Everyday Hero #15

 September 29, 2022

I was never quite sure how to address her or speak of her. To her husband, she was Ginner; to most of the rest of us, she was Gram. It’s hard to speak of her because there is so much that could be said. She was a combination of great faith and faithfulness, tenderness, generosity, compassion, and toughness that I don’t believe I’ve ever seen in anyone else.

When Linda went away to college, like many freshmen, she was homesick. She would call home and Ginner would pick up the phone (apparently that was one of her jobs, because Lloyd never did). When Linda would ask to speak to her father, Ginner refused, knowing he would have driven out there and brought her home. Ginner knew how important it was for Linda to stay in school, and wasn’t about to let her daughter’s homesickness or her husband’s soft spot to interfere with her future.

Lloyd wasn’t an easy man to live with. In earlier years, she kept the home while he drove up and down the eastern seaboard driving race cars at tracks from Ohio to Florida. When he came to Christ, he loved Jesus, but was still opinionated and determined. He never mistreated Ginner, but there was no question as to who ruled the roost. Ginner catered to him no matter how difficult it got. The aunts (Lloyd’s sisters) often weren’t very kind to her, but she was the one who took care of them in sickness and their old age. She never returned harshness for that which she received, and simply gave of herself to help others, caring for elderly people in the community as if they were her own parents.

She was a woman of prayer, often praying late into the night, and not a few times, she prayed through tears for the many people she loved. She taught Sunday School, gave generously to missions, and visited people all over the community in the name of Jesus. I’ve not met a more giving, generous, faithful woman. My only fault with her is that I couldn’t tell any of the common mother-in-law jokes; they just didn’t fit her.

We said goodbye to her on a New Year’s Eve as she lay in bed at Linda’s sister’s home. She had been sleeping fitfully, so giving her daughters a break, I sat reading Proverbs 31 to her. Her breathing changed, so I summoned Linda and her sisters and brother-in-laws. We lifted her up  with prayers and blessings as she entered the presence of the Savior she had served for so many years. For years, Linda has prayed to become more like her mother. I am blessed to be able to say she learned her lessons well, which makes Ginner a very special Everyday Hero to me.