Remembering Gracie

I just found out that Gracie passed away last week on Wednesday. Gracie was my 4th grade Sunday School teacher and I remember only missing church once that year because I just adored her. I was mad for missing that one week, too. My mom went to visit a friend from college that one weekend and I didn't have a ride. Gracie told me if that ever happened again to call her and she would come get me. That was kind of the way we attended church up until I became a teenager. We went, we sat, we left. We weren't really involved.

I began dating her son, David, in 8th grade and she and my mom became the best of friends. She moved from NY to FL shortly after my family was settled there. My mom even picked out her house from the models and chose the colors without Gracie even needing to see it, that's how close they were at one point in time. She was going to watch Hannah for me when I had to return to work when Hannah was a newborn, but she ended up going to work for the child development center at the church we attended instead, so I opted for something closer to my home. She survived breast cancer, but it resurfaced after she moved to Ohio with David a few months ago. She was getting older and was forgetful so they didn't feel it was a good idea for her to be living alone. They blamed it on possibly being Alzheimer's, but it turned out that the cancer that they found in her lungs recently was actually in her brain.

Gracie was a Godly woman and I will miss her. She was always fast to send a card with a word of prayer whenever things were rough for me, whether I was young and confused, or middle aged and confused. She sent meals and encouragement when Keith was diagnosed with cancer and was excited for me when we bought our first home. Gracie visited the sick in the hospital and cared for others even though she had more than her share of grief and heartache in her own life.

David had her cremated and her ashes were placed in the memorial garden of the church we attended in FL. Her funeral was yesterday, although I just found out about it today. Please keep the family in your prayers.