Dear Cathy & Sharpenlist,
     I just remembered, I was going to tell you about Lois George.  These
are the events as I recall them.  It is my intent to encourage your faith as
you read about this precious saint!
I first met Lois sometime in 1974.  Anyway, the George's and Griffith's (us)
started the Johnson City, N.Y. (right next to Binghamton) fellowship.  I was
pregnant with Jacob at the time and appreciated the support Lois gave me.
Our fellowship in Christ was a mutual blessing!  It was some time in 1975
that Lois learned she had Hodgkin's Disease.  I still can recall how
nonchalant she and I were upon receiving that news.  I don't think we
understood the seriousness of it.  Or, perhaps God was watching over Lois in
a special way to protect her from intense fear.  I'd like to think it was
the latter.  In the summer of '75, John & I returned to Scranton, then
eventually Wilkes-Barre.  At the end of '76, it was on to Buffalo and we
were separated from the George's till the atrocious MTC days.
     In the spring of  '77, Pete & Lois moved into our apartment at 527 W.
48th St.  Strange how even addresses can come to one's mind after such a
long time!  The other room was left vacant after Tom & Patty Edmundson moved
out.  So, we were re-united with our friends once again.  It was at this
time that Lois would go for kemo-therapy at the hospital and I would
accompany her as an emotional support.  She was indeed a very precious
person, calm inwardly and not judgmental.  During those trips I would
witness Lois' faith in action.  She spoke about the Lord Jesus as if He were
right there in the room standing beside her, visible to all!  The sense of
stilted obligation never came across in her testimony.  She truly wanted
people to accept Jesus so they could share in the same peace and joy which
she had experienced.  Meeting statistics according to Cobu standards was far
from her mind set. After all, it became apparent to her that she would soon
be going home to her Heavenly Father.  I remember her talking about this
peace God had given her and trying to impart it to others suffering from
terminal diseases.  I have observed many times this unique grace God imparts
to His own when facing death.
     I spent every day with her that last week of her life.  We went to the
nursery together and shopping, as well as the hospital.  Then, one morning,
I woke up and thought it odd that she was not awake.  Lois was an early
riser and usually awakened me.  I went to her room and there she lay, this
rather helpless creature, without any energy and pale as could be.  I asked
her how she felt.  Her words were, "I don't think I'm going to make it."  I
responded saying, "Don't say that. You'll be OK."  She was unable to get out
of bed on her own, so I helped her.
     Now, what I'm going to say next may sound rather peculiar, but it
happened just this way.  I asked her if she would like a bath and she said
'yes.'  Oddly enough, if either of us had understood what was happening to
her body, she would have been rushed to the hospital immediately!  During
the night she had become de-hydrated which accounted for her weakness the
next morning.  Anyway, I put her in the tub and bathed her.  At this time, I
heard a voice (not sure whether it was from within or without) telling me I
was preparing her body for burial.  I still don't understand any of this
even to the present day.  I felt such a closeness to her which words cannot
describe.  As we looked at each other, she expressed something to the effect
of going to be with Jesus soon.
     Afterward, I helped dress her and Nancy Ramirez came to the apartment.
All of us knew it was time to take Lois to the emergency room.  So, we
obtained a car and I drove for the first time in N.Y. city traffic.  I still
can see Nancy holding Lois in her arms in the back seat as we sped to the
hospital.  It seemed we arrived there in an instant.
     Nancy and I held onto Lois, assisting her to the emergency room.  As we
entered, a wheel chair was given to her from a nurse nearby.  Before we
could grasp what was happening, she was up on a table and the nurses were
tying to find a vein for the i.v.  The problem was that most of her veins
had collapsed because of all the kemo she had endured.  Finally they
succeeded and we were directed to the waiting room.
     I suppose about an hour had passed when a nurse informed us that Lois
was in the intensive care unit.  We were allowed to see her but only for a
few minutes.  Looking back, I think how special this was since we were not
blood related.  The medical personnel must have noticed how deeply concerned
we were for Lois' welfare.  First Nancy went into the i.c. unit to visit
with her.  Shortly afterward, I went in alone.  There she was, lying on a
bed with so many tubes hooked up to her.  I walked over to her and the first
thing Lois said to me was, "I love you Darlene."  I responded, "I love you
too, Lois."  I had been holding on to my Bible as if for dear life, wanting
desperately to read some verses of encouragement to her.  The struggle
inside me was intense.  I was concerned a nurse would come in and tell me I
was upsetting her and to leave.  Still, I knew the Holy Spirit wanted me to
read the Word to her.  In the midst of this, a force greater than myself,
caused me to open the Bible, right to Romans Ch. 8.  I began reading at v.
18, as if it were someone else and I was watching from a distance.  When I
finished the chapter, I gazed at her for a moment and said, "I'll see you
soon Lois."  She  responded in like manner.  As I turned to leave the room,
I heard a voice (this time from outside myself) say, "Turn around and look
at Lois.  This will be the last time you see her on this earth."  As I did
so, we both smiled at each other, as if we knew it was 'good-bye' till we
would meet again in Heaven.
     As I left the hospital that day, I pondered all that had happened not
sure whether to believe Lois would soon be with the Lord.  That evening, a
call came to the apartment.  It was Lois' doctor on the other end.  She said
in a frenzied voice,"Lois died this evening.  We revived her for a short
while but then lost her." Her doctor was a woman and had a special concern
for Lois.  I couldn't help but notice how upset she was and that she had
been crying.  I told her, thinking to calm her down, "Lois must have wanted
to go to a better place, away from here."  Her doctor just couldn't
understand that.
     A few days later, while talking to Peter, he told me all the medical
charges had been dropped.  Peter would own nothing for all the medical care
the doctor had given Lois!  What a blessing amidst such turmoil!  God was
watching over His children in spite of the dreadful ordeal of Cobu.
     This is my tribute to a dear sister in the Lord who fought the fight
and finished the race.  She is now basking in the presence of Jesus for all
eternity.  Praise be to God!
In Christ,
Darlene