June 26, 2000
DOWN HOME:
If you knew Aunt Mary, you knew all about love
___"Mary went home to be with the Lord."
___My Aunt Mary's pastor, Joe Stewart, concluded her lovely, moving eulogy by reminding her family and friends of all we really needed to hear: Mary Knox, a beautiful, gregarious force of nature, now lives in heaven with Jesus, the greatest love of her life--which is saying something.
___Aunt Mary infused many of my earliest memories with happiness and laughter. We lived in Borger back then, when I was the only Knox child. She kept me some, and she and Unkie, Uncle Garvin, even took me on dates. Later, we made many happy childhood memories in their home.
MARV KNOX
Editor
___I've tried to figure out why Aunt Mary provided such a force in my young life.
___A huge reason, of course, was she was just plain fun. When Aunt Mary was around, the house or yard or park always filled up with laughter and joking and hugging.
___And hugging points to the real reason for Aunt Mary's larger-than-life presence: She loved abundantly.
___When I close my eyes, I still can feel her wonderfully smothering hugs and hear her melodic voice say words that caused my little ears to dance with joy, "Oh, Buddy, I just love you!" (And I love her so much I even let you in on my family nickname.)
___I grew up in a loving, expressive family. You might think I didn't need another person to hug and kiss me and tell me how much I was loved. You would be wrong. I think Aunt Mary knew how hard the world is and how difficult life could become, so she filled my account with I love yous--so many, in fact, I still draw on them, even up to this very day.
___I'd be misleading you if you thought Aunt Mary singled me out. I've always felt we had a special relationship, and it was. (She called me her first baby.) But so was her relationship with many people--all our family, but others besides. The family pews at her funeral also filled with other folks Aunt Mary "adopted" into her family. Not legally, but lovingly.
___To know her was to love her, because to know her was to be loved by her. She had a gift for making people feel special, for pulling folks into the comfort of her circle of love.
___Most of all, she loved her Lord Jesus. Even in these final years, as diabetes and heart problems worked their cursed deeds, her faith and love for the Lord never wavered. At the hospital, she led new friends to lasting, saving faith in her old friend, Jesus.
___She's with him now. She's got her legs back, and a strong heart. And I can just imagine her now, smothering the Lord in one of her trademark hugs and laughing, "Oh, Jesus, I just love you!"
Send this story to a friend
Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!
