Madelyn Marie Taylor Eggleston, 44-W-1, May 24, 2016

WASP Madelyn Marie Taylor Eggleston, a graduate of Class 44-W-1,  was born Saturday, June 7, 1919 in Red Oak, Iowa.   She was the daughter of the late Lawrence B. (Cap) Taylor and Blanche Beeson (Taylor). 

When she was 9 years old, her father took Madelyn to a local airport to watch an air show. The young girl persuaded him to let her go for a ride.  From that day forward she never lost her desire to fly. 

She graduated from Red Oak Junior College but reenrolled the next year in one class so that she would be eligible to take the Civilian Pilot Training course.  Each CPT class of 10 would only accept one girl.   Madelyn was chosen to be that girl,  completed the course and earned her private pilot license.

In early 1943,  when Madelyn  learned about a program training women pilots to fly American military aircraft, she applied(1).  After passing an interview, entrance tests and an army physical,  she was accepted into the first class of 1944.   She arrived at Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas in the fall of 1943 along with 100 other hopeful young women pilots.  After completing seven months of Army Air Force flight training, she and 48 of her classmates, graduated.  They were the first class to wear the brand new Santiago Blue uniforms.  

After graduating, Madelyn was assigned to Las Vegas Army Air Field. She completed instrument school and was then assigned as an instrument instructor for male pilots. While stationed in Las Vegas, she met and married a B-17 bomber pilot, G.B. "Gil" Eggleston on Nov 3, 1944.  After the WASP were disbanded and WWII was over, the young couple eventually moved back to Texas and settled in Vernon in 1952.

Madelyn was active in her growing family's life.  She was a homemaker and served as den mother in cub scouts and group leader for campfire girls.  After her children were grown, she went back to school and graduated from the  Vernon College LVN program. She worked as a licensed vocational nurse at Center North for over 18 years. 

Madelyn was a member of the Eastern Star and a past worthy matron. She was a longtime member and very active in the Central Christian Church, was in CWF and sang in the choir. She was active in charity work, loved gardening, art, watercolor painting and china painting.

In 2010, long after her service as a WWII AAF pilot, Madelyn and her fellow WASP were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for their service during World War II.  It is the highest civilian honor our nation can give.

Surviving to honor her memory are sons Edward B. Eggleston and wife Toya of Vernon, TX and  Jon T. Eggleston of Vernon, TX;  daughter  Evelyn Wilson and husband Jim of Stamford, TX;   grand children Robert Eggleston, Allison Harding, Cody Shores, Amy Cervantes, David Shores, Tracy Wygal, Robert Wilson and Ashly Eggleston; and 13 great grand children.

She was predeceased by brothers, Bill Taylor and Eldon Taylor.

Visitation was held on Monday, May 23, 2016 from 7-8 pm at the funeral home.

Funeral service was held on Tuesday, May 24, 2016 at 10:00am at the Central Christian Church with Rev. Jim Antwine officiating. Interment followed at Eastview Cemetery. Services are under the direction of Sullivan Funeral Home.

Memorials may be made to the Central Christian Church.

The family would like to thank the Hospice workers and the home health care workers for all their special care. 
______________

1 During WWII 25,000 women applied to the WASP program (Women Airforce Service Pilots), but due to the rigorous training and strict qualification requirements only 1,830 were accepted into training and a total of  1,074 graduated.  

v/r posted by Nancy Parrish including the original online obituary and additional information on Madelyn's service as a WASP.  Photo from Wings Across America's digital archive.

Grace Ashwell Lotowycz, 44-W-7 | April 8, 2016

Flying high: Boulder woman served as a WASP in WWII

Grace "Betty" Lotowycz dies at the age of 99

By Mitchell Byars

Staff WriterPO

STED:   04/23/2016 05:10:01 PM MDT | UPDATED:   ABOUT 19 HOURS AGODaily Camera / File photo)

Despite being raised in the 1920s and 1930s, Grace "Betty" Lotowycz never let anyone else's ideas of what a woman should be shape her life. From flying for the Air Force in World War II to climbing the Swiss Alps, she always set her sights high.

