“They will come home and sing songs of joy…” Jeremiah 31:12
I believe it.
April 7, 2016 – Just week’s shy of his 100th birthday – our Uncle Mark Denton, the serious looking young man on the right – standing with his brothers – the quartet getting ready to sing…
slipped into eternity. 
He hadn’t been ill. Just the day before he was planning a trip with Barbara, his wife of over 31 years, but he fell… as 99 year old men are prone to doing… hit his head – was rushed to the hospital and was gone by 2am the following morning.
A life so very long. A man who loved and worked so completely. Gone. The last of 9 children to go Home. Finally Home. Can’t begin to imagine the celebration and stories on the other side with “that great cloud of witnesses.”
The Denton Brother’s Quartet is together again. More importantly, they have a “foursome,” ready for Heavenly links or whatever might happen in Heaven.
Uncle Mark’s hard head was almost mythical in nature and family lore. As a little boy, riding in from a day of hunting with his brothers, he didn’t get his head low enough as they came into the barn. Knocked off the horse. Knocked out cold. Vision nearly gone, the family gathered and prayed over him, kept poultices on his eyes, and waited weeks for healing. Once on the golf course with Dad, their brother Glen and Jim Minnis, he was caught by an errant golf ball while standing in a tee station. A sliced line drive, it ricocheted off his head with the sound of a foul ball off a broken bat and dropped him to his knees. After hovering over his unconscious body for just a bit – the others were able to get in their drives before nursing him through the final holes in and for medical treatment.
The final hit to the head took him or perhaps something was happening inside that caused him to fall but he was gone within 12 hours. The past year had taken it’s toll. Mark Jr, his oldest son, passed away last August. I imagine today’s a very lonely day for his remaining son, my cousin Doug, his wife Katie and their children as well as for his daughter-in-law Karen.
Uncle Mark’s first marriage lasted over 40 years. It’s final months were spent lovingly caring for Aunt Velda as she lost her battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). When he moved out to California after her death and then began courting our lifetime friend Barbara Holiday – many thought they were crazy. They’ve been crazy in love for over 30 years and discovered unexpected happiness with each other. God is too good.
Uncle Mark, (that’s Mark on the far left, Barbara just behind him, Jim, Joanne and the rest of us – at Mark Jr’s funeral, July, 2015) the last of our parent’s generation, is gone. He takes with him an interesting bit of trivia – he was among – if not the closest living relative of President Abraham Lincoln, our first cousin. The mantle has now been passed to our generation. More importantly, he takes with him the last voice of witness that lifted us up as children – of simple stock – to believe in no ordinary kingdom – but that we were called to follow Jesus and by His Grace live as citizens of The Kingdom of God. The passing of that eternal mantle also falls on us. So great a gift.
An older friend once told me “Your father and his brother’s… the Denton’s, they’re like the Kennedy’s of the church!” I thought to myself “yeah, without the money!” Looking back on our lives, impacted by the witness of such great men, our heritage is priceless. Much of that was carried with such dignity by Uncle Mark – a veteran, pastor, educator, husband, father, grandfather, uncle
and to all of us – all who knew them – a brother… the youngest brother…
The Quartet’s together again, impossibly, Joanne’s even at the piano and as my cousin Jeannene said this morning “They’re all finely in tune again!” So thankful for so great a heritage. So thankful for Uncle Mark.
So thankful for the life and example of Uncle Mark.
“They will come home and sing songs of joy…”
I’ll meet you in the morning.