My mom looked at me from her chair in the nursing home
and spoke frankly (which she did all the time) and told me “You’re going to
miss me when I am gone Andrew”. That’s
my middle name and she was the only one who would use it. She was right as always. I miss that old woman.
Helen grew up in a family of six in the silver creek community close to Azle and hated milking the cows. (A side note, she always would use curse words when she talked about the cows....” I hated milking those *#%+!@ cows Andrew”) She met my Dad on a blind date with a couple they both knew and she liked him immediately. She turned down a job with an oil company in Egypt for him. My grandfather didn’t like any of the suitors for his three daughters and Dad was no exception. He hated my father and that made Helen furious. She took off for Ardmore, Oklahoma across the state line so she could marry him. My grandfather pleaded with her to come to the house two weeks later so he could see them and he then embraced my Dad as part of the family. Dad became my grandfather’s favorite, telling my mom, “He’s a good catch”.
Mom was 82 when she passed away. The nursing home called me at 4:30 A.M. that
December morning just a few days shy of her 83rd birthday and told me she was
gone. My first response was “are you sure? I just talked to her last night”. The nurse was gentle and true and
answered “Mr. Adcock we checked her at 2 am and she was sleeping. Now she
is resting and peaceful”. I couldn't
believe it at first. She was made of iron
and guts. She raised two sons who could
make her crazy, kept a household going, worked in the banking industry (where
women were looked down upon at first) opening up the Educational Employees
Credit Union Weatherford branch in 1975 and running it for seventeen years. She saw my brother John endure a terrible car
accident and almost die and then helped him recover and graduate college when
no one thought he would even learn to talk again. She endured John’s sudden death in 2010 which
she said was the hardest thing she ever faced. She was faithful to my Dad till the day he
died in 2007 and told me “I was sometimes
hard to live with Andrew. Your Daddy was the most patient loving man I ever
knew. I didn't know how good I had it.” For the better part of 4 years I
made the weekly 160 mile round trip drive from Nocona, Texas where I was
working with students, back to Weatherford to see her. Almost every week for
those years after my Dad and then brother passed away I would come home,
bringing Dawn and our 3 boys when we could. She loved those boys. They were her
pride and joy and I am so very thankful she got to see them and know them. She
loved Dawn like a daughter and would love to send her shopping - . “Go uptown and get yourself
something....you need some time to yourself!” The last few months in the
nursing home were hard on her. She was given 4-6 months to live. She had
defeated cancer twice, suffered from COPD, but was brave and defiant. In 2003 she called me one Sunday morning to
tell me she was going to recommit her life to Christ. I cheered her decision.
She began to read the bible daily and we had conversations about Jesus and his
love for her. She went back to church and bible study till she was no longer
physically able to attend. When we had her funeral my roommate from college led
the service and said “She is not lost if
we know where to find her.” Mom fought the good fight to overcome many
things all the way till the day she died. Jesus speaks of the overcoming faith
in John 16:33....”In this godless world you will continue to
experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.”
We
are the winners and champions of Christ. Let’s live like it.
Lord thank you for
my mom and her life. Please build into me her endurance and hope. Father today
we come to you and thank you for our mothers for their commitment to family and
faith. Lord, remind us each day you have already overcome and won the battle
for us.
Submitted by Eric Adcock
