Page 10 - Summer 2019 - Lubbock Senior Link Magazine - Online Magazine
P. 10

HONORING SENIORS


                                                                                                 attending Quaker
                                                                                                 Avenue Church
                                                                                                 of Christ where
                                                                                                 I am a member.
                                                                                                 This was a time of
                                                                                                 much hardship for
                                                                                                 them.  Their son
                                                                                                 Mark was battling
                                                                                                 an addiction to
                                                                                                 prescription pain
                                                                                                 medication which
          Sharing Life:                                                                          he had begun
                                                                                                 taking because of
                                                                                                 a college football
          The Definition of Mentoring                                                            injury.  Shortly after
                                                                                                 moving here, Carola
                                                                                                 was diagnosed
                                                                       by Leslie McCullough      with colon cancer.
              was scared because I had        and funerals. In fact, the                         After going through
              breast cancer, and I would be   first time I met Marlin,                         chemotherapy and
              starting chemotherapy the next   he was officiating my great uncle   surgery, she eventually recovered.
         I morning, so I chose to spend       Check Reeves’ funeral in Portales.   Not long after her recovery, Mark
          the evening with Marlin and Carola   Marlin, in his gentle and hope-filled   came to stay with them. He had
          Poynor. I knew they would be able   manner, honored my uncle who        gone through numerous treatment
          to empathize with and mentor me     was a WWII Veteran as he told the   facilities and had decided that this
          because of their own experiences    story of the sinking of the Naval   time he would try to go through
          with cancer and chemotherapy.       ship, the USS Indianapolis.  My great   detox on his own. They watched
          They have also experienced the      uncle was on this ship when it was   and cared for him as he endured
          difficult suffering of having a son   torpedoed, forcing him to spend   the sleeplessness, hallucinations,
          pass away, and yet they exhibit     four days floating in the shark-    and other sufferings of detox. After
          a peaceful trust in God and an      infested Pacific Ocean.  Marlin     returning to his home, he began
          exuberant zest for life. My husband,   earned my respect with the way he                to take the pills
          Kevin, and I had so much fun that   conducted                                           again. He passed
          evening, staying up late playing    that funeral,                                       away after three
          cards with them, that I was able to   and I felt an                                     days of being
          forget the fear and anxiety of what   immediate                                         back on the pills,
          I was going through. Marlin told    connection                                          because the
          me, “You have to see a light at the   with him,                                         amount that he
          end of this tunnel.”  I am now in   though I                                            had taken before
          remission, but that phrase continues   had no way                                       was now an
          to influence my thinking.           of knowing                                          overdose. In the
                                              that he                                             years following,
          Through the success of their White’s   would                                            they would talk of
          Auto Store in Portales, New Mexico,   eventually                                        this loss often, and
          being on the board of the Christian   become an                                         the very real pain
          Children’s Home in Portales, and    important                                           in their voices
          preaching in various places, this   part of my life.                    was evident. Now, they talk more
          couple has been influential in many                                     of what a great man their son was
          people’s lives, which has led to    A few years later, Marlin and Carola   and their peace in knowing that he
          Marlin performing many weddings     moved to Lubbock and began          is no longer suffering, that he is in




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