Her four adult grandchildren stood at the front of the church, with guitar in hand, and sang a tender lullaby-like ballad… it was memorized… and sung with the familiarity of a song entrenched deep within their psyche… I felt a tear come to my eye, as DLW leaned over and whispered in my ear…
“I imagine those kids have wonderful memories of their grandmother singing that song with them before she put them to bed at night.”
It’s dawned on me more than a few times, how appropriate it was that Katy lived on a street named “Lark”. Music was so a part of her world. I often wondered if she and her beloved husband, George, (whom was also adored) picked that house because it was on Lark, or perhaps they moved there first and then named it themselves!
Katy named lots of things, like Day Spring Baptist Church… an endearing church which she, George, and a few friends birthed a couple of decades ago. Katy named several books that she authored and published… Katy named the songs that she wrote… Katy named the Baylor Blessing…
But, to me, the most important thing Katy helped name was my daughter, Kelsey. Her granddaughter was named Kelsey, and at the time, I had not heard of a girl being named Kelsey… thanks to Katy introducing me to stories about her granddaughter, I fell in love with that name. I really thought at the time that it was such an unusual and beautiful name and I still do!
Katy loved a good romance story. She was a romanticist all the way! In many ways, her entire life was a good love story… one she shared with everyone who might cross her path!
She kept books, photo albums, journals, symbols of life, such as, a friend-signed table cloth in which later she stitched the names by her own hand, an alter in her living room, an often-lit candle on the dining room table, a “postcard” Christmas card each and every year…with a picture and a personalized hand written love note, and a generously offered up cup of tea and scone for anyone who walked through her front door!
All of us reminisced about having scones and tea at her table, while she told lavish stories of old, and imagined exciting things to come, philosophized about life, and encouraged us on to make our own dreams come true.
You can see the delight in this smile of Katy's...
...pictured here with her "Blue Goose"!
She would bring this smile to DLW's dental office
and they all loved her there, too!
Yesterday's celebration of Katy was the culmination of a “lady” well-lived. It was tribute of courage. It was a directive of hope for all of us to live in the present… to squeak out every little morsel of this life we’ve been given… to cherish our beautiful earth and to take in it’s gifts…to walk down paths hitherto un-trod… to smell flowers, climb trees, intimate with creatures of all kinds... share smiles, and create a sense of wonder in all things!
Katy had an undeniable relationship with her maker and all His gifts to us. As I signed our names in the book before her memorial, I felt Katy smiling down on me and saying, “Ohhh… I’m so glad you two are here!” A tear of joy came to my eye…
Katy’s last words on this earth sum up the essence of her well-lived days, as she burst out with this joyful mantra...
“Isn’t this exciting?!!!” she declared!
Wow… what a wonderful exclamation to Katy's earthen journey… as she pilgrimaged into her heavenly beginning!
La – Ti – Do!
Jeanne
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