Memories of Mrs. Faye

I think in all of our lives we have someone who gives us wonderful life stories.  I have many of them.....remember I have 96 first cousins....so that is a lot of story potential.  This week has been a tough one for me.  My first cousin Cindy died on Monday night unexpectedly and then one of our congregation passed away Thursday morning.  She was one of those special people you write stories about.  So my week was filled with funeral homes and gravesites.  Thursday night was Cindy's visitation, Friday at 2 was her funeral....near Ashland, AL....which I left and went straight to Mrs. Fayes visitation in Roanoke.....At the funeral today (Frank's first) my darling husband told some tales that the family had shared at their home...all of them I have been here and experienced.  My favorite....well ok...one of my favorites was one Sunday, during prayer request time, she stood and told of a person who needed prayer.....and spent a good bit of time explaining why this person needed prayer.  When Frank went to do the prayer....Mrs. Faye leaned forward and told Meagan that she had asked for prayer for the wrong person....and then said..."Oh well, they can use prayer too."  Mrs. Faye was one of those people who cared for everyone.  She was precious.  The other story took place at Thanksgiving this year.  J's boyfriend had to leave the dinner early because his aunt had died and he was going to the visitation at the local funeral home.  As he was saying goodbye to everyone Mrs. Faye asked him where he was going and he told her "to the funeral home to see my aunt."  She then asked why she was there.  The whole room was silent....and we were all trying to keep from laughing out loud.  J's boyfriend responded sweetly, "she's dead."  Mrs. Faye never missed a beat and never realized what had just occurred until several minutes after the young man had left.  We all laughed....even her.  She was something else.  Mrs. Faye did for everyone.  She shared herself with everyone. She loved people and they loved her.  Mrs. Faye had many names....grandson, Chris, named her Dammy (We don't know why....it may have been because Grammy was hard to say.)....and grandson Todd called her Whoop.  We asked him if it was because she had spanked him before and he said he could only remember a couple of times she spanked him.  Wherever the nicknames came from....and for whatever reasons.....she was lovingly called both by everyone who knew her.  She and her husband Yater were instrumental in founding the Rock Mills Volunteer Fire Department.  She was active in the community and her church. She never missed a Sunday at church unless she was sick. Wednesday night when we got the call that the family was taking her to EAMC because she was having a heart attack....we did not even bat and eye....jumped in the car and headed to Opelika.  We got there around 11:00, Frank annointed her and had prayer, we talked and she seemed to be settling down.  We left a little after midnight and about 15 minutes down the road we got the first call saying they were taking her in to do the balloon test on her heart.  We got home around 1:00 am and they called again to say the doctor was there....she had crashed and they were working on her.  At 2 am we got the call saying Mrs. Faye had gone to be with Jesus.  Her presence will be sorely missed.  Many people relied on this spry 80 year old.  Her passing has left a huge hole in the lives of her family, friends, church.  Thursday morning when Mrs. Faye left her earthly body and went to her heavenly home I know the angels were rejoicing because she had come home.  Now those of us left behind need to follow her earthly example of what a Christian should be so we can see her again someday.  RIP Mrs. Faye.