Roy Heller delivers the memorial sermon at the Service of Memory held in the Perkins Chapel yesterday afternoon. The service was held to remember SMU students, faculty and staff who have died in the last year. (John Schreiber)

The Office of Chaplin and University Ministries partnered with the Perkins School of Theology to provide the opportunity to honor SMU students and faculty who have died in the past year. They held a special memorial service yesterday at noon in the Perkins Chapel.

Chaplain William M. Finnin, minister to the university, and Roy Heller from the Perkins School of Theology presided over the solemn ceremony. The 40-minute memorial service included hymns, bible scriptures and prayers focused on life and death.

Judy Henneberger, associate chaplain, summarized the purpose of the memorial service.

“We gather today to give thanks to God, through this Service of Memory, for loved ones, friends and colleagues, who have died,” Henneberger said.

Afterward, Roy Heller delivered the memorial sermon where he recounted the story of how he stood at the bedside of dying friend.

“Through her death, she had shown me what a remarkable gift she had been, I had been, we all had been,” Heller said,

This attitude of appreciating life and the person who lives it was a common theme throughout the service.

Finnin echoed this attitude when he reminded the audience that “now is the only time we have to live.”

One of the prayers recited during the service was the Kaddish, a Hebrew prayer commonly recited in mourning rituals such as memorial services and funerals. This prayer fittingly does not ever say the word death; instead, it focuses on life and its relation to death.

A particularly touching moment came when the names of each of the SMU individuals lost were called out while a bell rang and anyone touched by the person stood up.