Sophie Lou Acker

            We are gathered this morning to bear witness to our faith in the resurrection, the resurrection of all who are buried in Jesus Christ the Lord, and the resurrection of Sophie Lou Acker.  Lou died on Friday after a lengthy course of Alzheimer’s disease.  She was 78.

            Alzheimer’s is a progressive, debilitating illness that impacts not only the patient, but the patient’s family and friends as well.  As Alzheimer’s progresses, the patient experiences loss of cognitive and physical capabilities.  The family suffers the loss of their loved one not only in multiple stages, but literally loses her multiple times.  Our hearts and prayers are with you now, Curt, Todd, and Elizabeth, Mary and Sara, and all of your family, in your grief and loss.  We share also with you thanksgiving for the life and love we all have shared with Lou.  We are comforted by the knowledge that within the safe and loving care of our gracious God, Lou is now fully restored in all of her mind, talent, and spirit.

            Ernestine Sophia Louise Marvin was born in 1929 in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, the second daughter of Ira Huston and Ernestine Healey Marvin.  Her father named her Sophia Louise, after his mother.  When his wife learned of this, she added Ernestine to her name, in honor or her mother.  No matter, the only name there ever stuck was “Lou”.

            Lou’s mother had been trained as a kindergarten teacher, and Lou and her older sister received their first education at a preschool her mother opened in their home.  By the time these older daughters commenced elementary school, the family had moved to nearby Shavertown, PA. It was here that Lou showed an early interest in the piano.  When Arthur Edward Johnstone, a nationally recognized music pedagogue opened a studio in Wilkes Barre, Lou convinced her parents to let her take lessons with her older sister.  Mr. Johnstone became her teacher and a beloved family friend.  As Lou progressed as a piano student, she also showed interest in composition as well.  Coached by Mr. Johnstone, she began composing.

            The family moved again to Forty Fort, PA, for Lou’s high school years. There Lou excelled in her studies and extracurricular activities such as the yearbook, drama, and the music program. She played piano in the orchestra and glockenspiel in the marching band.  Like her older sister, Lou was valedictorian of her senior class at Forty Fort High School, graduating in 1946.

            Lou attended what is now known as Mansfield University and continued her music studies.  She particularly enjoyed the harmony courses in which she applied music theory to her ability to “play by ear”.  She was president of the Lambda Mu honorary music sorority.

            It was at Mansfield that Lou met Curt Henry Acker.  Her relationship with her longtime boyfriend was interrupted when Curt invited her to a post Christmas inter-fraternity dance in 1949.  The two remained in touch after they graduated in 1950.  Lou took a teaching position near West Point, NY.  Curt accepted a position in Northport, on Long Island – but then he received an invitation he couldn’t refuse from Uncle Sam to join the US Army.  So Curt’s position at Northport was put on hold while Curt served with the band training unit at Fort Dix, NJ.  After a year teaching in NY, Lou took a position in Glenolden, PA, a school closer to a large city, closer to her older sister, and coincidentally, closer to Fort Dix, NJ.

            Curt and Lou re-established their relationship. They married on August 16, 1952, in the same church and with the same presiding minister who had married Lou’s parents.  That was seven weeks before Curt’s discharge from the Army.  Lou filled in for Curt in the position Northport was holding for him.

            Lou and Curt settled into Northport, where they lived for 46 years.  A son, Todd, was born in 1953, followed by a daughter, Elizabeth, in 1956. Lou was a conscientious mother and preferred to remain at home with her children during their tender years – despite the repeated offers of teaching positions from the public schools. She took a few piano students.   Eventually she accepted part-time positions, before taking a fulltime position, which she held until 1986.  Along the way she earned a Master of Science degree from CW Post College in 1977.  In the summer of 1982, with Curt, Lou received an enrichment grant from the Northport School district to attend an Orff-Kodaly music pedagogy conference in Vienna, Austria, and Budepest, Hungary.  As you can imagine, the two musicians enjoyed a most memorable experience!

            After settling into Northport, Lou and Curt joined the Northport Presbyterian Church.  Lou took on the children of the post war boomer families, directing a large elementary school choir.  Her choir was often the service choir for Sunday worship services. Lou composed many of the pieces she used with this choir.

Music was Lou Acker’s life.  But it was not her whole life.  Even as a music teacher, Lou saw herself as an educator of young children using music as a tool.

For Lou, her passions, people and places converged and hung together as one harmonious chord.   Lou and Curt were inseparable, sharing life, marriage, children, faith, and music.  Lou’s children and grandchildren were the joy of her life.  Lou was passionate about the water, whether it be the Lehigh River Valley, the Susquehanna, the north shore of Long Island, or the beach in Florida.  And she had a life-long love affair with the mountains.

            The water, the mountains, her family, her passions, came together in a couple of places that were sacred space for her. From her childhood on, the Poconos were the location for family gatherings and the growth of family life. She was refreshed in and by the mountains.  So much so that she researched and organized for her family two extended mountain trips to the American Rockies and then to the Canadian Rockies.  Then Curt and Lou and found Sanibel Island, Florida, that became in retirement their winter home.  There Lou enjoyed the water, the beach, the sunsets, the egrets, and the music of the spheres.  

            Lou took great joy in her grandchildren, but her enthusiasm and love for children by no means was limited to “her own”.   Her granddaughter Becky, currently doing justice work south Asia, and can’t be with us in person, shares this memory of her childhood with Grandma Lou:

“Grandma would play the piano in the Northport house, and we would march around between the dining room and the kitchen, singing, clapping, and sometimes banging on percussion instruments. I think we exhausted this game when we were little kids, and then revived it again when her neighbor, Patrick, was old enough to play. For me the image embodies the way I knew Grandma: she was always teaching, always entertaining, always playing, always singing, always bringing music into life, always letting kids be kids, and always being the center of the fun at the party.”   (Rebecca Acker, Dec 2008)

            Throughout her life Lou found refreshment at the piano, where she could relax while she played.  And where she could express herself.  Among those self expressions are five little pieces she composed. [We will hear them now, as presented by two young people who are products of the music ministry of this congregation and music students:  Ben Houghton, pianist, and Stephanie Auld, vocalist:]

            Lou Acker is survived by her husband of 56 years, Curtis H. Acker; one son, Todd and daughter-in-law, Kathy, one daughter, Elizabeth, of Los Angeles, CA; two grandchildren, Rebecca Mohr of Bangalore, India, Daniel of Danville, VA; two sisters, Mary Morrow of Moorestown, NJ, and Sara Stites of Baltimore, MD; and by other extended family and a host of colleagues, former students, and friends.

            Now, having gathered for our mutual support and to hear the witness of the scriptures, let us worship God:

R. Charles Grant

Bon Air Presbyterian Church

Richmond, Virginia

December 17, 2008