My Memama was a Patriot. The American Flag was such a symbol to her and the freedoms of our country. She was a coordinator of various patriotic evens at Red Level High School, Buck Creek Church, and probably more of those that I don’t know about. As I look back at the numerous newspaper articles of all kinds, it makes me so proud of her because she loved her country so well. She always wanter to make sure my children knew exactly what the meanings were behind Independence Day, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day. She always inquired if the were being taught this in school and the fact it was not just another day off. She loved the “Red, White, and Blue.”
My Memama was a Servant. This is an understatement. It was a such a wonderful gift from God to have a woman whose primary spiritual gift was “Acts of Service” matched to such organizations and ideas that would help more people than herself. PALS, being “The Trash Lady”, Red Cross, being “The Blood Lady”, “the Commissioner’s Wife”, the right-hand lady to help her husband, Johnny, making sure that her people were loved and cared for beyond their roads and community. I have asked her numerous times how many cream cheese pound cakes she’s baked and delivered over her lifetime. She always just sort of had a quiet laugh because she’d lost count too. The servant and volunteer list could go on and on. Memama sometimes had a “way” of how she executed ideas—trust me, I know; however, I always knew and will forever remember that anything she wanted to accomplish was based on doing the right thing for a greater cause.
In closing, when Memama was lying there before she entered the pearly gates of Heaven, I told her that she was going to have to find another servant job. There would be no trash in Heaven and no need for blood drives! However, I know she is putting to use the old hymns she had memorized and sang throughout my childhood. And maybe, just maybe, she is singing in one of Heaven’s many choirs in the alto section, accompanied there to her left by my sweet mother, her daughter, Janna.
I love you Memama – you will always be in my heart and soul, and you have done your job here to teach me what it means to be more than a Memama.