Jason A. Halter

My loving and beloved brother, Jason Allen "Stu" Halter, age 26, was murdered on Monday, July 10, 2006. Here is the official obituary.

Jason Allen Halter, age 26, of Canton, passed away suddenly on Monday July 10, 2006. He was born in Canton on January 1, 1980, and was a 1998 graduate of Canton McKinley High School. Jason was employed at Carpet and Tile Liquidators and was a member of St. Stephen Martyr Lutheran Church. He was preceded in death by his paternal grandfather Paul W. Halter; and maternal grandparents Lyda and Wilber Derwacter. Survivors include his mother Rebecca Halter; father and stepmother Edward and Eileen Halter; sister and brother-in-law Amanda and Ian Haggerty; niece Addison Haggerty; paternal grandmother Marjorie Halter; and numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and special friends. Funeral services will be held on Saturday at 11am in the Reed Funeral Home Canton Chapel, with Pastor Bruce Roth officiating. Burial will be in North Lawn Cemetery.
Friends may call two hours prior to the service on Saturday from 9-11am in the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the family to help defray expenses, or to your favorite charity. To sign our on-line guestbook or to send your condolences, please visit our website at www.reedfuneralhome.com.

The Canton Repository, our local newspaper, also had an on-line guestbook. The outpouring of love that we've received on those guestbooks as well as in person by so many people has been overwhelming. Not to mention the emails, phone calls, flowers, and meals we've received. Thank you for caring about Jason and about us.

I plan to start some type of blog/forum so that anyone can post a memory or a picture. I'll let you know as soon as it's running.

Jason's friends are now my friends. I don't want those bonds broken. I want there to be people who can tell Addison stories about all the crazy things her Uncle Jason used to do. Well, not right away, I don't want her getting too many ideas of nutty things to do. On Saturday night I found out a few of those stories. Ian and I went to Mallonn's with Jason's friends and celebrated him. Ok, so I celebrated a little hard, but that's ok, because that's how Jason celebrated. (And Meredith and Tara, you HAVE to send me those pics so I can post them. Damn cell-phone cameras... ) We got to hear so many stories and laugh. Some of Jason's friends I've known since childhood; others I just got to meet. Each and everyone of them loved him with their whole heart. Right now, I need to keep that feeling of love and celebration. There are many hard times ahead.

John 14:27 is my favorite of this chapter (see below), but maybe you'll find comfort in another part so I've included it all.

John 14
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going."

Jesus the Way to the Father
5Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
8Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
9Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe in the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15"If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever — 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
22Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"
23Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25"All this I have spoken while still with you. 26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. [My emphasis] 28"You heard me say, 'I am going away and I am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, 31but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me. Come now; let us leave."