by Pat Brandenstein
This week I had the privilege to celebrate the life of a good friend, Cornelia Frank. She was 101 years old and was one of the first persons I met when I moved to Winchester 20 years ago.
It is difficult moving into a small town and getting acquainted after you have retired. Everyone has their circle of friends. However, the first Sunday I attended Winchester First United Methodist Church, Cornelia came up to me, introduced herself, and invited me to deliver Meals on Wheels with her. I was her co-pilot delivering some 10 meals together each week.
We talked and shared our own experiences. She had lived in Winchester all of her life, raised her children here, and became widowed at an early age. She was a true survivor of widowhood—growing a large garden, raising three children, and working.
When I taught fourth and fifth graders in vacation Bible school, I focused on missions and serving in practical ways. One of our missions was serving widows in the community.
When the children and I arrived at Cornelia’s house, she—then 95—proudly announced she had mowed the yard with her push mower but we could weed the garden and her flower bed. Midway into our work she served the children ice-cold Kool-Aid and homemade cookies; visiting with them as they sat on her porch shaded from the blistering hot sun.
Eventually, Cornelia’s physical body started giving out. No longer would her legs carry her frail body to mow the lawn nor her eyes able to read the Bible and Upper Room devotionals she had been so accustomed to reading. She served in Winchester’s Wings of Hope chapter as treasurer until one day, she said to me, “Pat, I can’t read the numbers like I use to and have to give up my position.”
Cornelia, a year before her death, had to go to residential living where she spent the rest of her life. When I visited Cornelia, she would say, “I want to go home.”
Most people took this to mean she wanted to go to her physical home in Winchester. However, I always took it to mean her heavenly residence. She was tired; her body was worn out. But she had the hope of rest and a new body that would not wear out due to aging.
Just as Cornelia was encouraged by that blessed promise of new life, Wings of Hope chapters attempt to bring new life to recent widows or widowers with the verse in Isaiah 40:31 (NIV): But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.
Widows and widowers grow weary in grief with the loss of a spouse; they grow faint just maneuvering daily life. However, by placing their hope or trust in the Lord, the Lord will strengthen them so they appear to be like an eagle soaring above all the details of life and rising victoriously above their circumstances.
Wings of Hope Widows Ministry provides opportunities for men or women who have lost a spouse to gather with those on the same journey. Monthly chapter meetings are encouraging, educational, and sometimes just plain fun. If you have a desire to start or participate in a monthly chapter meeting, please contact us.
We can also assist your church in developing a widowed person’s ministry. For more information call 931-636-4359, email brandensteinr@bellsouth.net, or visit wingsofhopewidowsministry.com.
Pat Brandenstein is co-founder of Wings of Hope Widows Ministry, a 501(3) c with chapters in Cheatham, Rutherford, and Franklin counties in Tennessee and Kent County, Michigan. Wings of Hope also assists individuals with forming widowed persons ministries in communities and churches.