So it comes as no surprise that Lotowycz passed on that mentality to her four daughters.

"We always assumed women could do anything we wanted, because our mother had," said Lotowycz's eldest daughter, Sophia Stroller.

Lotowycz died just a month shy of her 100th birthday at her home in Boulder on April 8 after a life full of adventure.

She was one of just 1,074 women to become a Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), a select group of female pilots who flew military aircraft with the U.S. Air Force during World War II.

"Whenever she was asked about flying, about being a WASP, she just said it was what everybody did, that everybody wanted to do something to help," Stroller said. "That's what she could do. It wasn't special, it wasn't glamorous. It was to serve."

After the war, Lotowycz and her husband briefly lived in Syria and taught English in a New York monastery before settling down with her family in Mill Neck, N.Y., to return to her career as a botanist.

Stroller said she heard stories as a child of her mom's flying days and traveling.

"We heard that she had climbed mountains and lived in Syria, and nobody else did anything like that in the suburbs," Stroller said.

Stroller said she grew up in a time when retelling those stories would get some strange looks, even though nothing about her mother's exploits surprised her.

"Women were supposed to be housewives and take care of the family," Stroller said. "That wasn't exactly who she had been."

But in 1977, the U.S. finally unsealed all of the documents detailing the service of the WASPS, and Lotowycz was on hand when the women were honored with the Congressional Gold Medal at Washington, D.C. in 2009.

"She was proud," Stroller said. "I was very happy for her, and happy for all the WASPS that after so many years were recognized for what they had really done."

Grace "Betty" Ashwell Lotowycz, 99, a World War II Army Air Corps WASP, Women Airforce Service Pilots, smiled while wearing her WASP hat at her home in Louisville in January of last year. (Daily Camera / File photo)

Lotowycz moved to Boulder in 2003 at the age of 87 to be closer to Stroller and her family, and was even honored at the  Bolder Boulder last year.

"She was much older and more limited, but she had always loved the mountains and had read about them a lot as a child and about Colorado," Stroller said. "It was something that she felt comfortable about."

Stroller said Lotowycz was always good about living life to the fullest, even as she got older and depended a lot on her family to get around.

"She was very good at accepting the world as it was, particularly as she got older," Stroller said. "That's sort of a life lesson you learned from her: You have to be in the moment where you are and accept what's happening and make the best of it."

Stroller said Lotowycz was really hoping to see her 100th birthday, but nevertheless leaves behind a great legacy.

"You can overcome personal obstacles, you can explore the world, you can be brave," said Stroller of the things she learned from her mother. "She was adventurous, she was curious.

"She was a spitfire."

Lotowycz is survived by her four daughters, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Mitchell Byars: 303-473-1329, byarsm@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/mitchellbyars

Reposted from the Daily Boulder News

Click for additional article on Grace

Captola 'Cappy' Whittaker Johnson, 43-W-6 | March 18, 2016

BY BILL LINDELOF
blindelof@sacbee.com

Captola “Cappy” Johnson, a coal miner’s daughter who went on to fly during World War II as a pioneering aviator, died March 18 at a Folsom hospital after a short illness. She was about a month shy of her 96th birthday.

The longtime Fair Oaks resident was one of the approximate 1,100 women in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program. In 2010, when she and other WASP pilots received the Congressional Gold Medal in Washington, D.C., an estimated 300 were still living.

Nearly 30,000 women applied for the wartime program. WASPs tested planes, ferried aircraft from factories to military bases, and performed other duties so men could fly combat missions overseas. 

They flew many types of military aircraft, including bombers. In addition to ferrying aircraft, they performed the dangerous stateside duty of towing targets behind their aircraft to give soldiers a chance to fire anti-aircraft guns. 

A total of 38 WASPs died during the short history of the program, which grew from two efforts that started in 1942. Cappy Johnson graduated as a WASP at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, in 1943. 

Her son said that she spoke often about flying for the government. “She really enjoyed it,” said David Johnson, a Fair Oaks resident. “Mom said she flew the planes to where they were needed.”

