Remarks, Thornley Swan----fraternity brother of Bob

I hope I may have composure to speak for a few minutes of our friend, Bob. It is with the greatest humility that I occupy this position, knowing how keenly, how deeply we feel the loss of this husband, father, son, brother and friend.

I first became acquainted with bob when I went to the University. At that time he had been on the campus a little more than a year and I had only been there a short time when he became quite influential in persuading me to join the Sigma Chi Fraternity. For that I am very grateful, because it was through that, that I got to know Bob better and I acquire many friend that he had chosen to call his friends. I had just been in the fraternity a short time when I learned the meaning of the name Armstrong in that fraternity. His brother, Bill, was on the campus at the time and I got to know him.

Bob or “Army” as he was most frequently called had a large circle of friends. They gathered around him because of his strong, affable and loving personality. He seemed to treasure their companionship and they his. I don’t every remember Bob coming into the fraternity house without displaying that well-known smile, the same smile that was portrayed in the pictures that appeared in the Deseret News. Bob always saw the bright side of things, and it was that fun-loving disposition that attracted friends to him and then a serious side that kept them. I am sure Bob carried this companionship into his home.

It is only natural that the paths of these friends would lead in different directions. Many of his close school friends have gone to other states and to other cities, some places quite distant, to pursue their different forms of endeavor. I see that some of these friends have returned for this occasion. How shocked they all must be to hear of Bob’s passing.

Bob himself left the state and spent several years in Boise and Yakama, Washington. He and Louise then returned to make Salt Lake City their home, to raise their boys here. I am sure he was influenced by his love for his family, his love for his many friends that he had here, in making the decision to return to Salt Lake City to make this his home. It may be that Bob realized more than anyone else that his stay here was uncertain. Only a few knew that since he was sixteen years old he had had a heart ailment that, for him, increased the uncertainties of life. But he chose to lead a normal life while he was here. He chose to lead an enjoyable life. He chose to find happiness. He enjoyed life and in doing so he enjoyed his work, enjoyed sports, enjoyed his friends and loves his family. The eloquent prose of Robert Ingersoll, uttered at the graveside of his own brother, might well again be spoken here:

The loved and loving brother, husband, friend,
Died when manhood’s morning almost touches noon.
And while the shadows still were falling toward the West,
He didn’t pass, on life’s highway, the stone that marks the highest point.
But, being weary for a moment, he lay down by the wayside
And using his burdens for a pillow fell into that dreamless sleep
That kisses down the eyelids still.
While yet in love with life, enraptured with the world,
He passed aside for some pathetic dust.
Yet, after all, it may be best for us,
In the happiest, sunniest hour of all the voyage,
While eager winds are catching every sail,
To dash against the unseen rock and in an instant
Hear the bellows roar over the sunken ship
For whether in mid-sea or among the breakers of the farthest shore,
A wreck at last must mark the end of one and all.

I know that Bob’s death seems untimely. I know what Bob’s passing means to Louise, to his children, to his mother, to Bill and the sisters. But we must be reconciled at these times. I would like to read some remarks made at the funeral of one whom I loved dearly and who seemed to pass before his time, they are these: “I never say that death is untimely because I never know. I know that partings are sad. I know that a continuation of the good works of man seems desirable. I know that such losses seem irreparable, but I do not know that death is untimely. I believe that is known only to Him who knows all things and who has power over life and death. I do not dare to say a person’s life was not complete and that he had not filled his mission here. It is true that he was not old in years, but even if a man were old in years when would you say his life was complete? I think, on reflection, you will say there are other factors of infinitely more import than old age. I believe with one who said that God is a Father, man is a brother, life is a mission and not a career. Life, then, is complete when life’s mission has been filled.”

May we find comfort in these words and in our memories of bob, in the joy which he gave to us. May we find comfort and hope in our abiding faith in God and in our fellow man I ask in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen