Last week I got a call from a concerned parishioner about a member who had recently moved into a nursing home. He has been a wonderful support to this person and after a visit was really unsettled by her physical and mental well-being. Would I go to see her? I did, and she told me that she was sure she was dying. I tried to console her and we concluded with prayer.
I passed on this information to my co-worker, Cathy, Sunday morning and on Monday she went to see the woman. Cathy was surprised to hear that Eileen was in hospital and in systemic organ failure. So, she called me and we both went to the hospital to provide support to the stunned family and to be with our very ill parishioner. How's that for a team effort? I went into the Critical Care Unit with her two young grandsons who were unsettled to see nana this way. But they were both tender and brave. I invited them to stay with me as I read a psalm and prayed.
Yesterday morning, first thing, I went to the hospital and met the family as they were leaving. Eileen had just died.
Eileen was what we often call a "character," a fun-loving woman who was enthusiastic about her church to the extent that she would drive more than a kilometre to church in her motorized wheelchair even in the dead of winter. I would tease her and she would kibbitz right back. She knew she should change her eating habits and quit smoking but, hey, what can you do? Eileen came to every church dinner possible and no one relished a meal more.
St. Paul's was her second family. She will be missed by her Christian community, a group of people including parish nurse Beth Lettner, who provided support. We all received from her as well.
I passed on this information to my co-worker, Cathy, Sunday morning and on Monday she went to see the woman. Cathy was surprised to hear that Eileen was in hospital and in systemic organ failure. So, she called me and we both went to the hospital to provide support to the stunned family and to be with our very ill parishioner. How's that for a team effort? I went into the Critical Care Unit with her two young grandsons who were unsettled to see nana this way. But they were both tender and brave. I invited them to stay with me as I read a psalm and prayed.
Yesterday morning, first thing, I went to the hospital and met the family as they were leaving. Eileen had just died.
Eileen was what we often call a "character," a fun-loving woman who was enthusiastic about her church to the extent that she would drive more than a kilometre to church in her motorized wheelchair even in the dead of winter. I would tease her and she would kibbitz right back. She knew she should change her eating habits and quit smoking but, hey, what can you do? Eileen came to every church dinner possible and no one relished a meal more.
St. Paul's was her second family. She will be missed by her Christian community, a group of people including parish nurse Beth Lettner, who provided support. We all received from her as well.
2 comments:
The northwest corner of the sanctuary will be a little lonely without Eileen. Her bright, jovial character shone through even to those of us who didn't know her well. Despite life's challenges she seemed to relish life!
All true.
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