Aunt Joy

by Ken on March 22, 2014

This week we lost our beloved Aunt Joy. She was my father’s sister.

I wrote this  on Aunt Joy’s obituary:

None can be truly summarized by the single word or idea. Beings have nearly infinite and unending qualities. But the single word that occurs to me, a word that describes this wonderful person, my Aunt Joy, is the word “grace”. Through the thick and thins of life, through its occasional travails, and its great times, Joy was grace in action. She granted beingness to others – a rare human capacity. She made others feel important. She engaged them with genuine interest. Each of us felt we held a special place in her heart; and I think we did. She lived up to her name – Joy. She is threaded into most of my memories: Memories from Sarasota, from Dayton – those lovely summer days at the beach; her special home across from Lawton. I have a 61 year old Teddy Bear, I’ve owned nothing longer, and this was a gift to me from my Aunt Joy. It has sat quietly on my many shelves as a silent chronicler of my life. She taught me history of my family – insights into my father and stories of the parents that she and Dad shared. Never did she, in my personal memory, speak ill of anybody. We judge others by way of our own hearts and I know that my Aunt Joy had a heart of pure gold. I loved her – and did not tell her enough. Yet she always told me. We sometimes discover certain importances a bit late in life – cleverly hidden in the shadows of our own minor games. Perhaps that is my only sorrow. If a hug is an expression of love, can we hug hard enough? I will miss, Joy. Thought sadness is a part of all loss, we can hopefully step back and rejoice at the big picture. For Joy, as for all of us, this was but one cycle among many. I’m thankful we shared this road for a spell. Her grace and joy, both in name and in character, will never be forgotten. And for her, these qualities will always be. My love to Joy and the family.

 

 

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