[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 14 (Thursday, February 6, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1056-S1057]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO MARK JERSTAD

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I want to take this opportunity today to 
honor my dear friend, Reverend Mark Jerstad, a Lutheran pastor and head 
of the Good Samaritan Society in Sioux Falls. After having spent much 
of his adult life comforting the dying and grieving, Mark recently 
learned that he has terminal colon cancer. This news was a sad blow to 
all those who know and love him. Yet, as we face the loss of our 
friend, we are inspired by the strength of character shown by Mark and 
his family.
  Mark's ability to help others confront their fears and prepare for 
their next journey has always been based on his strong faith in God. 
Now it is this same faith that has enabled Mark to be at peace with his 
own death. You see, Mark believes himself to be a lucky man. Unlike 
many, he has the time to say goodbye, and to reflect on the life he has 
led. As he says, we are nothing but the sum of our deeds. I believe 
him, and by this measure Mark is truly remarkable for he has lived a 
life of kindness and love. We cannot help but to grieve for the fact 
that Mark will no longer be with us. We must grieve for his children 
Rachel, Michael and Sarah, who will be losing their father. And we must 
grieve for Sandy, who will lose her husband of 31 years. But we can be 
at peace knowing that Mark is living out his remaining days to the 
fullest. He is at peace, and with his loved ones.
  Mark eloquently described the challenge we all face: ``Unfortunately, 
people just can't seem to live life to the fullest until they come face 
to face with their own death and incorporate it into his or her own 
existence.'' Mark has done just that, continuing his work as the chief 
executive officer of the Good Samaritan Society of Sioux Falls while 
sharing his remaining precious days with friends and family from 
throughout the country. He is an example for us all.
  Mark, we wish you and your family well. Let your faith, grace and 
dignity be a lesson to all.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of an article 
from the Sioux Falls Argus Leader honoring Mark Jerstad be printed in 
the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From the Sioux Falls (SD) Argus Leader]

       CEO Who Counseled the Dying Faces His Own Death With Faith

                            (By Steve Young)

       Mark Jerstad sat in an X-ray room at Sioux Valley Hospital 
     in November when cold reality swept over him.
       The chief executive officer of the Good Samaritan Society 
     in Sioux Falls had just finished tests for what doctors 
     thought might be an appendix problem.
       He was waiting alone for the results to come back when he 
     suddenly felt ``like a peeled grape shaking in a snowbank at 
     40 degrees below zero.''
       The feeling lasted 30 seconds. When it passed, this 
     Lutheran pastor and business executive knew exactly what was 
     wrong.
       ``All of a sudden, it came to me. . . . almost like a 
     voice,'' he recalls. ``You have cancer, and it is terminal.''
       He was right.
       Jerstad, 54, learned that he has an aggressive, advanced 
     stage of colon cancer. There is no cure. There is only the 
     hope that chemotherapy might prolong his life a month, maybe 
     two.
       But this isn't a story about one man dying. Rather, this is 
     a tale about one man's incredible faith--and what it means to 
     live in the shadow of your mortality.
       Lean and angular, Jerstad greets visitors in his spacious 
     Good Samaritan office with the same firm handshake that has 
     been his trademark.
       Though the chemotherapy leaves him periodically weak, he 
     still routinely comes to work to oversee affairs at the 
     nonprofit monolith that provides services to senior citizens 
     in 240 facilities in 26 states.
       This has been Jerstad's job for 7\1/2\ years. He has been 
     with Good Samaritan since 1985. Before that, he was campus 
     pastor and a religion professor for nine years at Augustana 
     College. And before that he served as a pastor in 
     International Falls, Minn.
       In many ways, those years of ministering to church members 
     and college students helped prepare him for what lay ahead.
       In International Falls, Jerstad counseled scores of people 
     and their families through death and grief.
       ``Honestly, I think I was given a gift of working with 
     dying people,'' he said. ``I could be honest with them--
     someone who could be open-minded and listen and hear their 
     fears.''
       So many times, he sat bedside at the moment of death, 
     helping people in their journey from this existence to the 
     next. It couldn't help but affect his own life.
       ``How can it not?'' Jerstad says. ``I mean, I believe we 
     are the sum of our life's experiences. I really feel these 
     very intimate sharings of people as they were dying have 
     touched my life deeply and richly.
       ``They've helped me be at peace with my own dying, for 
     sure.''
       Similarly, his years of teaching death and dying classes at 
     Augustana helped prepare him as well.
       Jerstad would share his experiences in International Falls 
     with his classes. But his focus was more on living than 
     dying.
       ``When you think about it, we're all terminal. . . . We're 
     all dead men walking. We just don't know when that final day 
     will be,'' he said.
       ``Unfortunately, people just can't seem to live life to the 
     fullest until they come face to face with their own death and 
     incorporate it into his or her own existence.''
       That isn't a problem for Jerstad. Indeed, there never has 
     been a moment in the last three months when he bolted upright 
     in bed in the middle of the night, sweating in fear about 
     what awaits him.


