I have to admit that this is certainly one of the most difficult things we have ever had to do. Something none of us wanted to have to do. Yet, in some strange way, it is also an honor. To be able to talk about Nathan and tell all of the people who love him – his whole family and all of his friends – what a treasure he was and what a meaningful life he lead for such a young man.

Meaningful because he changed the lives of so many. He changed my life in many ways, yet the one way I will remember the most is the fact that he unknowingly taught me never to question another’s priorities. I have to say there were times when I did question Nathan’s priorities.

Several of us felt his priorities were askew when he would say he felt high school was insignificant and decided not to go. Yet, as if he never skipped a beat, he went on to attend the University of Memphis to study computer engineering so that he could get a great job doing something he actually loved.

It drove all of us crazy that he wore his pants too low. But it was more important for him to be comfortable with himself than for others to “approve” of him.

He didn’t really care about making a lot of money to live in a cool place or to buy the latest fashions for himself. Nathan wasn’t concerned with material things. But once he had a daughter, he worked two jobs while going to school to give his baby Courtney and her mother, Nicci, a warm and safe place to live and food on the table.

Nathan never got upset with the little things nor even what we would consider to be the big things. He took life in stride with a quiet dignity. He took what he was given in life and made it work for him. He didn’t judge others and he didn’t care if they judged him. He was a good boy with a good heart. So, although I questioned his priorities at the time, I know now that his priorities were right on target.

When Nathan was asked what he wanted to do with his last few weeks – all he wanted, without any question, was to see his baby girl. That’s it. Get back to Memphis to hold his baby. From the day he came to Chicago to start treatment, all he wanted was to get back to Memphis. His biggest concern in life was that Courtney would grow up without her Daddy and wouldn’t know him. So now it is our job to make sure that Courtney knows her Daddy. To remember Nathan and to share him with her. To tell her stories of his humor, his humble nature, his desire to chart his own course in life. She is his legacy and to look into her eyes is to look into the eyes of young man whose life, while cut way too short, should remind us to put life into perspective and to love unconditionally.

To remember Nathan would be to remember to learn as much as we can, always take care of the ones we love, stop judging others for their choices in life and to never, ever let others change who we really are inside.

God bless you, Nathan. And thank you for all that you have taught us. - Janna Fichera



These are my words for Nathan Wallace Anderson and his families. It is my heart felt desire that the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart will be acceptable in God’s sight as well as my family’s.

I am Nathan’s Uncle Andy, and I speak on behalf of my family. Nathan’s father, Parker, his Aunt Ruth, his cousins Jessica, Jared and Forrest are here with us today also. His Uncle Guy and his Aunt Holly are not in attendance today due to health reasons. If it had been at all physically possible for them to make it they would have. Please know that their thoughts, prayers and well wishes are here with us this hour and for the many hours to come. His cousins from coast to coast as well as my church home and Ruth’s church home lift up literally hundreds of prayers for us now.

I arrived this past Tuesday, in time to take part in the last battle of a very long war. To Kim, Parker and Chuck let me thank you for allowing my sister Ruth and me to take part in Nathan’s last hours, trusting us to hold his hand, wipe his face and all the other things you had been doing before we arrived. You shared his last precious minutes with us. To Janna, John and Brad, thank you for “standing the line” through this ordeal. It was an honor to serve Nathan and both our families with you in this way. Most of all, it was an honor to have served God, elbow to elbow, with all of you.

I have been grappling with this impending event since it began some months ago. I tried to make sense of this, as have many others, some, much more so than I. I tried to ball this up so it could take it in, but it just made no sense. It was too big for me. I couldn’t take it all in, until I woke up yesterday (Thurs) morning. I had dreamed of Nathan. It wasn’t a bad dream, just a dream about Nathan, and we were all together with him.

In my dream, God reminded me of some things. First of all: No one can know the mind of God. He told Moses on the Mountain of Horeb and He told me in my bed, “I AM WHO I AM”. He is God and I am not. His ways are too great for me to comprehend, as it should be. He deals with things I have never even heard of and never even dreamed existed. How could I question Him?

Secondly, He reminded me that when circumstances make no sense, faith in Him is the only thing that does. And faith in Him will prevail over anything. His love endures forever.

So, what was I left with? Rather than a dilemma of sense, I had a dilemma of faith. God reminded me that it is only when things do not make sense that my faith really comes into play. Faith depends on seeming, senseless circumstance. If everything made sense, I would have no need of faith and it is faith that comforts and sustains.

Waking from my dream and pondering these things, words from the New Testament of the Bible came to me. The words say “To whom much is given, much will be required.” I again thought of Nathan and I began to “take in” just a little of this experience and receive some comfort. You see, many stories have been and will be shared about an insistent boy growing into an independent young man. The words, stubborn and even rebellious have been used. But, he was no more so than some in this room.

But, maybe he was a little “more so”. I began to see how God allowed and gave Nathan his own individual, strong spirit, to prepare him for what God knew he would have to do at the end of his life. I began to wonder if stubbornness was associated with courage. Maybe insistent independence was related to courage in some way. Because, at the end, Nathan’s God given “back bone” showed us all what he was truly made of. He maintained his own personal dignity, his independence, his sense of humor and his sense of style to the end, all the while encouraging others around him to do what must be done.

(At this point, Ruthie read from Isaiah 40, 28-31)

28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Here is my prayer for all of us. Will you join me, please?

Gracious Heavenly Father,

Grant that we may gain faith in You, the One who made us. May we take just one step closer to You. Help us, Lord, to gain strength and courage from our memories of Nathan Wallace Anderson who lived his life with an independent sprit and whose days on earth ended in a great flurry of courage. We thank You, Almighty God, for a long, tall, boy-man with shy, sweet eyes, a funny round smile, who loved his family, especially his little girl, Courtney, and who was very, very brave. Amen and Amen - Andy Anderson