Little House on the Prairie

A lot has happened since I last posted. We've finished harvest, deer season has been going on, it seems like it's been a really busy time. But the biggest change in our lives in the last week or so, has been the passing of F. Dale Hostetler.

F. Dale was the one person that I would have chosen as my second grandpa, and perhaps that's at least partly because he was a first cousin of my grandpa. He died peacefully in his sleep last Friday night. It's hard to put into words just what I'm thinking, but F. Dale was to me a fixture of stability and godliness that will be greatly missed.

F. Dale was one of my dad's landlords as well as a minister in West Fairview, and as such I knew him from a young age. He always raised quality quarter horses, and it was through him and his generosity that we boys were able to have horses of our own. He taught us a lot about them, and I'll always remember that. Many of my favorite memories of F. Dale come from being around horses with him. I remember the time he took me (I'm not sure why it was only me) with him to a horse sale in Grand Island. I must have taken the day off of school, and I think it shows how he took time for others that he bothered to take along a schoolboy who didn't really have much to offer in the long drive out and back. I remember us and others going with Dale to the famed Pitzer ranch sale in Ericson, Ne. I'll never forget F. Dale helping us 'break' Princess. (No one there will forget that time :) I'll always remember the annual "going out to eat with the landlord" at Pizza Kitchen in Milford, going to their house afterward, looking at old pictures of horses, and hearing stories from Dale. I and others from church could always count on F. Dale for good humor, stability, good counsel, and a godly example. His life will continue to be an encouragement to me to faithfulness, and an inspiration to godliness.

I could go on about who F. Dale was, and things I remember, but I don't think I will. To those who knew him, you have your own memories, and to those who didn't I don't want to risk boring you about the life of a man who meant a lot to me. Perhaps this in some small way reflects the feelings of our church at this time:

A place in church is empty
A brother whom we've known,
Has gone to his eternal rest
For he has been called home.

A husband, father, brother
a grandpa and a friend,
Whose days on earth are over
His life work reached its end

But in the lives around us
And in our hearts a place
Where he has been a blessing
Our tears cannot erase.

For he has been a lighthouse
For all of us to see,
Pointing us to Calvary
To life eternally.

And though in grief and sorrow
We know and understand
That Jesus who he served and loved
Will hold us in his hand.

And now we can remember
That empty place once more
Knowing we who love the Lord
Will meet at Heavens' door.


Dedicated to F.D.H.