Funeral for
MjrGen CSLI Horst Schöffmann
Horst Schöffmann
05.12.1943 – 22.02.2016
Founding Member of the Lazarus Union
Member of the Board of Management
Auditor
Lazarus Union Major General
Obituary
Dear Family!
Dear Dames and Knights of Honour!
Dear Comrades!
Revered Mourners!
Is it then so strange, dear Horst,
That a candle of life has to die away ?
They are borrowed only, limited in time,
So they have to pass away !
The eternal light of life will gleam instead
Even if it is a tiny glow.
For us – giving comfort !
Until we are called for a reunion.
I want to give this comforting wisdom for the road to all who lament our dear Horst together with us. It shows us the circle of life, the fate, but also the hope remaining for us as the mundane life is but a short glimpse in the eternal circle of the universe and that there will be a reunion. I firmly believe in this! Death shows to us quite clearly the finiteness of our mundane existence.
After a serious illness which he bore bravely and which did not hinder him serving his comrades until the end, Horst passed away on February 22nd, 2016, in his 73rd year. Despite his illness, death came swiftly in the form of a heart attack, without pain and suffering. This shall give us a little comfort.
During all the past years we were able to spend with him since 2006, he always was a faithful comrade to us. Over the past ten Air Days he acted as a most responsible and careful aviation supervisor and flight controller, fully trusted by everyone.
Yet I am grateful to fate that it brought the two of us together. We trained together as pilots and he bought my first plane from me. We both had some more things in common regarding aviation. Both of us turned their planes to debris on landing, yet both of us walked away from the respective accidents unharmed. What else could bond two minds, if not such events?
Horst war was a founding member of the Lazarus Union, holding important functions during his time with the LAZARUS UNION and the Corps Saint Lazarus Austria. He was member of the board, Deputy Treasurer, Auditor and Lazarus Union Major General.
In his human, discreet, and comradely behaviour Horst Schöffmann was much liked as he could never refuse somebody a wish and when no one wanted to act as flight controller, Horst jumped in. Horst, we thank you for this!
I want to express my thanks to all, especially to our music corps for filling this celebration with the spirit of music, to everyone for giving Horst their comradeship, their friendship, their love, and their esteem. He truly earned all this!
Therefore the LAZARUS UNION now posthumously grants to you, Horst, who always denied any distinctions and thanks, the Knighthood of Honour of the LAZARUS UNION. So receive now posthumously the insignia of your dignity: the coat, the sword, and the cross of a Knight of Honour of the LAZARUS UNION.
In your honour our music corps will now play our knight‘s fanfare.
By the death of a comrade, a friend, one loses much but never the time one spent together with him. We all will need much strength to remember the inevitable!
Now is the time to say farewell to you, yet I am convinced that there will be a reunion.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen!
With the following tune and a prayer your comrades from the Lazarus Union bid you farewell. It shall accompany you as our last greeting on your final way on earth and we remember you in love, in friendship, and in respect. You will be missed a lot!
Goodbye, dear Horst and hold your protecting hand over us.
Senator h.c.
Wolfgang Steinhardt
Lazarus Union President
Grand Master Knighthood of Honour
Vienna, March 8th, 2016
