Mr. C. Pat Lanyon & Mrs. Christine Lanyon  David, Joseph 
47 Long Hill Street East Hartford, CT 06108-1436 860-528-7205
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Saturday, September 12, 1998
Dear Friends of Jane Iola Lanyon, 
And the Lanyons: Bill & Jean; Janice & Michael [O'neil]; Gary; Pat & Christine: 
I would like to thank each of you for your sympathy notes and encouragements. I would like to give you a brief survey of our trip to CO from CT and a few of the things we did while in Colorado. 
Mom died at 3:45 pm, Wednesday, August 26,1998. (By the way, It is my 15th anniversary, to the day, of coming to CT!) Ten days previously I decided to purchase airline tickets and called Mom to tell her we were coming, hoping she could endure. Unfortunately she was just too weak. Gary would have been on his way to visit her within 1 1/2 hours as he had for five years each Wednesday and Sunday afternoon. The Sunday previously he had read to her the passage John 14. Gary had read biblical passages and numerous books to her that thoroughly prepared her for death. During this time he became highly assured of her salvation and trust in Jesus Christ alone to save her. The only profession of salvation I heard from her was a teenage conversion from a traveling evangelist. All four of her children later professed salvation through Christ, and their spouses. 
The airline company graciously transferred our Sept 8 tickets to a flight leaving Friday Aug 28. The weather was beautiful and Gary opened his basement for us to stay the entire time. On Sunday morning, August 30, we attended First Baptist of Westminster, Gary's home church. We heard that Dad and Mom's church, Tritown Baptist of Fredrick, was holding a special Fifth-Sunday afternoon service following their picnic at 1 pm held in their town's park. It was a beautiful and relaxed time. We then headed for the graveyard to view the tombstone before the service next day. We were too late to make another Denver church service, so we attended First Baptist of Lafayette, Pastor John Kemper. It was another blessed service and we saw more folks who attended Tritown in the past when our folks attended. 
The graveside service was set for Saturday at 10am. About 30 or 40 folk gathered with ideal sunny blue summer skies. My wife and I sang When I Can Read My Title Clear, right after I said three or four things about Mom. 
1) She was THE "MOVER" IN OUR FAMILY, taking us to spiritual salvations: a) a good Bible-believing church was the only kind we ever attended; b) there Dad, Gary and I all made insincere yet preparatory salvation decisions in 1963. 
Gary first was saved just after High school graduation, 1969; I professed salvation personally in the summer of 1972; and c) after moving to Dacono and attending Tritown Baptist, Dad professed salvation in 1974 or 75 under Pastor Roark's. ministry. d) They then moved to Ft. Lupton where Dad had some more space to "build" projects. They helped him stay healthy and exercise his feet which were giving him a lot of pain. e) their final move was to Firestone, closer than any other place previously to Tritown Baptist Church. 
2) Secondly Mom was an excellent FINANCIAL STEWARD for our family, as in Prov 31.16: She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. Proverbs 31:27 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. 
She made numerous investments; chief among them all was our Lakewood homestead at 7701 W. Mississippi, now called the Lanyon Subdivision, at W. Yarrow Street and W. Miss. streets. Some 18-20 lots were sold off which largely removed financial stress present since 1932 when they were first married. 
3) Thirdly, she was loved by her husband. He dwelt with her according to knowledge (1 Peter 3.7) and "praised her more than with lips", with his "life!": Proverbs 31:11 The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. Proverbs 31:28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. 
4) Finally, She FEARED THE LORD. Proverbs 31:30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. Mom KNEW the Bible. In 1977, at Tenn. Temple, our whole family without previous forethought went forward at Highland Park Baptist Church for rededication. It meant for Mom a promise to God to read the Bible together with Dad thereafter. In her Bible's front pages she recorded the numbers, and the last number marked was the 17th time! Mom loved also to win souls to the Lord. Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise. She witnessed with BOLDNESS, and though there is room for graciousness, those who were bold in scripture are praised (Acts 4:29,31) And now, Lord, behold their threatenings and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, 31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. I was so happy to see her trying to get people saved from sin. Mom's family was full of godly women and men. The poem on the inside cover of the funeral bulletin is written by her great grandmother, and a grandfather was a Preacher. 