Captola Whittaker was born in Raleigh County, W.Va., to Peery and Theodosia Whittaker. Her father, a coal miner, named her Captola, a name derived from the Cherokee language, although the family had no American Indian heritage.  “Grandpa just liked that name,” said David Johnson.

The 5-foot-2-inch Captola Whittaker barely made it into the WASP program because of her height.  “I think she may have been on tippy-toes to get in,” said David Johnson.

When women were dismissed from the service in 1944, their records were classified and sealed. 

The man who gave the go-ahead to create the WASPs, Gen. Hap Arnold, chief of the Army Air Forces, noted upon the disbanding of the group that he initially doubted that women could command big bombers.

“Frankly, I didn’t know in 1941 whether a slip of a young girl could fight the controls of a B-17 in the heavy weather,” he said in a War Department release of his speech to the last graduating WASPs.  In the end, WASPs proved they could “fly wingtip to wingtip with your brothers,” Arnold said.

The Air Force trumpeted in 1976 that the women who were graduating from the first co-ed class of the Air Force Academy would be the first American women to fly military aircraft. That angered the aging WASPs.

They knew of their service flying all manner of military planes even if the nation had largely forgotten. The WASPs spoke up. 

A movement to recognize the blue-uniformed WASPs began, an effort that climaxed with Congressional Gold Medals for Johnson and her fellow pilots in 2010.

Johnson did some flying after the war, sometimes with her fellow pilot and husband, Lyall E. Johnson. The couple met while both were stationed at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

They had twin boys, David and Dennis. The family moved around the country as an Air Force family before settling in the Sacramento area around 1960. The family built a home in Fair Oaks.

She raised her boys and enjoyed golf, bridge, photography, reading and bird watching. She also sold real estate for Bill Withrow Realty for 10 years.

In addition to her sons, she is survived by her brother Wayne Whittaker; two granddaughters and three great-grandchildren.

Johnson will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, along with her late husband. Lyall Johnson died in 2009.

Bill Lindelof: 916-321-1079, @Lindelofnews
more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/obituaries/article70147922.html#storylink=cpy

Respectfully reposted with additional photos from the Sacramento Bee and Wings Across America

Elizabeth 'Liz' Wall Strohfus, 44-W-1 | March 6, 2016

Elizabeth Strohfus, World War II-era pilot, dies at 96

Elizabeth Strohfus in 1944. (Courtesy of family)

By From staff reports and news services March 8

Elizabeth Strohfus, who flew military planes across the country during World War II and received two Congressional Gold Medals, died March 6 at an assisted-living center in Faribault, Minn. She was 96.

The cause was complications from a fall, said a son, Art Roberts.

Mrs. Strohfus was one of the last remaining members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, known as WASPs. She ferried military planes in 1943 and 1944 and helped train air and infantry gunners at Las Vegas Army Airfield in Nevada.

She was one of 1,074 female pilots to earn silver wings in the WASP program. The female pilots flew military aircraft in noncombat roles during wartime to free up male pilots for combat. The women were considered civilians until Congress retroactively granted them veteran status in 1977.

Elizabeth Bridget Wall, known as Betty, was born in Faribault on Nov. 15, 1919, and described herself as an adventuresome tomboy in childhood. After completing high school in 1937, she worked in the register of deeds office at the county courthouse. It was stifling.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz greets Elizabeth Strohfus in 2010. (Lauren Victoria Burke/AP)

“When I was in school, I couldn’t take any classes except home economics or classes for working in an office — like shorthand, typing and that sort of stuff,” she told the Owatonna People’s Press in her home town. “We were very limited because we were women. It was kind of too bad because I wasn’t too interested in those things.”

One day, she overheard a conversation about flying and grew intrigued.

“I thought, ‘What a wonderful thing to get above it all and see the beautiful world there,’ ” she said. “He asked me if I wanted to fly after he saw I was interested. I said: ‘Yes, I do. I’d love to fly.’ ”

She began spending many afternoons after work volunteering at the Faribault airport, learning from pilots with the local flying club. She became so adept at the controls of the Piper Cubs that when one of the pilots left for military service, she was asked to replace him. It would cost $100 to join.

She went to the local bank for a loan, using her bicycle as collateral.

