and He doesn’t lie.

Scripture Reading

Revelation 21:1-5

1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven
and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
2And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the
dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and
they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as
their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and
death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor
crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed
away."
5And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am
making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these
words are trustworthy and true."

Remarks by family and friends

Message: Rev. Dean Gavaris – “I SHALL RETURN”

One unique part of dad’s life involved his Army days in WW2. Dad was in the OSS, stationed in the South pacific. He was ‘island hopping from New Guinea to Mindinao, Luzon, ’ to Leyte and Luzon in the Philippines.

In February 1942, as the Japanese were surrounding the Philippines, General Douglas MacArthur was ordered by President Roosevelt to relocate to Australia. As he was leaving he vowed. ‘I shall return’.

On 20 October 1944, General MacArthur fulfilled his promise, exiting the famous Higgins boat and wading ashore on Leyte, saying "I have returned" beginning the four-day Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle in history. Dad was there with the 533rd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment.

As I was looking at John 14, I realized that dad had another encounter with a phrase very similar to ‘I shall return’. It was spoken by the Lord Jesus to his disciples before he went to the cross.

1“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2“In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3“If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. 4“And you know the way where I am going.” 5Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” 6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’

In verse 1 We see his offer of ‘peace’ – let not your hearts be troubled.

In verse 2 We see His preparation of ‘a place’ – dwelling places –rooms, the KJV says ‘mansions’

In verse 3, we see His promise – I will come again - I shall return! Jesus promises to return to take all believers to be with him in heaven.


General MacArthur’s statement was a promise based on his intent. Jesus Christ’s statement is a promise based on his character. He doesn’t lie and can’t lie. He can deliver what he promised. He promised over 300 times in the New Testament that he would return to take true believers to be with him.

General MacArthur’s promise was fulfilled within two years and 8 months as he stepped off the famous Higgins boat onto Leyte Island. Jesus’ promise for dad was fulfilled some two thousand years later. But what about us? We’re still here. Did we ‘miss the Higgins boat’? No.

For those who have trusted Christ to have paid the penalty for their sins, Christ comes for us at our death or at the ‘rapture’ when Christ physically returns to earth to take all living believers to be with Him.

In verses 5 and 6, we see His provision – the Way is through Him – trust in His finished work on the Cross. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Thomas question is not so bizarre “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?”if you consider it from Thomas’ perspective. ‘Jesus, we’ve never been to heaven so how can we know how to get there?

It is sad though, because Thomas had been with Jesus for the past three years. He should have known.

Christ’s provision for dad lead to ‘a sufficient faith’. Dad reaffirmed his trust in Christ’s finished work, raising his frail, thin, 100 year old left hand a number of times before he no longer could raise his hand.

So, what about us? Is there any comfort for us?

In verses 16 and 17, we see promise to leave a helper, the Holy Spirit, one called alongside to advocate and to comfort us while we await His return.

Dad had a secure faith, based on God’s promise in Romans 10:9 - if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Dad had a simple faith – trust in what Christ did on the Cross and not his good works over the past 100 years to get him to Heaven. Ephesians 2:8-9: ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Genesis 3:19 presents us with a sobering truth: for you are dust,and to dust you shall return." Our years on earth compared to all eternity are brief – whether 50 – 70 or 100. We all will physically die, but our soul will live on, either with Him in Heaven or apart from Him, by our own choosing, in a real place called Hell.

Dad was an accountant. He knew a great deal about ‘balancing books’. For the greater part of his life, though, his name was not written in God’s Book of Life. But one day in 2002, he realized that there would be ‘a final accounting’ (we are all appointed to die, but after that, the judgment), when all ‘the books are opened’. His ‘debits’ were his sins.

He had no ‘credits’ to his name – no answer to the soul-searching question God could one day ask: ‘Why should I let you into my heaven?’

But Lord, didn’t you see that I was an honor student, a swimmer and a runner, a leader of men, caring for poor Greek children before the war, a decorated veteran, a faithful husband, a loving father – why even in the nursing home I cared more about others than myself – doesn’t that count for heaven?

It’s not by good works or being religious or living until we’re really old that gets us to heaven.
So what was God’s ‘eraser for dad’s sin’? Nothing put the blood of Jesus Christ. Dad’s trust in the finished work of Christ ‘cleared the ledger, ‘settled the account’ and had it marked ‘paid in full’
Better yet, God gave dad the ‘down payment’ of His Holy Spirit.

The Apostle Paul in First Corinthians 15 says that all who’ve trusted Him to satisfy the penalty of their sins will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the clouds.

50I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." 55"O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?"
56The sting of death is sin, and(BT) the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God,(BU) who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ

One commentator (Albert Barnes) says that there are at least three words of comfort here:
1) first, that those who had died in the faith would not always lie
in the grave. The grave is temporary.
2) second, when believers precede us in death, as dad has -
they do not occupy an inferior condition because they died before the coming of the Lord; and
3) third, all Christians, living and dead, will be received to heaven and dwell forever with their Lord Jesus.

These are words of comfort!
To the degree we believe these words, we will be comforted.
It is no comfort if we’re “left behind” when Jesus comes again.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

God loves each and everyone of us, but sin has separated us from Him.
Christ shed His blood on the Cross as a substitute for the punishment You and I deserved. He died in our place. He rose from the dead. He is the only way to God. But, as the back of your brochure clearly states, ‘It is not enough just to know these three laws.”

We must individually trust Christ as Savior and Lord, as dad did in 2002, then we can know and experience His forgiveness for us and His plan for our life. For dad, he trusted Christ at age 92, but you may not have that long before the ‘days ordained for you’ come to an end.

Christ’s return can’t be pinned down to a day, hour or year, Matthew 24:36 "But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only". So we need to be ready, as dad was.

The one who has trusted Him, whether here when he returns at the Rapture, or in the grave is assured of heaven because their sins have been paid for in full.

The greatest comfort you can know today is to know with a surety that by trusting Christ, he has paid the penalty for your sins.

Illustration: Imagine, if you would, two pictures – my dad is in both.

The first picture is taken in October 1944 on the Island of Leyte. A famous American General has promised to return, and has!

The second picture is taken at 8:45 on Sunday January 23rd of this year.
Christ, the Lord of all promised he would return for all who trusted Him for salvation and He has!

My dad lived a very long and very colorful life, but none of that assured him of heaven. Only what Christ did and what dad trusted he did assured him of heaven. What about you?

Have you trusted Him to forgive your sins and be the center of your life?

Are you certain of your relationship to Him, as my dad was?
Today can be your day of salvation.
Let’s pray together

Congregational Singing: ‘Amazing Grace’
Closing Prayer