Page 33 - Senior Link Magazine Winter 2022 - Online Magazine

EXCEPTIONAL SENIORS

palpable, but now, as when going through that toughest
of seasons witnessing the declining health of someone
you love, Barbara hung, by faith, to this tenet, “God will
have you where you need to be.”

God is with her when her home feels empty, and she fills
it with friends, Bible studies, prayer, worship, quilting,
baking, cake decorating, and her devotion to the only
One she loves more than her husband and partner of
nearly six decades. She is close to her family, which
includes her children’s spouses, Vicki, Kim, and Lendi,
16 grandchildren and their spouses, and nine great-

Estacado Emmaus Community until Ray had to bow out. grandchildren. She gathers for special occasions with
They joined St. Luke’s United Methodist Church when her brother and sisters and their spouses. Recently, when
they moved to Lubbock. They started a small group Bible her oldest great-grandson, Tripp, was visiting, he asked
study in their home with folks who still gather biweekly when Grandpa was coming home. Barbara was surprised
to stir growth in their faith. Barbara and Ray helped because he was only two years old at the time of death.
to get the St. Luke’s Southwest campus started. They That’s a sweet memory for Barbara. Ray had made an
both have been superb examples impact on little Tripp, just as
of Christ followers, even as Ray’s he had on countless others.
health declined. Barbara still is. She has found
that, in every season, “God
Barbara could see God at work gives strength to endure the
in every aspect of their lives, unendurable.”
especially in this season of life.
When Hospice was called in, the May that be true for all of us as
nurse, in her first assignment, was well.
in tears as she met her clients.
Her own father had PSP, and she
was acquainted with the stages
that Ray would go through.
Barbara and Ray already knew
the chaplain, and Ray’s CNA
(Certified Nurse Assistant) had
helped her brother-in-law and
sister. When Barbara fell and
broke her shoulder, Calvert Home
Health provided the same CNA
for her as they had for Ray. So
many familiar faces seemed more
than coincidence.
Ray died February 20, 2021,
with all his family surrounding
him in the home where Barbara
cared for her husband just as she
had vowed 56 years earlier, “in
sickness and in health.” David
suggested that they sing, and
while they were singing “I will
rise, when He calls my name,”
Ray did. The grief is still fairly

Lubbock Senior Link 33