After the WASP program was disbanded in December 1944, she was turned down for a pilot’s job with Northwest Airlines and worked as an aircraft controller in Wyoming. She eventually returned to Faribault, about 50 miles south of Minneapolis, where she married Arthur Roberts and raised a family.

Widowed in 1972, she worked for the American Cancer Society in New York as a research consultant. She wed Francis Langeslag in 1979; he died in 1988.

Elizabeth Strohfus in 1944. (Courtesy of family)

A complete list of survivors was not immediately available.

A member of the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame, Mrs. Strohfus received Congressional Gold Medals for her service as a WASP and for her service in the Civil Air Patrol.

Respectfully reposted from the Washington Post.

Nancy Ruth Crout, 43-W-4 | Jan. 21, 2016

Nancye Ruth Crout
June 16, 1920 - January 21, 2016

In the very early morning hours of January 21st, Nancye Ruth Crout, slipped away peacefully to be with the Lord.

Nancy was a native of Texas, where she was married and raised her three children, Nancy Smith, of Merced, Richard Beale Crout, Jr. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Linda Dinius of Bloomfield, Conn. In the later years of her life, she relocated to Merced in order to be closer to her daughter, Nancy, who cared for her mother during her remaining years.

Being a voracious reader, her days were very full of reading and watching her favorite programs on television. Her passion for sports was amazing for someone of her age. Nancye's faithful little companion, Elizabeth, was the light of her life.

She was a woman of very strong faith, attending United Methodist Church of Merced. Her deep and abiding faith in God is what comforted her and helped her during the last few weeks of her life.

Nancye had an incredible life -- Most notably serving as one of the few WASP pilots during World War II. She was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010 in honor of her service. Nancye always took great pride in the time that she served our country.

She is survived by her three children, Nancy, Richard and Linda, three grandsons, two great-grandchildren, a brother and numerous nieces and nephews.

Nancye will be laid to rest with military honors next week with her husband, who preceded her in death, at Fort Bliss National Cemetery in El Paso, Texas.

Donations in Nancye's memory can be made to the Merced SPCA, P.O. Box 929, Merced, Ca. 95341.


Respectfully reposted from Obituaries:  www.cvobituaries.com

Marion Stegeman Hodgson, 43-W-5 | March 24, 2016

Put God first, family next, then whatever you want to do.   When you're needed be there.  You can do anything with God's help.

                       WASP Marion Hodgson, 43-5

Marion Stegeman Hodgson, 94, of Wichita Falls, author and former Woman Airforce Service Pilot (WASP), left the "surly bonds of earth" permanently and soared heavenward on Thursday, March 24, 2016.

Born in Athens, Georgia, on December 16, 1921, Marion graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from the University of Georgia in May of l941, the year of Pearl Harbor. While at Georgia, she earned her private pilot's license under the prewar Civilian Pilot Training Program. This qualified her to apply for Army Air Forces flight training — the first time in history that American women would be trained to fly military aircraft.

Marion won her silver wings in 1943, in one of the first classes of women to graduate from Army Air Force flight training. After graduation from flight school at Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas, she was stationed at Love Field in Dallas and served in the ferry command. She picked up new planes at factories and delivered them to air bases around the country as well as to points of embarkation, for overseas shipment. 

In 1944, Marion married a Marine pilot from her hometown, Lt. Col. Edward "Ned" Hodgson. They lived in Fort Worth for more than 50 years, rearing their family there. Marion delighted in being a stay-at-home mother while writing from her home. She produced and sold short stories and articles to national magazines, published four cookbooks and a novel, and wrote special features for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, mostly about women pilots. Her book, Winning My Wings, recounting her WASP experiences, is now in its third printing.  

While living in Fort Worth, Marion was active in the Junior League and St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. Widowed in 1997, she moved two years later to Wichita Falls to be near family. She continued her membership in the 99s, an international organization of women pilots, and was sworn in at Sheppard Air Force Base as the first WASP member of the Order of Daedalions, an organization of military pilots. Always full of fun, Marion also took delight in being asked to join the International Order of Characters. 

