Harold M. Scheer Funeral
February 6, 2016 (died, January 29)
Note: Harold Scheer was my dentist the entire time of our first pastorate in Wichita. He never charged me or my family a dime for his excellent service! He was also a friend and a faithful member of the church. But he was far more than that, as you can see from reading his obituary below.
Obituary: Dr. Harold McIlvain Scheer, a kind, Renaissance gentleman, knowledgeable in Dentistry, the Arts, mechanics, history, Christian doctrine and philosophy joins his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in heaven on January 29, 2016, at the age of 93. After marrying the love of his life, Ruth Dieffenbacher on August 16, 1947, he became the patriarch of his earthly family: wife Ruth; 10 children; 33 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren and five on the way.
Harold was born on December 16, 1922 at Wesley Hospital in Wichita, Kansas. At 9 pounds 2 ounces, he was the largest baby with the smallest mother in the hospital at the time. He was preceded in death by his parents, Dr. George William and Grace McIlvain Scheer, as well as his brother, Dr. George Edward Scheer. Remembering him with joy is his wife of 68 years, Ruth; children, Valerie Sullivan (Brian), Dana DeKalb (Jim), Kendall Scheer (Joyce), Kimberly Parker (Phil), Laurie Little (Rocky), Dr. Brick Scheer (Shelley), Allison Peterson (Dr. Stacy), Shannon Bohall (Craig), Tibb Scheer (Kim), Tanya Deiter (Greg), and Puerto Rican “son” Iv n Lebr¢n; grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Shawn and Trisha Sullivan (Rhodes), Brent and Calais Sullivan (Harrison); Tara and Daniel Rittler (Joss), Jenny and Doug Clayton (Ilana), Austin Bowen, Beth and Mark Hopkins (Alyssa), Laura and Pete Huitsing (Claire, Paul, Levi), Mitchell and Terri Scheer (Grayson), Johanna and Wade Krebiehl, Angela and Trevor Klem; Lindsey Parker (Atalie), Christopher and Darin Parker, Justin and Johnna Lygrisse (Anabelle, Ryker), Joshua Lygrisse, Star and Daniel White (Flora), Breea Little, Brandon and Su Scheer, Casey Scheer, Ashley and Robert Rescot (Annalise), Sher‚e and Ben Lutz, Brittany Peterson, Kerri and Forrest Parr, Christy Peterson, Devaune, Audrey, Skyler, Barrett Bohall, Arielle, Jordan, Kayden Scheer, Heather, Derek Deiter; Jonathan, Moreno, Josu‚ Lebr¢n.
Harold, a native Wichitan, was born into a dental family, his father having established a dental practice in the Bitting building in 1918. Harold’s schools were College Hill Elementary and Robinson Junior High. He graduated from Wichita High School East in 1940. He took his pre-dental training at Wichita University, now known as Wichita State University. In 1945, he graduated from Washington University – St. Louis School of Dentistry with a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree. The last 15 months of training were under the Army Student Training Program. He graduated at age 22.
He began practicing dentistry with his father on the 11th floor of the Bitting building in 1946. Harold was later joined by his son, Dr. Brick Scheer, in 1982. Their practice was known as Scheer Family Dentistry. In 1987, Harold and Brick built a new office at 7707 E. 29th St. In 1996, Harold was named Wichita District Dental Society’s “Man of the Year”, and in 2000 he was named “Dentist of the Year” by the Kansas Dental Association.
After practicing dentistry for 55 years, Harold retired in 2001. Military Service in World War II included 15 months under the ASTP and 21 months during the Korean conflict. He was a Captain in the Air Force in the dental corps as head of the dependent’s clinic at Hamilton Air Force Base, California. Dental honors include: president of both Kansas and Wichita Dental Societies, as well as charter member of American Society of Dentistry for Children, delegate to the American Dental Association, attending most of their annual meetings, member of International College of Dentists, Pierre Fouchard Dental Academy, and a Fellow in Academy of Dentistry International.
