From Apple Valley to Newport Beach this weekend, the people of God in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles bade an earthly farewell to gifted priests who leavened their gospel preaching and teaching with considerable savvy about the ways of the world. I had the privilege of presiding at their celebrations of life.
Up in the desert, above the Cajon Pass, the people of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church first got to know the Rev. Dr. John Limo as a pastor with a twinkle in his eye and melody in his voice. As his narrative unfolded, they also came to understand that they were in the presence of a brave freedom fighter. He was born in Kenya, the seventh in a family of 12 children. After his ordination, he stood with Anglican bishops, deacons, and priests who advocated for clean elections and was severely beaten by government thugs who took a different view. His spouse of 33 years, Violet, is a politician’s daughter. Even after moving to our diocese, they continued to support the Horace Tucker Foundation in Kenya, which provides scholarships and mentorship to at-risk young people. Conversations with this couple (shown in the first picture below, at John’s 2019 rector installation) were like a graduate class in political science.
John died in mid-October after years of health struggles. They and I had communion at the hospital 12 hours before, and he had still been fighting courageously. His friend of many years, the Rev. Canon Dr. George Okusi, was the eloquent homilist at St. Timothy’s on Friday. John’s dean, the Very Rev. Canon Bill Dunn, read out the gospel. Violet’s beautiful eulogy was a gift none will forget. The tributes continued through lunch in the parish hall. Drawing members of the Kenyan and Kenyan-American community from all over the region, the day felt like a song of Christian unity across difference and distance. Violet was getting set to fly to Kenya on Saturday. Canon George will follow mid-week with John’s remains, the friends’ last journey together until they are together again.
The Rev. Dr. Ellen Hill, who died in early October after a long illness, touched the lives of many of our congregations — St. Andrew’s in Irvine, where her formation for mid-life ordination occurred; St. Michael and All Angels in Studio City, where she was rector for 10 years and did the necessary but difficult work of closing its parish day school; Church of the Messiah in Santa Ana; and St. James the Great in Newport Beach, where Saturday’s celebration of life took place. Before ordination, she was an executive for a major Orange County builder.
In the second pew was Sister Laura, Ellen’s longtime spiritual director, who happened to be celebrating her 90th birthday. Ellen’s two children offered remembrances after a moving homily by St. James’ rector, the Rev. Canon Cindy Voorhees. A financial executive, Andrew said his mom was a doer, not a talker. Anne, who works for the City of Portland on behalf of those battling homelessness and addiction, talked about long walks with their mother around London, where Ellen’s spouse, Lamar, was getting his doctorate in history. The liturgy also included speaking roles for Ellen’s grandsons, Brycen, Hayden, Matthias, and Thomas. At the reception in the parish hall, I learned from members of the substantial Messiah contingent how Ellen had played a lead role in organizing Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s famous appearance at Santa Ana High School in May 1990.
