Funeral Sermon for my favorite General
November 14, 2009 St. Thomas Episcopal Church We gather today to celebrate the life and faith of one who was truly “an oak of righteousness" among us. Many of you are so well acquainted with General Beach’s life that I need add nothing to the details you all know so well. Many of us will try to fill the gaps as best we can in our personal and professional and community lives, and we will be comforted by his spirit and example. He would, I think, be quite impatient with any list of his accomplishments and honors; I suspect the list is somewhat incomplete at any rate despite the heroic efforts of those who helped him stay on top of his many commitments. In this I include especially his son Charlie, and Edna and Charlotte, and the many, many police officers who allowed him to break the sound barrier over the eastern Kentucky mountain roads! The General would want all of this work to be carried on, of course. In the best military sense, as he has laid down flags, he woul