Funeral Homily for Cliff McCurry - The Rev. Melanie Lemburg

 

Funeral Homily_Cliff McCurry

August 5, 2025

 

        It probably won’t surprise you, if you didn’t already know it, that Cliff McCurry’s grandfather name is “Big Daddy.”  It’s so appropriate!  Cliff was a big guy, with a big presence, and a big heart.  He left a big mark on this community both in his work in the insurance industry as well as his civic work.  I think he probably knew everyone here in Savannah and maybe even in the whole state!  All of your presence here is a testament to that. 

        He deeply loved his family, his friends, his Georgia bulldogs, this church, and this community.  And he worked hard to take care of those of us he loved.  So, it’s not difficult at all to name all of the big ways that Cliff made a big impact on our lives for the better.

        Cliff was a thoughtful conversationalist.  We saw this any time he participated in a bible or book study here, and I bet you guys from his regular Wednesday bible study know this about him, too!  Not too long ago, we had an interesting conversation about the risk that Jesus calls us into in following him and how that compared to Cliff’s work in risk management.  (In that conversation, I learned so much about risk management that I never knew before!)  And he wasn’t afraid to have difficult conversations; he would wade willingly into conversations where he knew people didn’t agree with him, and he would truly listen and thoughtfully respond.  (We need more of that, these days, don’t we?)

        He was a gifted mentor.  Cliff had a way of relating to and cherishing people from other generations, offering support and encouragement.  And he would tell stories about himself, where he was often the foil of his own story.  These stories often showed what he had learned and hoped to impart as well as a realness and a sense of his honest humility.

        For example, Cliff loved to tell me the story of how when he and Kathy were first married and had started coming to St. Thomas, the priest asked them to serve as the adult leaders for the youth group.  Cliff thought, “sure, that can’t be too hard!  We’re not that much older than the kids, after all!  I’m sure we can relate to them!”  (You can hear him saying it, can’t you?)  Well, on their first overnight trip to Honey Creek, the Episcopal Camp and Conference Center down near Brunswick, Cliff and Kathy quickly learned that while they were indeed young, they were not, in fact, young enough to have been included in the youths’ plan to sneak out late that night.  Cliff said they spent the whole night rounding all the youth up and getting them back to where they were supposed to be.  He always had a good chuckle at himself over that story. 

        In addition to the many causes Cliff supported, he was a long-time, faithful member of this church.  He was an active member here throughout his whole adult life, and over the years, he was engaged in many different aspects of ministry at St. Thomas.  Recently, he wanted to make a gift to St. Thomas to honor Kathy’s ministry in the choir, and so our choir room is currently undergoing a major renovation which will be dedicated in loving memory of Kathy thanks to Cliff’s generosity.  It’s lovely that his last gift to us here commemorates his beloved Kathy’s legacy. 

        Cliff was one of the most resilient people I’ve ever met.  In his life, he had known staggering loss.  From the loss of his mom to cerebral hemorrhage when he was in high school, to his son Lee’s unexpected death, to Kathy’s long, slow decline through the disease of PSP, Cliff faced more heart-break than most people.  And oh, how he missed Kathy this last year and a half! Her death broke his heart, and still his faith remained strong.  He shared that in his grief and in the midst of his own health challenges, he tried to remain thankful, even going so far as to say to me, “Some days, I ask God, ‘why me?’  Why have I had to suffer?  And then I think of all my blessings:  my family, my career, my friendships, and I also ask God, ‘Why me?’”

        Cliff was deeply faithful.  A few years ago, when he and Kathy were celebrating their 50^th wedding anniversary, Cliff was determined that they would renew their wedding vows.  Kathy could barely speak at that time, so we reworked the service so all she had to say was, “I do,”  and I will never forget the profundity of that moment as they stood there looking at each other, surrounded by their family and closest friends, with 50 years stretched out behind them and Kathy’s decline shadowing their future, and neither one of them shrunk from facing that future together.  I believe that Cliff was so insistent on that vow renewal because it was his way of telling Kathy, “I am with you in this to the end.” They were well suited to each other, especially in their courage.

        He was a good man; a good mentor; a good friend; and especially a proud dad and Big Daddy.  Oh, how he cherished you and Lee, Jamie.  Melissa and Kendall, he bragged on y’all, his daughters-in-law, too.  And, I hope you grandkids have an inkling of how much he delighted in y’all!  I got to hear so many stories about what you were up to and what you had achieved every time I visited with Cliff.  He was so proud of all of you! In a long list of successes, I have no doubt that he thought y’all, his family, were his greatest achievement.

        His death was sudden and unexpected.  It’s really difficult to not be able to tell him goodbye or to let him know the difference he made in all of our lives.  This funeral, which he planned completely, may be his last gift of himself to us and it is certainly a living testimony of his faith. 

These scriptures which he selected are steeped in the hope of the resurrection, in the belief that death is not the end, but a change; in the faith that through Jesus’s death and resurrection, God has proven once and for all, that God’s love is stronger than anything, even death; and in the trust that Jesus who has known Cliff as his friend and not a stranger, goes before Cliff and all of us to prepare a place for us in God’s eternal life.  All we have to do is follow the way. 

        So today, as we mourn the loss of Cliff in this life and as we give thanks for all the ways this big man has created a big impact in our lives and our community, listen again, to this last line from the Corinthians passage that Cliff chose for us to hear today.  It sums up his life, and it is his last gift of knowledge and faith for us:  “Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”