                            Certain sadness

       Obviously, there is sadness. He looked forward to becoming 
     a grandfather and baptizing his own grandchildren.
       He thought maybe he would get to officiate at the marriages 
     of his two daughters and his son--a possibility that now 
     seems remote.
       ``You know, I kind of wish it was summer rather than 
     winter,'' he said as he glanced out his office window. ``I 
     like to be able to sit out in my backyard in the afternoons 
     and evenings, just watching the sun go down.''
       Still, Jerstad won't mire himself in what might have been. 
     He is a man of the moment.
       When he was diagnosed with cancer, he had to wait a couple 
     of days before undergoing colon surgery. So Jerstad got a 
     discharge form, signed his name to it and checked himself out 
     of Sioux Valley for the day.
       He then drove out to Good Samaritan and attended the 
     morning Bible study there. After sharing news about his 
     cancer with co-workers and staff, he ``went home to my kids, 
     built a big fire in the fireplace and just kind of hung out. 
     It really was a wonderful time.''
       There have been many similar moments since.
       He talks about liking to begin each day by snuggling in bed 
     with his wife, Sandy, and sharing a thought or two.
       ``Sometimes, I reach over and just touch her . . . and 
     thank God for our partnership of 31 years.''
       He goes into the office most mornings and stays until the 
     work day ends, or until he wear out.


                          Greeting old friends

       In recent weeks, he has spent much time greeting old 
     friends who have sought him out during his illness. One of 
     them flew recently from Alaska, another from Hawaii, yet a 
     third came all the way from Johns Hopkins in Baltimore to 
     spend 45 minutes with him.
       ``There was a tycoon I knew who wept like a child and 
     embraced me,'' Jerstad said, his smile growing as he recounts 
     the memory. ``I was able to comfort him, and we both were 
     able to grow through that experience.''
       That, he will tell you, is one of the joys about living 
     when you are dying. It certainly makes him thankful that his 
     life did not end suddenly, that he has had weeks and months 
     to prepare.

[[Page S1057]]

       Undoubtedly, Jerstad thinks a lot about what death will be 
     like. But he doesn't fear it.
       ``One of the things that fires me up,'' he said, and his 
     voice breaks as his eyes fill with tears, ``is knowing I'll 
     get the chance to meet my dad again. He died a couple of 
     years ago. I loved him dearly.''
       What a glorious reunion, the son said. Yet until then, this 
     husband and father intends to revel in the support of his 
     family, his friends and his faith--for as long as he has.
       ``I have to say, I wonder if I have been given a gift,'' 
     Jerstad said, marveling at his own outlook. ``I mean, I'm 
     surely not in denial. If anyone has accepted the reality of 
     their death much sooner than normal, it is I.''


                             Gift of faith

       How can that be? How can anyone face death with no 
     resentment, anger or bitterness?
       In a phrase, he said with a smile, it is a gift.
       ``The gift of faith,'' Mark Jerstad said. ``Maybe I'm not 
     angry because I'm so hopeful for the life beyond this life.
       ``I'll be honest; I know my life is in the hands of the 
     Lord. I can't fantasize anything better than that.''

  Mr. ALLARD. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ashcroft). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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