Thank you Max and Debbie, Ross,
Damon and Carolina, Kim and Chris, Jeff and Michelle, Drake, Ross, Callan
and Quade, for the privilege of speaking today in honor of your Mom,
Mother-in-Law and Grandma. And to the brothers and sister of Gladys—my own
Grandpa, Harold, Uncle Bob and Aunt Mary—I am appreciative of the opportunity
to celebrate with you this morning, a life well lived.
Death is the great enemy and it is
understandable that we all experience a sense of loss with the passing of
someone we love so much. Mourning is
appropriate, but when a follower of Jesus passes, our grief is tempered by our
greater hope and assurance of eternity and a place of celebration. So in the
midst of our sorrow, we nonetheless remember today a woman whose life is worthy
of celebrating. As much as anyone,
Gladys would want us to dry it up, enjoy each other’s company, share some fun
memories, and hopefully eat some candy in her honor.
As I was reminiscing with family
about Gladys and remembering how fun it was to be around her and Uncle George,
and as I considered the legacy of her life, I naturally thought about her sense
of adventure, her sense of humor and her love of family. All of these are marvelous but the real
legacy she leaves to and through her children and grandchildren is her sincere
faith in Jesus.
Sincere faith. In many ways she and your family remind me of
two women, a mother and a grandmother, that the apostle Paul wrote about in a
letter. These women were the mother and grandmother of the young minister
Timothy. Their names were Lois and Eunice, and are mentioned by Paul in 2 Timothy 1:3-12:
I
thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience as my ancestors did, when I
constantly remember you in my prayers night and day. Remembering
your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy, clearly
recalling your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois, then in
your mother Eunice, and that I am convinced is in you also. Therefore, I remind
you to keep ablaze the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my
hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but
one of power, love, and sound judgment. So don’t be ashamed of the
testimony about our Lord, or of me His prisoner. Instead, share in suffering
for the gospel, relying on the power of God. He has saved us
and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time
began. This has now been made evident through the appearing of
our Savior Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and has brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel. For this gospel I was appointed a herald,
apostle, and teacher, and that is why I suffer these things.
But I am not ashamed, because I know the One I have believed in and am
persuaded that He is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that
day.
Paul recalled the sincere faith of
Louis and Eunice. He reminded Timothy to keep ablaze a spirit of fearlessness,
to embrace and believe the gospel of Jesus and therefore be certain that Christ
will indeed be with you always even unto the day we are united with Him and our
loved ones face to face in glory.
If I could characterize Aunt Gladys,
your mom and grandma, I would indeed choose words like sincere faith, a
fearless spirit, and a woman not ashamed of the gospel. Ask Max or her grandkids or any one of us who
loved her.
She was gentle, sweet, and fun
loving, with a strong adventurous spirit that showed through her blue
eyes. That she was a woman of great
character and strength is evident in how she handled joys, hardships and health
issues she and George faced. Like Paul,
Gladys was not unaccustomed to suffering.
George’s stroke and the loss of Mary
Belle were her greatest challenges. As Max has said, “She took care of dad when
she really should have been taking care of herself.” Max described his mom during this period with
the words, “She was amazing.”
In fact, even as a child she
suffered. When she was a little girl,
she had rheumatism and had to be pulled around by in a wagon by Harold and her
siblings as she was too weak and sick to walk.
At the time one of the greatest fears were “mad dogs,” as there was not
yet a cure known for rabies. During one
outing as they pulled her in the wagon, someone yelled, “Mad dog!” My grandpa said that Gladys beat them all to
the house!
In asking Max to share some of the
family’s favorite memories of Gladys, it’s not surprising that holidays were
recalled. Celebrating most holidays at Mary Belle’s and Ross’s, she relished
spending time with the whole crew of kids and grandkids and eventually great
grandkids running. She so loved her grandkids Jeff, Kim and Damon and her four
great grandsons.
Gladys adored her children, Mary
Belle and Max, her son-in-law Ross and her daughter-in-law Debbie. She knew that Debbie was the best thing that
happened to Max. She treasured her friendship with Debbie’s mother, Paris, and
her caregivers, Teresa, Gwytha, and Shelly.
She especially cherished her grandchildren. They were one of her
greatest pleasures right up to her last days. She genuinely loved Christmas
when they all wore matching PJs.
Why not? It probably reminded her of
being one of the eleven Whitlock kids of the local preacher. For her family was friends and fun. In fact, the more you hear about the original
eleven kids, the more you understand how much they loved to play games, play
jokes on each other, and just have fun with each other.
Whether it was camping, the famous
tacky parties that all those Whitlocks dressed up for, or their famous game of
blind man’s bluff they played with each other even after they were all
grandparents themselves, you get the picture of Gladys and her siblings and
their love for fun and family.
I’ve heard stories of Great
Grandaddy and Great Grandma telling the eleven as they grew up that they better
behave or some old mean witchy woman who lived over on the next hill would come
and get them. One time the younger crew
was acting up and Great Grandaddy snuck around and took a dress off the clothes
line, put it over his clothes, grabbed an axe and came around the corner as
that crazy old woman come to get them. I
guess that Gladys and the rest of the eleven all came by it honestly. Must be genetic.
There was the time when before
church services Gladys and some of the others decided to hound Harold who they
thought had gone in the outhouse before the church service started. They began throwing rocks at the outhouse and
yelling various things for a while then hid out to watch Harold come out. Only to their great embarrassment, instead of
Harold it was the guest preacher who was visiting their church that day who
emerged.
