MEMORIES OF
Karen, our friend with Lou Gehrig’s disease
I met Karen at my weekly Bible study. That was my first year of being a “Bible study group leader” and my son was about 4 years old at this time. He came with me to Bible study and always had his best friend (a little stuffed monkey) with him whom he named “Peep” (pictured above).
Peep went with us everywhere.
One day I told my son that we were going to go visit someone that I knew from my Bible study and that she lived in a convalescent type home nearby. So the three of us went to visit Karen that day. (Me, my son and Peep). 😊
The photo above is from that day.
Karen loved Peep and my son…but then how could she not love them, since they’re so sweet.
Here is Peep now 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻
Karen had been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease a few years before I met her and when she was in my group she couldn’t walk. She was in a wheelchair and could barely speak…but she was very much alive and she loved her life and her husband and her two daughters.
A friend of Karen’s would bring her to the Bible study each week in the van and then she would push her wheelchair over to our table. Our group was chosen for Karen to join because we were the closest group to the entrance near the handicap parking area. On the PLUS side our group was also right next to the snack table 😊😉 They always made sure there were “healthy” snacks as well as Fun snacks.
I was a tad concerned that year because this was my first year as a group leader and the teacher of that Bible study had chosen to study the book of Revelation that year. 👉🏼😳
Revelation was the ONE book that I had sworn I’d never read again since I couldn’t tell heads or tails what it meant. 😂
This is how I found out that God truly does have a sense of humor.
So much for me saying what I “Won’t” do, eh?
Our little group of gals always enjoyed discussing our answers to our questions in our group before we had the lecture from the teacher…and I learned a lot that year.
Some of what I learned was from watching Karen … and seeing how she communicated with us. She was a group favorite for sure. Her answers were usually written down by whoever helped her do her lesson each day. I assume she got help with writing down the answers to the questions from her husband. Or perhaps one of her daughters helped her. Either way you slice it someone had the task of helping Karen study the book of REVELATION too!
A few years after my son and I originally visited Karen (with Peep) we decided to visit her once more. But this time my son brought his trumpet (instead of Peep) as he had recently started taking trumpet lessons after school.
Being a beginner at the trumpet he only knew a few short songs but somewhere along the line he and I decided that Karen might just enjoy hearing those few songs. 🎶
I recently found the journal that I wrote in during those days. As I was reading it I saw a story that I hadn’t remembered. And it jogged my memory about this next visit so I asked my son (now age 30) if he remembered playing the trumpet for Karen. He said it had to have been when he first took lessons at age 7.
Karen really enjoyed his trumpet playing … her particular favorite song out of the three that he played for her that day was “Ode to Joy”.
Here it is: Ode to Joy on trumpet for beginners: (that is not my son playing 😊)
I imagine that she wasn’t the only one to hear his trumpet that day. As Trumpets are pretty loud and it was a convalescent home 😂🎶
I also read in my old journal that Karen had participated in the Los Angeles Marathon and had won a medal. Her husband walked while pushing her in her wheelchair the entire length of the marathon. Their total time was 7 hours and 3 minutes.
Karen lived a longer life than expected for someone with A.L.S.
I believe she lived for 12 years after her diagnosis.
She had asked God for two things…
— One was to see her daughters graduate from High School.
— The other was to see her husband become a believer in Jesus.
💜 She saw both of those things happen 💜
Karen had written a poem about her “Healing” and I wrote the music for it. We turned it into a song.
It was titled “The Healing”.
I had the privilege of singing the song at a meeting that we both attended together.
But God chose to take Karen home to heaven for her “Healing”.
This below is A Farewell Prayer that Karen wrote that was put into her memorial leaflet:
I am thankful to have known Karen and to have said yes to being a Group leader way back then. Otherwise I would not have had the privilege to get to know her and her sweetness and her love for the Lord.
She taught me how to be thankful through tough times.
She was a wonderful example of grace and peace through difficulty.
She had a strong faith that God would answer her prayers.
Always remember that God cares deeply for you.
Lu 💜
Let not your heart be troubled 💜
Diana Pippin Wire Editor Newman Lauren Alida Pamela Oglesby Trisha Faye James Scannell Gerald Washington Ionekayser Tina Hollie Petit, Ph.D. Scot Butwell Paul Dawn Ulmer Randy Pulley Deb Palmer Jfknouse