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Obituary
John “Jack” Magacs of Trumansburg, NY passed away at home on January 3, 2018 held in the loving embrace of his immediate family. Jack was born December 1, 1933 in his Aunt Mabel’s home on Trumansburg Rd., and greeted to this world by his Aunt Elnora, who administered his first spanking. His early education was at the Hayts Schoolhouse on Trumansburg Rd., and he attended Ithaca High School through the 10th grade. He spent his professional life as a mechanic and service station attendant, beginning as a teenager at his father’s business, John’s Gulf Service, located on Ithaca’s West End. Soon after, he took a job as an attendant and mechanic with Patterson’s Mobil Station at 221 Aurora St., Ithaca, a job which he held faithfully for 38 years.
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There can be a world of difference between our beliefs and our hearts. What we believe about our world and our circumstances is undoubtedly important, and our beliefs can guide us towards noble action, towards thoughtfulness and deference. But our beliefs can also bring us into conflict, and bring pain and hurt to a world so badly in need of healing. In this 1 Corinthians passage, it is clear that love should be our primary concern, and our beliefs secondary; that the clear purpose of love in our hearts should win out over our opinions and judgements. This is because, as the writer of 1 Corinthians so clearly expresses, we can expect that our knowledge is incomplete, and when completeness comes, when love comes, we can should expect our thoughts, opinions and beliefs to pass away.
And this is what happened for all of us. With Jack at the very end of his life, love was the ruler of our hearts as we cared for Jack, and as he relayed his gratitude and love for our presence. Because of this, I more fully appreciate how much we gained, and how much we lost, in those eleven days from Christmas Eve to January 3rd. This makes our loss ever so much more poignant, its magnitude something like an asteroid striking the earth, knocking our world off kilter. Jack leaves a crater in our hearts. Maybe we will fill that crater with our tears, until it becomes a lake, and maybe, on a beautiful day, when we look into the surface of that lake, we will see, not our own reflections framed by a clear blue sky, but the smiling face of Jack Magacs, looking back at us, loving us still.
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