Marion's primary interest and focus after the war years was faith and family. Her greatest satisfaction came through being a wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She won many honors (Texas Aviation Hall of Fame; Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame, Congressional Gold Medal), but she never felt she deserved them. "It's like God's grace," she often said, "Totally undeserved and free."  

A high point in her life was her baptism in the River Jordan, after becoming a late-in-life Christian.  

Marion is survived by son, Edward Sheldon Hodgson and his wife, Marlene (Skaggs) of Willis, TX, son, John Foster Hodgson of Louisville, KY, and wife, Robin (Blackerby); daughter, Marjorie Hodgson Parker and husband, Joe of Byers, TX; six grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, donations to favorite charities or the WASP Museum, 2010 Avenger Field Rd, Sweetwater, TX 79556, are suggested. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.lunnscolonial.com.

A memorial service was held at 11 a.m. on Friday, April 1, 2016, at Lunn's Colonial Funeral Home with Dr. David B. Hartman officiating. Interment will be in the Hodgson family plot, Oconee Cemetery, Athens, Georgia. 

__________________

Personal note:  My heavy heart at the loss of Marion Hodgson is just a bit selfish and completely temporary I know.  Marion was a friend and a world-class prayer partner and supporter.  Every WASP loss is felt as a thundering echo that somehow shakes the heavens, but the loss of Marion is more like the sound of a beautiful symphony.  This loss is heaven's gain, and my heart is overjoyed at the thought of this gentle giant of faith, finally free of earth bound challenges...finally free indeed.  

Throughout the years I've been privileged to know her, I have been touched by her strength through every health challenge.  She met each one with grace, courage, and determination.  And, as always, her endearing Southern charm, and a gentle sense of humor.  

With love and respect to her family and all the many, many lives she touched, loved, inspired and prayed for around the world.  God bless you all.

Interview with Marion, 2010

Interview transcript, VHP 

Marion Hodgson, Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame

Barby Anna Parrish Williams, WASP Champion | Nov. 13, 2015

“I encourage you to not let a moment pass that you don’t find joy in your day.”  
Barby Williams      

Since the day she was born, Barby Anna Parrish Williams not only found joy in every day, she created it for so many others in so many unforgettable ways.   Although not a WASP, she has more than earned a place of honor here on the pages of WASP Final Flight.   She was a true WASP Champion, my only sister — the youngest daughter of WASP Deanie Bishop Parrish.

Barby was a passionate visionary, a mountain mover and a world-class encourager.  Because of her enthusiastic support seventeen years ago, Wings Across America was able to truly take flight.   Over the past few decades, despite her own busy life, family and career, her enthusiasm and support never wavered. Many who have attended Oshkosh, a WASP Convention, the WASP Museum opening, the Fly Girls Exhibit opening at the Women’s Memorial, the Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony, or countless other events might just remember Barby.  She was as beautiful inside as she was outside, with a warm, gracious smile and an endearing sense of humor.  She was the first to extend a hand and make a stranger feel welcome.

Barby was an extraordinary gift from the first time I met her, 61 years ago last January.  Mom placed her in my lap on the way home from the hospital, but God really kept her in the palm of His hand all her life.   She made the most of every single moment.   She had a passion for her faith, her family and a heart for service.  She made time for what was truly important and she made a difference in the lives of those she touched. 

Respectfully, this posting is in memory of my sister, Barby, who was welcomed into Heaven on November 13, 2015.  

__________

On January 8, 1954, at Tokyo General Hospital, Japan, a beautiful, blonde, blue-eyed baby girl was born to Air Force Captain William A. and Deanie Bishop Parrish.    The couple named her “Barby" after a family friend, and "Anna" after her maternal grandmother. 

In 1955, now Major Bill Parrish  was transferred to West Palm Beach, Florida and just one year later, to McGuire AFB, New Jersey.   In 1960, Bill was transferred to Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama,  where Barby started kindergarten. 

Nine months later, when Bill was transferred to Ellington Air Force Base, Barby started her formal schooling in Houston, Texas. After graduating with honors from Houston's Milby High School, she moved to Waco in the Fall of 1971 to attend Baylor University.