Pastor Roark then spoke very heart-warming things about her and then he and Lisa Warinner Nevarez sang Farther Along. Pastor Goodpaster the present Tritown Pastor then preached a good salvation message. 
On Wednesday, September 2, we attended an excellent life-filled church in East Denver where we saw some friends of Gary's who knew him before he came to Tennessee Temple. Gary then invited us to go to a Russian-speaking Hebrew Baptist Church on Saturday at 4pm. It was an excellent service -- all in Russian-- even Russian snacks at the conclusion. We then attended on Sunday Morning at Tritown, the church most responsible for Dad & Mom's spiritual growth. Following the service we headed for our Uncle Wayne and Aunt Karen Hansen's in Longmont to share family pictures they might have interest in, since they are the only living relatives on mom's side of the family except for Mary Lou, who was unable to come. 
Sunday Evening we then attended another Russian Baptist Church in Arvada. Gary said this church was planting the Hebrew church. Furthermore, another Denominational Baptist Church was responsible for sponsoring the Russian immigrants who founded this church. It was packed that evening. Three sermons were preached, each one by a progressively experienced layman, and sandwiched between songs and poems, some memorized, and there were 6 or 8 instrumentalists to accompany the songs and specials. The poems as translated spoke of devotion to God and His Word, emphasizing His care and sovereign control over all life. The final message was on salvation and related to an airline crash which had just killed 228 people in the Atlantic. It was fascinating to see the oppressed Russian people worshiping God with such purity in "free America." There was extreme modesty throughout the congregation. For example, there is a custom that Russian married women wear scarves on their head in public church services as a symbol of their obligation to SUBMIT TO THE LORD AND TO THEIR HUSBANDS! Needless to say, this was the highlight of our visit to Colorado. We were able to also see friends we visited previous times coming to Colorado. We wanted to be a blessing to each one. 
While in Colorado we gave priority to encourage Gary, for he bore the burden of "HANDS-ON" care of Dad and Mom since January, 1993. This was God's call for him for he did a most excellent job in showing love and faithfulness to them. 
Gary loves TENNIS, so we played it with him. He is good too. He taught David how to hit the ball. We are thankful for his Temple school friend, Mr. Garrold Goodale who has been a "closer-than-a-brother" friend to him through these difficult years. Gary "Two" graciously loaned us the use of his mother's car all the days we were there. 
One of our visits was to a former neighbor of Dad and Mom's in Brighton. We visited Mr. Butch Forehand and his mother Mrs. Maria Kessler. Butch occasionally visited our home while I attended CU in Denver. It was during this time he made a profession of his faith, and though insincere and renewed later in 1984, it began Butch's spiritual path to the Lord. We praise the Lord for His saving work and grace to help, for Butch had passed through some deep waters, including the loss of his sister due to a serious cancer. His mother is getting progressively worse after a doctor's error that left her permanently handicapped. 
While returning to Connecticut, a young man sat next to me enroute to see his wife in Boston. He had been a assistant manager in a Florida Hotel for 9 years. He had just resigned, very unexpectedly especially to the owner. His reason for leaving: I have stopped growing in my life. He is now employed as a General Manager in a hotel in Vail, CO. We spent the entire time talking together. I gave him my tract and said "The most important planning you must do is for life after death. We have no human capacity for conceiving the full value and importance of spending eternity with God." Please pray for Mr. Judson Hawk to understand salvation and trust Jesus Christ to save him. He is Episcopalian, and his wife is Catholic, and they have two or three children. 
We now rejoice that Dad and Mom are reunited with the One they love, Who made Heaven Possible for us all. Our duty now is: Hebrews 12:1-2 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of WITNESSES, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, [2] Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 
Sincerely thanking you all for your cards, greetings, hugs, sympathy, gifts and friendliness at this coronation of Mom Lanyon! 
Pat Christine David & Joseph LANYON