Serving on the advisory board of 3 nursing homes, he established routine entrance exams as well as follow up care. He also established yearly dental exams at many elementary schools, as well as serving as a volunteer dentist for World Impact’s Good Samaritan Clinic in Wichita. For 5 weeks, he was a volunteer dentist in El Guacio Presbyterian Christian Service Center in Puerto Rico, bringing back to his home 16-year-old Iv n Lebr¢n to educate for 3 years at Wichita Heights High School. Later Iv n became director of the mission and leader in his church.
Harold was a charter member, with his parents, of East Heights United Methodist Church, chairman of the official board as the church was being built, and originator with his wife of the pipe organ fund. Their present church membership is First Evangelical Free Church where they have attended for almost 50 years.
Civic interests: charter member of Sedgwick County Zoo, Botanica, Wichita Historical Museum (treasurer), Kansas Aviation Museum, Wichita Art Museum, Smithsonian Institute, Williamsburg Society, president Pegasus Flying Club, patron of Wichita Symphony Society, Wichita Grand Opera, Wichita State Alumni Association (2006 “Award of Distinction”), Friends University Miller Concert Series, MuPhi Epsilon patron, Thursday Afternoon Music Club.
After giving programs for churches and civic clubs around the state of Kansas, performing as the Scheer Delights, Harold’s family was named the 1973 Kansas Musical Family of the Year. After a bumper wheat crop in 1999, Harold formed Scheer Delight Publishing Company for Ruth’s children’s books, 7 so far. The magnum opus is Scheer Love of Poetry with over 700 poems Ruth and Harold have written about family, friends and the meaning of life. Harold’s hobbies include golf, gardening, music and travel.
Message: Dr. Harold Scheer was, indeed, a Renaissance man. His professional accomplishments, his cultural pursuits, and his intellectual curiosity were legendary. We could talk for hours about these aspects of Harold’s character. But I would like to focus on another aspect, one that is actually explanatory of these other issues. And that is his simple faith in God and his passion to live a righteous life.
Someone has well said that “All truth is God’s truth.” The godly person never has to be afraid of pursuing knowledge because true knowledge leads to God and the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Harold enjoyed music and culture and aesthetics and work, because he recognized that all of these are God’s good gifts to His children.
One of Harold’s favorite passages of Scripture was the first Psalm. In six brief verses the Psalmist contrasts the righteous person with the wicked person and then tells us the radical difference in the ultimate destiny of these two kinds of people. Listen to the Word of the Lord as found in Psalm 1, King James Version, which is the version Harold memorized:
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
The Psalmist describes the blessed man, the person who is supremely happy, fulfilled, prosperous (in the best sense of the term), first by what he doesn’t do and then by what he does do. He does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of the scornful. Many have seen an intentional progression here from walking to standing to sitting, and then from associating with the ungodly, then blatant sinners, and ultimately those who scornfully mock the truth. As the great English preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon put it, “When men are living in sin they go from bad to worse.”
You can tell a lot about a person by the company he keeps and the things he does with the precious time God allots to him. Harold was not one who wasted his time in evil or even idle pursuits. Nor did he spend his resources on things that had no eternal value. He did not suffer fools or their foolishness lightly.
But far more important than what the blessed person doesn’t do is what he does do: “His delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night.” At first it may seem odd that anyone’s delight would be in the law of the Lord. Maybe the love or mercy or grace of God, but why the law? Well, the term “law of the Lord” is a placeholder for God’s revelation of Himself in Scripture. It is a reference to the commandments and counsel God has given, all of which are designed for our benefit. When we delight in God’s law, we are delighting in Him, His creation, His moral beauty, His truth.
Harold was a man who delighted in God’s Word; he was a man of the Book. He regularly read the Scriptures; he meditated upon them; he kept copies of the Bible in the reception room of his dental office; he made sure his children and grandchildren knew its stories and its precepts.
The Psalmist goes on to tell us what the results are in the life of the person who delights in God’s Word. He is likened to a fruitful tree that draws its nourishment from an abundantly flowing stream. The land might be dry and barren; the winds might be hot. But if a tree is near a stream and can sink its roots down deep it will yield fruit and its leaves will not wither. He summarizes this person’s life with this phrase: “Whatever he does prospers.”
