1 Corinthians 13

The Excellence of Love

13 If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give away all my possessions to charity, and if I surrender my body so that I may [a]glory, but do not have love, it does me no good.

4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. 5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, 6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 it [b]keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of [c]prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with. 9 For we know in part and prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I [d]became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror [e]dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the [f]greatest of these is love.

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I read this passage because this is the way we saw our Mom and our Grannie. Mom loved like Jesus teaches us to love. Her love was unconditional. She had the rare ability to see beyond faults of ours and others and just purely see the good in all of us.

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We are thankful to have her as our Mom, our Grannie, our friend and especially our sister in Christ.

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Romans 10

The Word of Faith Brings Salvation

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word [l]of Christ.

Mom practiced reading her Bible daily. This was her way of hearing the word of Christ. While in Assisted Living, at Brookdale, where I would pick her up for church or visit her and I would peek into the window before entering and the majority of the time she would have her Bible open reading to herself out loud. She encouraged us and others to read the Bible daily.

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Darlene Spear sent a text to Gary and Renee’ about mom encouraging her mother Elvie to read the Bible.

Darlene wrote: Renee, I wanted to share this with you and Gary. Thelma was so sweet and loved mother so much. She helped mother study the Bible and brought her a typed list of all the books of the Bible in chronological order and mother read the complete Bible front to back three times!!! Mother was so proud and happy. She showed me the list. I was so happy for mother because her eyes were getting worse so I know it was a challenge for her but sweet Thelma helped and gave her encouragement. They truly loved and cared for each other. I’m so happy they had the friendship. What a blessing. Tears of happy memories. Love you two.

Mom’s Love for Music:

As all of us know mom loved music and loved teaching music to others. Mom grew up in the Moss family living out in the country near Hedley. The friends and neighbors would come to their house on Saturday night with all kinds of musical instruments to play; spoons, accordions, piano, fiddles, banjos, you name it and they would play and sing. 

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Some comments from students in her classes:

Jason Ward (Student) - I will never forget the "baby carpets" in her room and her getting onto us and telling us to "quit showing out" .... She was always one of favs.... How she put up with me I'll never know.

One of the avenues Mom taught was with an instrument call a flute-a-phone. Jason has told me over the years he loved mom, he continued on to say but I just did not like to play so somehow my flute-a-phone got “lost”.

Chuck Robertson (Student) – Told me he loved mom and he remembers when he was in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade every time he would walk into mom’s class she would sing his name to him as he walked into class. Chuck said he love that but what he didn’t like was having to sing his name back to her. He said he just didn’t have a voice for singing.

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Renee Duncan (fellow teacher and close friend):

Renee told me she and Carrol and her invited mom and dad to go to Branson. There was a group playing music and they stopped to listen to the group. Renee recalls mom’s face lighting up from just listening to the group. Renee said they could have just walked off and mom would have never known there were gone.

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Mom continued to play the piano after getting Alzheimer’s and dementia. Although she couldn’t remember the last few minutes ago but she could still play by memory and read music, to play the piano. While she was in Assisted Living at Brookdale, she played to the residents and the staff. They loved to hear her play.

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Music is a miracle that brings healing and comfort. No wonder we are told to sing to one another is psalms and hymns. We are to lift up one another.

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There is a memorial slide show on a webpage that our son Andrew created, the link to this webpage is listed in her obituary. While the pictures are shown in the slide show the piano being played is by mom. The pieces she is playing were recorded within the last year.

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Mom continued to play until getting COVID-19 and was relocated to a facility and being quarantined where she was without a piano, then she was later moved to BSA where she passed into the Loving Arms of Jesus. I know she continues to play the piano and sings songs giving praises to our Lord Jesus Christ.

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To the family of Thelma Shields:

Mom/Grannie loved each and every one of you. Each of you know the relationship you had with her and how special she made you feel. You can cherish those memories and special times.

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On January 4th which was her 91st birthday I was able to FaceTime her. This is the text I sent to my brothers. “I did FaceTime Mom. She is very tired! She knew I was one of her sons and she said she couldn’t do without any of us. She said she loves us very much.”

In her last words before she was no longer was alert, she continued with “I love you; you are so sweet.” This is what she said to all of us.

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Her love for all of us ran deep and I hope all of us carry the love she has demonstrated with us throughout our lives.

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To the rest of her family, friends, fellow teachers, students and her care givers:

Thank you for all the special memories you have shared with us during this time. We know she was not only special to us but shared the same love with you. Throughout her life she shared with us the love she has for all of you.

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Another memory Renee Duncan shared was, “I loved Thelma she was always so sweet.” Renee told me when her and Carrol move back to Texas that mom and dad asked them to their house. Renee and mom were visiting in the house and both stepped outside to see what Carrol and dad were doing. Both were sitting on the swing spitting tobacco. Renee said yep we are back in Texas. Renee did tell me Carrol did not continue to dip and we know dad did quit as well.

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Tom and Carol Hargus and Rance Gregory shared very similar stories of moving to Clarendon and the first meal they ate was at mom and dad’s house.

Earl, I can’t say enough for what you have done for our mom! You, and I know there are others who checked on mom daily to assure she was ok. This has meant so much to all of us demonstrating the love you have, seeing after mom over the last 27 years since the passing of our dad and your brother. Thank you so much! Also, Renee’ Shields the family also thanks you for all those years to taking mom to church, ball games and wherever she needed to go. To Pat many of the early years you were mom’s Christmas shopping buddy. More recently while she was in assisted living, I can’t thank you enough for all you did for our Mom and our Grannie.

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Thanks to all of you who have shared, cared and mainly just loved our Mom and our Grannie. I know she loved all of you.

