Wilma Lee

Wilma, you will be remembered with fondness. Rest in peace.

Wilma, I hope you know how much I appreciate you. I'll never forget the first time we met, your simple one word greeting, "Welcome", was the beginning of a 20 year friendship. Your kindness, intelligence and quiet strength are an inspiration. I am fortunate to call you mother-in-law.

In reflection, sometimes our own lives are nothing greater than singular moments in time. The spaces between our sentences often far greater than the sentiments in which they are written. Bert and Wilma's beautiful garden will continue to flourish in their absence by the very strong family they have left it to. Three little boys that grew into incredible young men, steeped in Bert's wise council and dare I say, Wilma's incredible cooking. It is impossible for me to separate Bert and Wilma because that was how I came to know them. One never far from the other. There are few days that thread through my own life, that I don't continue to build on the platform that Bert helped me construct. And when I think of his sage wisdom, there is Wilma standing in the doorway, rolling her eyes and while wiping her hands on her apron, stating in her own special way, "Get out of the kitchen or I will hit you again! I mean it." There is a special kind of pain that comes from losing someone irreplaceable but then, these two wonderful parents have not really gone. They beat as strong as ever in the hearts of those left behind. Thank you for sharing both of them with a world that will always hunger for the kind of love that they brought to our lives with such ease. I pray that in time, GOD will release you from the bonds of grief that you now share with each other, and replace it with the most beautiful and memorable thoughts of little boys now so long grown.