Granny's Eulogy

I am sure Granny is in heaven right now, saying to someone “I hope she is not about to sing.”

I was fortunate enough to stay in Birmingham a few days, while Granny was in the hospital. One night I was getting ready to leave the ICU, and I said, “well, I will see you in the morning.” She said, “not if the Lord takes me.” I said, “well, if the Lord takes you, know that I love you. You lived a blessed life, and have lots of children and grandchildren.” Aunt Trish added, “and Mother you have had a wonderful influence on them. And not just your family. You have had a wonderful influence on the entire community, the whole town of Cottonwood.” Granny said, “all 25 of them.”

Dad told me recently that before there was 911, people called Janie for everything. If someone needed an ambulance, or the police, or if someone was sick or dying, or if they had a question about child rearing, or even where a scripture might be found in the Bible, they called Janie at 3777.

I must say, I was taken aback that Granny’s phone number was 3777. For the number 3 is a Biblical symbol of the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Divine perfection. And from the Seven days of Creation to the Seven Seals of Revelation, Scripture is saturated with the Number Seven. In essence, seven denotes spiritual perfection.

As a small child I loved to sleep with Granny. She always said that she could feel Othell’s hand on her back at night. Now, my reasoning as a child went something like this: if Othell was in Heaven, and she felt his hand on her back while she slept, then if I slept beside her, I would be close to God. It took me a long time to realize that I felt close to God when I was with Granny, not because of some mysterious angel/ghost presence, but because Granny was close to God. She always knew whose she was.

I am pretty sure all of you, and all the people who have called on her through the years, did so because of her closeness to God. Her strength she obtained through her faith. So, it should come as no surprise that her number has such a spiritual significance.

One of Granny’s favorite chapters of the Bible was 1 Corinthians Chapter 13. She told me once that when she had to memorize poems for school, she always quoted these verses. Most of us have memorized these verses because they are so often chosen as readings for weddings.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.

Now, let me be the first to admit that Granny was the most honest person, I have ever met in my life. If she thought it, she said it. She was always the first to point out if you had received an unfortunate haircut, or gained weight, or had on some interesting “garb”.

All who knew her can attest to this quality. It was not until I was much older that I realized this quality was such a virtue. There are so many people in this world who will never tell you the truth, but not Granny – no she rejoiced in the truth.

All of us could ALWAYS count on her telling us the truth, and helping keep our ambitions in perspective. For example, I write. Now most writers dream of writing the great American novel or winning a Nobel Prize. But Granny told me a couple of weeks ago that I should aim for a good “bathroom” book - a book with really short stories that people can finish while going to the bathroom. I think this wit and humor, combined with her deep spirituality is what made so many people in this community call upon her in their time of need.

Granny was a Wife, Mother, Grandmother, Great-grandmother, Sister, Aunt, and Friend. She was a teacher, a preacher, a beautician, a confidant, a comedian, a doctor, a nurse, a private investigator, a pharmacist, a lactation consultant, orthodontist, and a spiritual advisor to many. But at the end of the day, she was just Granny to us.

In one of her last sermons she gave to some of the family, she said that nice houses, nice cars, nice clothes, and lots of things were not what is important in this life. Although, you do need to be presentable on Sundays. Rather, she said, what is important in this life is family and faith.

She was definitely this family’s prayer warrior. She got on her knees, every night she was able, in order to pray for her family and her friends. In fact, if you asked her to pray for a certain situation, and she knew the time it was to take place, she would stop in the middle of her day and get on her knees and pray for you.

I think her devotion to prayer, and understanding of prayer, were a result of her life as a true disciple of Christ. Oddly enough, the last writing I read to her was a piece I had written about Jesus’ call to discipleship in Luke. I opined that his call to discipleship was a call to an everyday faith journey. I said it is an easy thing to have faith in God during the mountain tops of life, but it is much harder to maintain that faith in the valleys of this life. For we must recognize that bearing the cross and being a disciple of faith in Christ, begins with His grace, is sustained by His grace, and ends through eternal life with Him. And we thus have to ask for “strength and courage” to “love and serve” Him, everyday, with “gladness and singleness of heart.”

Granny stopped me right there and said, Katie I completely agree. It wasn’t until a couple of weeks later that I realized this theological idea was not something I came to on my own, but was from watching Granny through the mountains and valleys of her life, as she showed us what it was to be on this faith journey. She was the toughest person I have ever met, physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Let us take great comfort in knowing that Granny is now at home with God. He has just added one feisty little angel to his fold. She is there with all the company of heaven, especially Othell, who died twenty-five years today. And Scotty – both of whom I am sure she was glad to see. Let us all pray that light perpetual shines upon them. And let us take great comfort in knowing that the angel at extension 3777 is able to see again and look over us all the days of our lives. Amen.