What I would like to share some memories from Thelma’s family:

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Gary and Renee’:

We were blessed to live in the same community as Grannie and Pa Pa and blessed to have had Grannie teach our children in music class.  Funny, her grandkids always had some of the major roles in her music programs. Grannie and I went to countless ball games, band concerts and school programs together for my children and my grandchildren.  We attended worship together, went to weddings, showers and funerals together for many years. Grannie was always ready to go.  In later years I would have to tell Grannie to be ready 30 minutes earlier than was needed for her to be ready in time, she was in Grannie gear.  After work I would go by to check on her and often, she would be studying her bible.  She was a great example and inspiration to me.  I could not have asked for a better mother in law.  I love Grannie and will truly miss her.      

Gary remembers going to her classroom after school and she would be grading papers and he would scare her.  One day they were walking out to the back porch and he said "Momma you have a spider in your hair!"  She went to swatting at her hair and doing a dance at the same time.  He used to hold her hand walking to the car and he would say "Momma don't go down or we both will" and she would get tickled.

Carrie:

I am blessed to have many precious memories of my Grannie. I remember making fried pies, shelling black eyed peas, helping her in her garden, and swinging on the front porch swing with her in the summer.

I remember peeking in her classroom window while I was at recess and waving at her and our DQ runs after school to get our ice cream.

I remember her giving me piano lessons after I did my homework and sitting next to her in church while I was growing up so I would hear her sing.

I made a list of students for her to paddle because they were being mean to me. She thought that was pretty funny.

She was my biggest fan! She was always so proud of me. She was so happy that I became a school teacher like her.

I will never forget her infectious laugh! When she laughed, she used her whole body. Once she started giggling, she had a difficult time stopping.

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Heather:

Growing up, I was fortunate to have my grandparents live so close. I spent a lot of time with Grannie & Pa Pa. I enjoyed riding to school and back home with Grannie.  As we drove by Donley County state bank she would announce the temperature and time....every single morning. We would frequently stop by DQ after school for fries and/or ice cream. I loved going to the grocery store with her. She rarely said no to anything I wanted. I also had the privilege of having her as my music teacher. There are so many songs that we sang that are still fresh in my mind. There was a song that she sang to everyone on their birthday. Now, I sing that song to my students. From always being a third wheel to Grannie & Pa Pa, to being Grannie’s bed partner after Pa Pa passed away, I loved every minute I spent with my Grannie. There are too many memories and not enough time. The absolute best memory is the feeling I always got every time I was with her.....love. My Grannie loved big, and she always made sure we knew she loved us. As we sat with Grannie for the last time, I will always cherish the last words she spoke to me: “Love you too.”

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Collin:

Collin’s favorite memories of Grannie include him playing the piano at her house. She would always brag on him & tell him how good he was and how proud of him she was.

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Raelea:

Raelea’s favorite memories of Grannie was when we would go see her at Brookdale. Grannie would give her a kiss & pat her heinie. Raelea enjoyed petting Grannie’s little dog and playing her piano.

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Audie:

Grannie and I would sit at the snack bar at her house and crank up the blue tooth speaker and sing “The Old Rugged Cross” with Elvis Presley over and over again.

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Larry:

The most recent was when she was in Brookdale, I would go pick her up for church. As always, she would link arm with us as we walked. It really wasn’t to stabilize her walk. It was just another way of showing she loved us and could not do without us. On a couple of occasions as we were walking down the hall at Brookdale with her arm linked in mine, she would start humming the “Wedding March” then start giggling.

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Pat:

I am by no means a great singer, but I try my best. I can remember sitting next to Grannie at church service, she sang in her beautiful soprano voice. And then there was me......One day, she said to me ‘you are getting better’. I guess that was meant as a positive thing. Glad she didn’t say I should sing a little quieter. Lol

Matthew:

One of my many memories with Grannie was spending time together on family vacations, specifically to Red River, NM. On one trip in particular I remember dad renting a Jeep to go up to Goose Lake. Kayla and I were driving the Jeep on the way down with Grannie in the back seat. Of course the trail was very bumpy and the ride wasn’t smooth. I remember Grannie struggling to keep her shirt from riding up her back against the seat as we bumped down the trail. She was laughing and giggling trying to keep her shirt down for most of the ride. This was the first time I saw Grannie inadvertently wearing a crop top 😳. She was always up for an adventure and willing to join in whatever we were doing. We will always be thankful for the special person she was, her loving character, and the example she set for us.

Andrew:

Grannie went on several vacations with us over the past 20 or so years. I don’t know how many of y’all remember the Listerine Breath strips that was popular back a few years ago? But anyway, Grannie ALWAYS feel asleep while in the car traveling. One time I was sitting in the back seat by her and when she feel asleep, her jaw dropped and her mouth was pretty much wide open. That was just an invite for me to do something. This is when the listerine breath strip came into play. I stuck it in her mouth and as it started to dissolve, she woke up and started smacking her lips like ‘what was that’? We all had a good laugh.

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Eric:

One time, Me, Calvin, and Bubba were being too loud in the bed so she had to split us up and I had to sleep with her.

I remember the homemade lotion and jam she always made.

She would always tell me the story about when I was little and homesick.

I will always remember her smile and voice when we came to visit, and I'll always remember listening to her play the piano.

I remember riding in her Blazer listening to Ray Stevens.

I remember when she learned how to play "Happy Birthday" on the violin.

Esmeriah:

My memories of Grannie are:

When Granny and I played the piano together.

When me and mom and dad used to listen to Granny play the piano.

Esmeriah Age 10

Brookdale:

The people at Brookdale said they would all miss her dearly especially her playing the piano in the dining hall.

Josie Burgess:

Renee Shields was visiting with Josie Burgess at Brookdale and Josie was telling her how everyone just loved mom and how mom talked about the food. She said mom always thought it was so good but Josie said it really isn’t.