Harold Scheer was an eminently fruitful, prosperous man. I’m not talking about financial prosperity, for only a fool judges prosperity in dollars and cents. Harold’s fruitful, prosperous life is seen most clearly in his family. His children, his grandchildren, and his greatgrandchildren are not only remarkable in number but also in focus and productivity and accomplishment. This is no lucky accident, friends. The fact that his children have largely followed his lead in their love of truth is the result of Harold’s and Ruth’s leadership in the home, their prayers, and their example.
One can see fruitfulness in Harold’s career, too, as thousands, including my own family, can give testimony to his exceptional professional service over many decades.
One can also see fruitfulness in Harold’s spiritual relationships. He has been a valued, faithful member of this church family for 50 years, and of the Moriah Class for several decades. I first came to this church in 1972, and in the 43 years I have known Harold Scheer I have never known him to be divisive or critical or petty, but always encouraging. This blessed man was always a blessing to others.
And, not of least importance, one can see fruitful prosperity in the way Harold died. His last several weeks were spent at home, surrounded by family, singing their favorite songs, worshiping God, sharing funny stories, watching him quietly breathe his last breaths—all with no regrets. It doesn’t get any better than that! An ancient Roman emperor paid the ultimate tribute to the Christians he persecuted. He said, “Christians die well.” Harold died well.
In contrast to the fruitful tree, the Psalmist employs a very different image to describe the godless person. He is likened to chaff, the leftovers from the winnowing process at an ancient threshing floor. The wind blows it away. Oh, there may be temporary prosperity, some good times, some worldly accomplishments. But in the end, there are no spiritual roots to anchor that person, and in death he is fearful, not knowing what awaits him.
And that leads us to the Psalmist’s final contrast between the blessed man and the ungodly, and that has to do with their ultimate destiny. Here’s how he concludes: “Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”
Heaven and hell are not popular topics in polite society today. The one is largely viewed as fanciful, the other as fictional. But virtually every biblical author speaks of both, and Jesus staked his own credibility on the fact that there are two possible destinies awaiting every person. In the Sermon on the Mount he said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it…. Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:13ff) And in the Gospel of John Jesus speaks even more directly, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” (John 3:36)
Irwin Lutzer was my big brother in seminary 50 years ago. Years later as pastor of historic Moody Church he wrote a little book called, One Minute After You Die. I want to read a couple of paragraphs from the introduction:
One minute after you slip behind the parted curtain, you will either be enjoying a personal welcome from Christ or catching your first glimpse of gloom as you have never known it. Either way, your future will be irrevocably fixed and eternally unchangeable.
Those who find themselves in heaven will be surrounded with friends whom they have known on earth. Friendship, once rudely interrupted by death, will continue where they left off. Every description of heaven they have ever heard will pale in the light of reality. All this, forever.
Others will be shrouded in darkness, a region of deprivation and unending regret. There, with their memories and feelings fully intact, images of their life on earth will return to haunt them. They will think back to their friends, family and relatives; they will brood over opportunities they squandered and intuitively know that their future is both hopeless and unending. For them, death will be far worse than they imagined.
I am confident our friend Harold Scheer is today enjoying a personal welcome from Christ in heaven. But I need to make sure you understand that it is not because of his fruitful prosperity or his culture or his learning or his faithfulness at home or at church, or even his godliness. You see, Harold was a good man, but he was not a perfect man. There has been only one of those—Jesus Christ the righteous. He gave His life, He died on the cross, and there He provided the possibility of forgiveness for every imperfect person.
Harold did not earn his status as a child of God because of his goodness or godliness; rather his goodness and godliness were a result of the fact that he became a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ, His Savior. Will you bow in prayer with me?
Prayer: Father, teach us this morning that it is no accident that a godly life and a Scripture-saturated life go together. The Psalmist posed the question, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?” and then answered his own question: “By taking heed, thereto, according to Thy Word.” Thank you, Father, for a living illustration of this truth in the life of Harold Scheer. In Jesus’s name, amen.