Family and friends, it is an honor to be asked by the family to speak for a few moments this morning. I extend my heart-felt gratitude for all that have expressed condolences at the death of my nephew. We appreciate your concern for the extended Perazzo and Lowe families and your respect by taking the time to be here today. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.
There is a certain peace that comes when we have an eternal perspective. The apostle Paul taught that knowledge begets peace. It is my hope that as I share my thoughts and analogies and words from the scriptures and living prophets this morning, that you may feel of the peace that an eternal perspective brings to the soul.
William Shakespeare in his play As You Like It once wrote:
“All the world’s a stage and all the men and women, merely players. They have their exits and their entrances and one man, in his time, plays many parts.”
President Boyd K. Packer, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, has likened our sojourn through the eternities to a grand three-act play. In my occupation as a high school drama teacher I like that analogy. I will use it in my remarks today and add analogies and thoughts of my own. Act I is entitled “Premortal Life,” Act II, is the time from birth to the time of the resurrection, and Act III, “Life After Death or Eternal Life.”
ACT I
In Act One, prior to our appearance on this stage of life we call mortality, we lived in the presence of our loving Heavenly Father. In The Family: A Proclamation to the World, we are reminded that in this “premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which we could obtain a physical body and gain Earthly experience.”
As the Eternal Director, our Heavenly Father gave each of us the opportunity to appear on the stage of mortality. He explained how we should act and the type of person we were to become. We understood that even though life, in a sense, was going to be an improvisational exercise, there was a basic plot and a plan that we should follow. As premortal spirits we studied together and we understood the responsibilities and risks of coming to earth. We understood that at birth, upon our entrance onto the stage, we would loose our memory of the instructions given to us. This veil of forgetfulness of our previous existence in Act One would provide a time of testing, an opportunity to prove ourselves in order to qualify for all that God has prepared for us to receive.
We waited in the wings anxiously anticipating the opportunity of coming to earth to receive a physical body. We were eager to put on our costume, so to speak, and have our moment in the spotlight. We knew that in mortality, we would be able to experience agency on earth and choose for ourselves between good and evil, discover the consequences attached to our actions, and earn the right to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again.
ACT II
Act Two began when we made our entrance onto the stage through the process of birth, whereby our premortal spirit received a physical body. We have entered a scene where loving parents provide for us and nurture us.
Our elder brother Jesus Christ has crossed the stage before us and set the perfect example of how to act. It is our challenge to emulate His example.
Besides showing us a pattern of how to live now, Christ, through His atonement, made it possible for all mankind to return and live with God in the future. He overcame both spiritual death and physical death. This means that spiritually we are able to repent and be forgiven so that we can become clean and can dwell in His presence, and that physically our body and spirit will be reunited and made whole and perfect in the resurrection.
Even though we cannot see our Heavenly Father while on this earth, He did not send us out onto the stage without providing the means whereby we can receive guidance to ensure our safe return. We can communicate with our Father in Heaven through prayer. The Holy Ghost, the prompter in the wings if you will, communicates with us the will of our Director through the whisperings of a still, small voice.
President Packer indicated that there exists somewhat of a script for this great play. That script, of course, is the scriptures, the revelations from our Father to prophets on earth. They reveal things as they are, as they were, and as they are to come—information about all three acts of our grand production. From them we can learn enough about all three acts to get our bearings and get direction in our life.
Yes, the entire world’s a stage, and we all have our roles to play.
Adam played many roles during the second act of his life.
He was a loving son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin, friend, and student. During his four years in high school I had the opportunity to work with Adam as his theatre teacher. He was also active in forensics and debate, Young Republicans, National Honor Society, and scouting.
From playing the role of the Door Keeper of Munchkin Land in The Wizard of Oz in junior high school, to Monkwell Manor’s innkeeper Giles Ralston in Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap his senior year, Adam played many roles. Adam was small for his age during that point of his life. When a script called for a child in a role, Adam wasn’t always happy to take on the part but always did a great job with the character. During his sophomore year Adam was outstanding as the sickly young boy Collin in The Secret Garden, a role which won him one our drama department’s Academy Awards. Two years later he won another Academy Award for his role as the younger brother in The Foreigner. Adam played a delightful Mr. Collins in our version of Pride and Prejudice. He also had roles in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Charley’s Aunt, Time Share, and Black Comedy to name a few others.
The family asked that I share a few stories about Adam. I visited with his good friend Caleb Jung and my son Andrew yesterday and asked what they remember from their high school days. Caleb and Andrew reminded me that in the comedy Charley’s Aunt very few of the cast members actually had their lines memorized. Adam played the role of the butler and he had taped pages of the script to the serving tray and all over the counter. Andrew had lines in the bottom of his hat. Caleb and a couple others were the only ones to be completely off script.
In Black Comedy there was a kissing scene that was suppose to take place. The actress’s boyfriend didn’t approve of another guy kissing his girl, so Adam played the scene in such a way that he dipped the girl way back behind the bed maintaining the illusion of a kiss and keeping the boyfriend happy. Caleb was sitting behind David and Jackie in the audience on opening night and shared that Jackie whispered to David “Adam didn’t tell me about this part.”
They reminded me that they weren’t always on task during class. They loved to have cushion wars and throw the seat cushions at each other. The custodian came in and caught them in action. He threatened to write Caleb a referral when Caleb, in reality, was just fending off the flying seat cushions. Adam spoke up and told the custodian that if he were going to write Caleb a referral, then he would need to write him one as well. In the end the custodian didn’t write any referrals.
The boys sometimes used my backstage office computer when they weren’t needed for a scene on stage. They often played the computer game Tanks on it. Adam, Caleb and/or Andrew would take turns adjusting the distance and angle of their next shot and shooting back and forth.
