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By Ruth Gadberry
Have you been getting up early this past week to enjoy the early mornings? Haven’t they been super great? Cool, and calm, and a joy to wake up to and great a brand new day. We still have hot weather but last week was better than the week before. Now it’s goodbye August and hello September. Time rushes by.
It didn’t take long to read the Stringtown News last week, did it? It didn’t start out that way but that was the way it ended up. Sometimes things like that just happen. The newspaper people have to trim things a bit to make it fit. Sometimes they really have to slash things to make room for the really important stuff. They’ve been great about printing the whole thing almost every week. Thanks heaps, newspaper people!
What a shock it was last Wednesday evening to learn of the death of Jerry Lansdale. Jerry; the guy everybody loved and who loved everybody. He was doing what he loved to do; putting up a deer stand in preparation for hunting season. For whatever reason, possibly even a medical reason, he fell to his death. The tree stand fell with him didn’t it?
News spread like wildfire and within a very short time everyone in the community knew about the tragedy. It was a tragedy to all Jerry’s family and friends but it was really a triumph for Jerry. Death didn’t win; God did. The instant death occurred. Jerry was alive again, in
HEAVEN! The devil didn’t win a victory there; God did!
Jerry, by the way, is the big brother to Preacher Joey at Stringtown First Baptist Church. Yes, Jerry is alive and well in Heaven.
Would Preacher Joey preach Sunday morning? Would he have someone fill in for him? Joey preached! Which is something a lot of brothers couldn’t have done. He shared some of the things in Jerry’s life, preaching an entirely different message than the one he had prepared. The prepared sermon just didn’t work so he just let the Lord lead him in the direction He wanted him to take. It was a very special service.
A celebration of life was held for Jerry at the church on Monday morning of this week and burial was in Mt. Olive Cemetery.
The celebration service was a bit different than most services you’ve attended. Joey asked several members of the Lansdale Family as well as friends to share stories and memories of Jerry. Funny stories, family stories, stories friends remembered. The plan of salvation was presented and the congregation was encouraged to ask and receive God’s forgiveness and accept His great gift of salvation. Then it was Preacher Loyd’s turn. Yes, he had a lot more stories about Jerry to share with the congregation. It was a joyful celebration, even though hearts were breaking because Jerry is no longer a resident of the Stringtown community. But Heaven is waiting.
If by any chance you attended the celebration of life services for Jerry and didn’t actually know him, when you left you probably felt that you did know him. If you knew him well, you might have gotten to know him better by listening to the stories told about him at the services. Those who didn’t know him, wished they had.
Jerry was a very generous person. That was evidenced by his gift to his brother, our Preacher Joey, thirty-one years ago. Joey’s health wasn’t good and if he wanted to keep on living he had to have a kidney transplant. No problem. Jerry had two healthy kidneys and could get by with just one. Joey could have the other one. Jerry didn’t hesitate. He was the first to offer, he was a match, or fit or whatever. End of story. No one else even needed to be tested. Jerry had already decided; HE was the one!
JC and Ruth missed the Family night at Brown’s Funeral Home on Sunday night. Well see, JC had a close encounter with a wasp and the wasp won. It stung him on the forehead, right between his eyes. Since his face was swelling and his eyes were on their way to swelling shut they didn’t go.
For awhile early Monday morning it looked as though they couldn’t go to the funeral either. His face was still swollen some and his whole body was itching almost unbearable. Ruth gave him a couple of Benadryl capsules and a tube of anti-itch cream and he was finally able to go.
The Women’s meeting at First Baptist Church and the baby shower for Jonathan and Sabra Smith were changed from last Sunday evening until this Sunday evening, August 30.
There will also be a baby shower for Cooie and Taylor Potts this Saturday afternoon, August 29. This will be at the home of Tony and Ronny Potts. Ah! We’ll soon have new babies in the church nursery. Won’t it be wonderful?
Ruth’s niece. Tammy Brewster, is finally showing improvement in her fight against the Covid-l9 thing. She’s had a pretty rough time of it. Her doctors told her not to go to the hospital if she could manage without it and don’t go to ER, though she had to go to ER a couple of times. For oxygen, dehydration, that sort of thing. They said she was better off at home, even though she was at home alone. She wouldn’t allow her parents to come in; she didn’t want to risk giving them the virus.
Tammy’s Dad, Gary (Butch), would like those of you who prayed for Tammy to know how much he appreciates your prayers.
John Cooper could really use your prayers too. He is probably back in the hospital at Ada tonight. He was there but Janie managed to get him out to go to the funeral Monday and then to Dean McGee Eye Institute in Oklahoma City where he had an appointment. She checked him out of the hospital kinda like you’d check a book out of the Library. Then she was to take him back to the hospital. Where she can’t even go in to visit him!
Beth’s daughter Dionna and her family are getting settled in their new home in Durant; they just moved there from South Texas. Dionna had to go back to Texas last week so Beth took her granddaughter, Kaelin, to school to ‘meet the teachers’, learn when to go where and that sort of thing. If first impressions count, this should be a great school year for Kaelin. She liked her teachers, the school; everything. It’s a bigger school than the one she went to in Texas. Her sister, Jordan, is a junior in Durant High school this year.
Hello, Kaolin’s teacher’s Mother who enjoys reading the Stringtown News! Beth and the teacher know some of the same people. See? You have to behave yourself everywhere you go. You are sure to meet someone who knows you or who knows someone who knows you.
People are funny, aren’t they? God must get a lot of chuckles just watching His kids. That reminds Ruth of a friend of hers in Texas. This friend was going on vacation; Galveston or someplace where there was a beach. She was determined to wear a bikini to the beach, even though she definitely didn’t have a bikini figure, because she wouldn’t see anyone she knew, or who knew her that far from home. Wanna bet?
Another Texas friend took her kids to school one morning, as usual. She was just going to the school; no errands to run or anything like that. She was running late so she just jumped into the car, barefoot and wearing her nightgown. She would only be gone a few minutes. Everything went according to schedule; her boys hopped out of the car and went into the Jr. High School and she started home. That’s where the plans changed drastically. Her car coughed, and sputtered, and died dead. She looked at the gas gage and it was just below the ‘E’ for empty mark. What to do? She couldn’t call for help; this was before cell phones. She couldn’t go into the school office to call for help. Her kids would have been humiliated. Would she just have to sit there all day? It seems like someone finally came by and asked if she was having trouble and got her a can of gas or something. She learned something that day. Never again did she take her kids to school without getting properly dressed first!
It seems that Beth is in competition with Ginger to see who can feed the most hummingbirds. Beth didn’t put out feeders; she hadn’t seen any hummingbirds. Her mother talked her into putting out a feeder and just see if they would come to it. Did they ever come! She sees about 20 or so of the tiny birds at a time. Often one feeder-she has four or five – has as many as five birds feeding at the same time. She has feeders on the patio. Hanging on the stationary bicycle; that sort of thing.
Some folks have reported seeing, and hearing, geese flying south. Isn’t it a little early for that? Are they migrating already? Then hummingbirds must be migrating too. Right?
Open my eyes. Lord, to see new blessings from you each day.
