Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Funeral for a Writer

I recently joined the funeral ministry at our church. Yesterday was the first funeral I attended in this position.

It was for a woman who had lived nearly ninety years. She seemed to have had a good life.

I didn't know her. But I learned that we had a common bond. She was a writer. Not anyone that we've heard of. Her book won't be at the library. But that's not what it means to be a writer.

Her family found large sketchbooks filled with handwritten records of the family, events, life stories. She wrote a book with all this information and had it published somehow in a hardback version.

A treasure for her family.

The pastor at the funeral said, "She looked for the story." As we writers tend to do. Even as I sat there listening, I was finding a story.

On the program from her husband's funeral, she had taken notes. In the margin she had written a description of the young soldier who presented to her the flag from her husband's casket. In the time of her deepest grief, she wrote.

Writers are people who write.

7 comments:

  1. Wow. What a beautiful story. I'm sure her family will treasure her words.

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  2. I love that last statement Kay. Pure and simple.

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  3. That's beautiful, Kay. Thank you for sharing that.

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  4. Beautiful. Eternal memory to the newly departed.

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  5. This is a great post! It is very touching and so true.

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  6. Lovely, Kay.Her family is so lucky to have memories that have been written down. I wish my grandparents and parents had kept a written journal. I would treasure it. Writers keep us all connected by their words.

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  7. You went to the funeral of a writer. It makes me wonder what I will leave behind for others to cherish. I'm not sure my articles will be it, but maybe. There is something about the written word, though, that keeps everyone connected to the things that are important.

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