Gladys was one of the daughters of
the preacher at First Baptist, Hinton, when she first met George. She had gone to the grocery store invite him
to church since he was new in town. I’m
not sure whether this is a greater example of her dedication to sharing the
gospel or of her fearlessness in approaching the handsome new boy in town, but
knowing Gladys it was an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.
She first went out with George after
she had gone skating with another George who she classified as “just a
friend.” But she said, “George
Colclasure could really skate swell,” so they skated together as much as they
could and she let him drive her home, “in his nice car.”
And apparently, a nice car was a
requisite for Gladys. She never talked
about any guy she ever dated without first mentioning that he “drove a nice
car.” I’ve been told that this was not
only important to her but to Mary, and Mabel as well. In fact Gladys, when remembering Mary going
out for hot chocolate with Ted, described the story as Ted taking her out in
his “nice car.” Apparently though
George and Gladys spent a lot of time driving out on country roads because
legend has it that he kept a shovel in his trunk in case they got stuck
Gladys was obviously fearless in her
youth as evidenced by boldly going to town to invite the new boy, George
Colclasure to church. It’s also evident
in the times when she and Harold used to sneak out and walk to a place where
they could dance. Now that was fearless
for a couple of the Baptist preacher’s kids to do in that day. The problem was
their dog would follow them there and Harold would have to throw rocks at his
own dog to make him go back home. One time the dog followed them right into the
dance and caused them to have to run it out.
I guess it may have been easier to identify the preacher’s dog than it
was his kids.
Gladys loved adventures and one of
the blessings she enjoyed was traveling with her family. The first time she went to Hawaii it was her
first airplane ride and as she and the family walked into the incredible lobby
of the Hyatt hotel there, she looked around and began to exclaim, “Rich riccch
rich, rich rich! Honey we must all be rich rich rich to be staying here!”
When she was in her late 70s and 80s
and they would take family trips, they would load up and head out in a large
SUV or their motor home. All the kids
and grandkids would be exhausted and trying to sleep but Gladys would be wide
awake and ask, “Are you kids asleep back there? I hope not because I’m wide
awake as a hoot owl. Let’s visit!”
Another time it was so quiet and
everyone was dozing off when Gladys suddenly said, “Damon honey, whatever
possessed you to make such good grades?” Everyone just broke out laughing. If she was with family she wanted to visit.
My dad told me the story of her pet
parakeet Happy. Gladys trained it to
recognize its name and when she clapped Happy would fly over to her. One day, Happy was sitting on the shoulder of
one her brothers who were visiting and they absentmindedly walked outside with
the bird and it flew off. When Gladys
realized it she ran out to the yard and began looking up to the sky, clapping
furiously and shouting out, “Happy, Happy, Happy!” I just wonder what the neighbors
thought.
Her love of fun and family and
laughter are all part of her legacy that she leaves her family. But the greatest legacy she leaves is her
sincere faith. Her strong faith in God
through Jesus should inspire each of us to embrace the abundant life Christ
intends for us now and in eternity. She
believed in Jesus that He died on the cross for her sins, that He rose from the
grave and conquered death, and that He prepared a place for her—a real physical
place of eternity and fun and family.
Jesus, explaining His own impending
departure and separation from his disciples, told his them in John 14:1-3:
“Let
not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My
Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that
where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you
know, and the way you know.”
I urge you to be encouraged because Gladys
knew the truth of Christ’s promise in verse
6: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
So to Max and your family and to
Mary Belle’s family, to all of the grandkids and great grandkids, to her family
and friends, I urge you to embrace life like she did. And most important, embrace the same sincere
faith in Jesus that she did. Permit me
to paraphrase 2 Timothy 3:1-12 and
read it to you, the children, grandchildren, and family of Gladys:
I thank God when I remember you in my prayers. Remembering
your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy, clearly
recalling your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother and your
mother Gladys, and that I am convinced is in you also.
I remind you to keep ablaze the gift of God that is in
you. For God has not
given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound
judgment. Don’t be ashamed of the
testimony about our Lord. Instead, share in suffering for the gospel, relying
on the power of God. He has saved us and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and
grace, given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, now made evident through
the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and has
brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For this gospel we are appointed and that is
why we suffer. But I am not ashamed, because I know the One I have believed and
am persuaded that He is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that
day.
We are a people not without
hope. We have confidence in the future
and life beyond death. And for a woman
of sincere faith, for a woman who loved fun and family and celebrating, it
seems so fitting that she had her Homegoing on her 98th Birthday.
As she celebrated 98 years here, she
closed her eyes only to open them a split second later to have the greatest
birthday party ever! What a wonderful
birthday party it was as Jesus ushered her into heaven where she could SEE and
HEAR and Walk again, and maybe even dance.
What a birthday party that must have been as she was reunited with
George, Mary Belle, and her brothers and sisters and her Mamma and Papa.
Max stated, “We can only imagine how
the sight of heaven and the beautiful music of all the angels singing would
have looked, sounded and felt to mom as she arrived last Tuesday night on her
birthday. Happy Birthday Mom. We were so blessed to have you.”
For just a brief moment I imagined her running around heaven clapping and shouting, “Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy!”
But I really do suspect that as she
arrived in glory and beheld the absolute splendor and awe and majesty that
surrounded her in the lobby of Heaven, she must have stepped back and said
something like, “Rich riccch rich, rich rich.
Honey we must all be rich rich rich!”
And indeed she is.
~~~