I had a very talented group of students that went through my program during the years with Adam, Caleb, and Andrew. We all had a great time and somehow managed to present some truly great plays.
Caleb and Andrew also shared some great stories from their debate trips. Stories of burning paper cups full of water, late night scary stories (so scary that Adam called his younger sister Alicia for comfort—she told him to suck it up and go to sleep), the trip when Caleb thought Adam was teasing about being on steroids and was shocked when he actually took out the alcohol swab and injected his growth hormones. Debate was a great excuse to get out of school early on Friday to spend the weekend with friends, staying up and talking late into the night. Good times had by all.
Last night Adam’s uncle Reed, Jackie’s brother, mentioned that Adam loved to live life to the fullest. One of the pictures in the slide show that Reed put together for the family is a picture of bare-chested Adam and Andrew. Homecoming weekend during their junior year, David and Jackie were out of town, so Adam stayed at our home. The boys got into the spirit of homecoming with body paint. Adam had a green chest with the word “GO”, Andrew’s white body and bare chest had the word “WAVE”. They had a great time cheering on the Fallon Greenwave. It was a chilly October evening and we thought they would have sense enough to put on a shirt if it got too cold… but they never did. Adam ended up catching pneumonia. Another example of living life to the extreme.
I also spent a number of years as Adam’s scout leader. Adam followed in the footsteps of his father, uncles, cousins and three older brothers and earned the rank of Eagle Scout. Adam learned and lived the principles of the Scout Oath and Law.
One summer at Camp Fleischmann, my brother Alan and I went up as the troop adult leaders. Adam had packed a week’s supply of canned pineapple, and despite the great cooking at summer camp, all Adam wanted to eat during the entire week was his pineapple.
His cousin Andrew shared that one summer while at camp they decided to take the Shotgun Shooting Merit Badge. Adam wore a sweatshirt and a jacket to help absorb the recoil of the shotgun. It didn’t work as well as he had hoped and within two or three days Adam’s shoulder was bruised so badly that he had to stop.
Adam was active in his church assignments and honored his priesthood. He graduated from seminary and as was shared by his mission president, President Marc Jones, Adam served with honor a two-year mission in the Lansing Michigan Mission.
The roles that Adam played in his sojourn in life were varied and helped him to develop into the unique child of God that he is. Though his life was cut short, it was well lived, lived with enthusiasm, and lived with honor.
Eventually, we each must all face the end of morality—a final curtain call or graduation if you will.
I hope that we too may say as the apostle Paul: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” I hope that we can look back on life with joy in the scenes which we performed, that we may open the door into the wings for our final exit and not only receive a standing ovation from the audience for our performance, but a “Well done thou good and faithful servant” from the Director who waits for us off-stage.
We know that death is not the end. Prophets throughout the ages have taught this truth. In the scriptures we learn that after the curtain closes on mortal life “… the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, … are taken home to that God who gave them life. … that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care and sorrow.”
ACT III
Then as the result of Christ’s victory over the grave, the day will come when we shall all be resurrected. “All shall be raised from this temporal death, the spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time. Now this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous, and even there shall not be so much as a hair of their heads be lost, but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame.”
CONCLUSION
There have been several poems this day. I'd like to share one written by President Gordon B. Hinckley.
"What Is This Thing that Men Call Death?"
What is this thing that men call death?
This quiet passing in the night?
‘Tis not the end but genesis
Of better worlds and greater light
O God, touch Thou my aching heart
And calm my trouble, haunting fears
Let hope and faith, transcendent, pure
Give strength and peace beyond my tears.
There is no death, but only change
With recompense for vict’ry won
The gift of Him who loved all men
The Son of God, the Holy One.
We have taken time today to remember the life of Adam Perazzo. We express gratitude in a life well-lived, gratitude for the time that we have had on this stage of life to spend with him. A door has opened and a final exit from this room to backstage has occurred. Where, back in the green room, a glorious reunion is taking place with those spirits that have gone before. We all await the glorious resurrection—when the body and the spirit will be reunited together in immortality and life eternal. When families will be reunited in celebrations of love. For the family is the most important social unit in time and in eternity. Under God’s great plan of happiness, families can be sealed in temples and be prepared to return to dwell in God’s holy presence forever. That is eternal life! It fulfills the deepest longings of the human soul—the natural yearnings for endless associations with beloved members of one’s family. We are part of His divine purpose: for it is His work and His glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
May we each listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, and allow our Father in Heaven and His son Jesus Christ to guide and direct us throughout our lives that we too may enter into His rest and hear, “Well done thou good and faithful servant,” is my prayer in the sacred name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, amen.
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Remarks given by Glen Perazzo at the funeral service of his nephew Adam on June 9, 2012.
Adam Perazzo made his entrance onto the stage of life on the 29th of August 1989. It was my first day of teaching at Churchill County High School. Adam exited the stage on June 2nd, 2012, the day after Ryan and Michael’s high school graduation from CCHS where I finished by 23rd year of teaching.
Sources :
President Boyd K. Packer, “The Play and the Plan” 7 May 1995
Elder Russell M. Nelson, April 2012 General Conference, “Thanks Be to God”
President Thomas S. Monson, April 2012 General Conference, “The Race of Life”
The Family: A Proclamation to the World
President Gordon B. Hinckley, April 1988 General Conference, “The Empty Tomb Bore Testimony”
President Craig Schank’s remarks from the funeral of Charles H. Davis, 19 February 1998
Alma 11:42-44; 40:11-12
2 Timothy 4:7
Matthew 25:21
Reviewed and edited several times by my loving wife Beth
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| Adam (age 17) and Andrew (age 16) Homecoming October 2006 |
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