Erwin & Ethel were wed on Ethel's 20th birthday.

Before retiring in 1963, he was a self-employed commercial artist for 30 years. Worked for Art Incorporated in Chicago, as well as the Wrigley Company, among other places.
[To see a small sampling of his artwork, please visit erwin.rendall.com]

He died at 6:40pm, 6/17/1992, while eating supper at his nursing home. Surviving are three sons, Ronald C. and Arthur L., both of Kenosha, Wis., and Neil L. of Ridgewood; a sister, Eva Scaccia of West Palm Beach, Fla.; 14 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren. His wife, Ethel Johnson Rendall, died in 1976.

Lived at 3201 Ezekiel Ave in Zion, IL - a house he designed and had built.


The following undated letter was in an envelope addressed to: "Mrs. Rendall and Eva" (pictures of the original pages are in the document listed below).


"The Way of Life"
Erwin Rendall

There are two ways or paths which we may travel on our journey through this life: one, the best, is God's way on the way of life; the other is man's way on the way to death.

Man's way can well be compared to a street. As one looks down this street, be it ever so beautiful where he is, it apparently narrows while its beauty fades from view and disappears in the distance.

Isn't that all that can be said of man's way and of man's life? At times, all may seem beautiful and man may think he is enjoying life, but sooner or later the end draws near. Where then is the beauty and happiness of his way? Like the street which disappears in the distance so have his pleasures and joys faded away. What can he look forward to? He has no hope and no promise for the future.

Concerning those who choose man's way we are told in Proverbs 1:31, "Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices." And again, "the man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead."

Perhaps the foolish person who has chosen man's way, has been in God's way for a time, but thinking he knew a better path, has left God's way and followed his own inclinations. It is written, "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes." But we know that this is not pleasing in the eyes of God, for we are told, "As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity. And in Proverbs 14:12, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."

On the other hand, let us consider God's way. It has its beginning on earth but, whereas the natural man has no hope, no promise for the future, God's way leads to the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior and to Eternal life.

The man who chooses God's way, here on earth and remains on it travels on to that highway spoken of in Isaiah, "And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness." If we but choose God's way and accept his guidance we shall have for our reward the Zion above to which this way of holiness leads.

How great then should be our desire to be on the highway of life here in Zion on earth? This highway, if we are true, honest, sincere and faithful to the end, will lead us to that highway of the Zion above where we shall have everlasting joy and gladness and "sorrow and sighing shall flee away."

It is ours to choose which of these two ways shall be our path thru this life. Shall we choose man's way which has its end in death, or shall we choose God's way which has its end in Eternal Life? It is far better to choose God's way, for in the Psalms it is written, "The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish."

Let us, therefore, keep our eyes fixed on the glorious goal ahead and hold before our eyes these words of Phillip James Bailey:

We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.
We should count time by heart-throbs [when they beat
For God, for man, for duty]. He most lives
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.
And he whose heart beats quickest lives the longest:
Lives in one hour more than in years do some
Whose fat blood sleeps as it slips along their veins.
Life's but a means unto an end; that end,
Beginning, mean, and end to all things-God.
The dead have all the glory of the world.

Erwin Rendall
[signed]

* What is in bold in the poem above is what is in the original poem by Bailey, but was not included in Erwin's writing, and what is in brackets is what Erwin wrote but doesn't seem to be a part of the original poem.

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DOCUMENTS:

erwin-rendall-the-way-of-life-pdf
* A writing from Erwin Rendall titled "The Way of Life" (date unknown)