JUNE 8, 2018 E A ST H A MPTON PR E SBY TER I A N CHURCH
aJ
William M. “Willie” Maerov ’15 I speak this morning for St. Andrew’s, Willie’s second home, as we—his teachers and friends—join all of you in this congregation in our struggle to comprehend the enormity of Lance and Charlotte’s loss last weekend. In our grief, we are quite humbly and quietly, here—grateful for the family’s embrace and kind invitation to join them in prayer, reflection, gratitude at such a sad time; eager to do something, say something to help you feel our collective love and strength today and always. We need this time together—in person, in community, in congregation, in family—to understand the breath, scope, and resonance of Willie’s life. We need to explain to his father and his sister the extraordinary impact Willie had on our lives. We need to express how proud we were of him; his life, his vitality, his courage, his values, his grace. We need to understand the pain and devastation this tragedy has made us feel, and as we consider the love Willie and his grandparents inspired in our hearts, we need to find light, hope, and meaning in both our confusion and in our ever-expanding understanding of family. Amidst our impatient and restless questions about the place of random and cruel tragedy in our lives, we remember what we know today with certainty: the healing and revelatory power of love. Although we humans can’t control, comprehend, or understand the trajectory of our lives, we do have the infinite capacity to make love and the creation of a wide and all-encompassing family, our foundation, and guiding spirit. We have the freedom to feel, express, appreciate, and share a love that ultimately transcends the power of death and dissolution. In light of Willie’s life, consider these two passages from Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry: “There’s power in love to help and heal when nothing else can.” “When love is the way, we actually treat each other, well, like family.” These two passages capture Willie’s life and relationship with all of us. The very arrival of Willie at St. Andrew’s emerged, thanks to the friendship and love the Durkin and Krupinski family had for one another. As Charlie Durkin remembers it, Mary Durkin would always sit beside young Willie at dinner parties, marveling at his grace, maturity, intelligence, and kindness and at the same time understanding how receptive,
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