“An object lesson in graceful living”

This is the text that my great-uncle Ray read at Augusta Hylander’s memorial service in Hamilton, NY in 1965. (Ray was her son-in-law.) I’ve been meaning for ages to post it as a footnote to her memoir.

It’s the final bit of material I have to add about Augusta’s life, at least for now – but I still hope, one of these days, to find out more about the story of her childhood homestead surviving within the grounds of Malmö Airport. If anyone reading this knows any more about that, do please get in touch.

Augusta Parsons Hylander (1873–1965)

Mother Hylander brightened every life she touched. There was a glow, an enthusiasm, an inextinguishable optimism, a contagious good spirits, a vitality that won her friendships everywhere she went. She loved people, especially young people, for she was eternally young in her attitudes and interests. Independent and strong-minded, she always lived for others, investing her unceasing love and devotion, first in her own family and then on her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, all of whom adored her and have been inspired by her.

She expected the best of others, took them for what they were and found them good. Nothing got her down, dampened her spirits, though she had known hardships. She always looked on the bright side of things, expected the best, was not disheartened by the worst, and, therefore, enjoyed living. Endowed with a real pride in being, based on mature self-confidence, she looked back with genuine satisfaction upon 93 years lived with joy and to the full.

Her life was a monument to what it means to be a human being, an object lesson in graceful living. The contagion of her spirit will long survive her. The world is a better place because she lived.