She began her college career as a music education major, and soon became an active Athenian (now Kappa Kappa Gamma).  She made life-long friends, was honored as a Baylor Beauty, and met the love of her life, Dale Williams.   In 1975, after graduation, Barby and Dale married and began their incredible 40-year journey together.   As a newlywed, she taught 5th and 6th graders music in Bosqueville while Dale attended Baylor Law School.

The young couple was blessed with two children, Brady and Brook. Barby treasured family, and her proudest accomplishments were her children and grandchildren. Barby was a co-founder of Waco Baptist Academy and served as President of the Board.   The school presents the Barby Williams “Faithful Servant Award” and scholarship each year to the student most deserving. She founded and taught a women’s Sunday School class at Columbus Avenue Baptist Church for many years, as well as founded 1st Call to Prayer at Baylor University. 

Barby enjoyed many summers with family in Colorado, where her love for the mountains and horseback riding began. She cherished family vacations, especially trips to Disney World with her children and grandchildren.

As the owner of Roots Boutique in downtown Waco, Barby passionately served her customers and mentored her beloved employees. Her creative talent and effortless eye for fashion were on full display as she ran the top clothing boutique in town.

A steadfast optimist, Barby’s inner strength and contagious confidence created a desire in each of us to be the best possible version of ourselves. All who knew her witnessed her faith in Christ, her resolute kindness, her persistent joy and tenacious selflessness. Above all, her deepest desire was to serve the Lord through serving others.

She was preceded in death by her father, Lt. Col. William A. Parrish.

Left to honor her memory are her husband, Dale Williams, Waco; son, Brady Williams, and wife, Kim, of Newport Beach, California; daughter, Brook Henry, and husband, Michael, of Dallas; mother, Deanie Parrish, Waco; sister, Nancy Parrish, Waco; and grandchildren, Logan Henry, Jonah Henry, and Charley Williams.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Barby Williams “Faithful Servant Award” and Scholarship at Waco Baptist Academy. 

A service to celebrate her life was held at 10:00 a.m., Thursday, November 19, at Seventh and James Baptist Church with the Rev. Steve Childers officiating. The service was followed by a reception at the Bill Daniels Student Union Building on Baylor Campus.

__________________________

Personal note.  

My youger sister was and always will be, my hero. She faced life-threatening challenges with a quiet, gentle grace,  a beautiful smile, a sweet spirit and an ever-hopeful determination.  Though it all, she continued to lean on His everlasting arms.  'The Lord is my strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army!'  Habakuk 3:17

She was determined to continue spreading joy by making unforgettable memories with her family.   She did.  She was lifted each day by her own steadfast faith and optimism.  She was courageous and she was, without a doubt, absolutely inspirational.

Today, we are at peace, missing her terribly, but knowing that she celebrated this Christmas with her savior, our dad and grandparents and so many others we have said goodbye to over the years.  Yes, too young.  Yes, too soon.  Only God knows the bigger picture.   What He has left me with, personally, is a peace I can't explain and a joyful gratitude for her being a part of my life. 

I will miss her every single day until I see her again... and every time I hear gentle laughter or see a child's face light up with joy, every time I see someone take an extra moment to be kind or encouraging or make the effort to create an extra special moment, I will think of her.  She was greatly blessed, highly favored and used her remarkable gifts to joyfully lift and challenge us all to fly higher in everything we do.   

"Therefore we do not lose heart.Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."  2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Finally, a passage that is featured in Randy Alcorn’s book, “In Light of Eternity,”   which played a significant part in Barby’s knowledge of and delight in her eternal home.

I’m standing on the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She’s an object of beauty and strength and I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and the sky come down to mingle with each other. And then I hear someone at my side saying, “There, she’s gone.”

Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side. And just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of destination. Her diminished size is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment when someone at my side says, “There, she is gone” there are other eyes watching her coming, and there are other voices ready to take up the glad shout, “Here she comes!”     Henry Van Dyke

Until I see her again,  I rest in His promises and am bathed in His peace.  I pray that same peace for you and yours.  God bless you all.

Nancy

Album: Barby Williams, WASP Champion