Memories!

I was honored to speak at the service for Mrs. Frances Partida today. I'm posting my comments here because I know that several people from Procter, who  now live far away, read this blog.  It was a lovely service and a great celebration of her life.  She was such a blessing in my life and I know I will see her again. 


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Remembering Ms. P


When I think about Mrs. Partida, I think of her as the Matriarch of the Procter Family. She was certainly someone we all loved and respected for many years. One might consider her a legend amongst out church family. In the same way some celebrities are known by their initials or just a first name - You only needed to call her, Ms. P. There are several people in this church with the last initial P, but everyone knew Ms. P – was the one and only Mrs. Partida. When I was thinking about what I wanted to share today, the letter “P” stood out in my mind. I’d like to tell you a few things I’ll remember about her.


First, she was practical.

Ms. P didn’t wear designer clothes or care much about worldly wealth. Instead, she worked tirelessly, building up the kingdom of God. She served in many formal capacities at Procter through the years, but I think I’ll best remember her best for being a hard worker. You could always find her in the kitchen, cleaning up after a church dinner or helping with work around the church office. She and Mr. Conrad would visit those who were sick or offer a ride to the church for those who needed it. She saw value in the work of the Lord, not in material things, a good lesson for all of us.

Next, she was persistent.

I’ve been told that before we came to Procter in the late 80s, Mrs. Partida was best known for keeping the choir kids on Wednesday nights. She was notorious for her no nonsense attitude and stern discipline. However, in the Early 90s the Partidas began to travel to Alpine, Texas, for our church wide mission project and things changed. All though the mission trips were open to all church members, a large number of participants came from our youth group, many of which had previously been part of the choir kids who knew her so well. It was during those Alpine trips that I believe the reason for Ms. P’s notoriety changed forever. I like to think that it was my generation, our youth group that softened her a little. I do believe we were the ones to start calling her Ms. P, instead of Partida. I will never forget her and Mr. P walking around the outside of the dorms in the morning, serenading us as our wake up call. She was always the first one up and dressed. She would hurry all of us along and having a genuine smile on her face about the work we would be doing that day. During those trips, she really got to know us as young adults, not just children. She invested in us. She invested her time and energy and most of all her love. Even though the choir kids were growing up, she was still persistent about some things. Whether it was cleaning the church bus after a trip, or helping set up for a church fellowship, she wanted things done right and she would persist until the task was done correctly. She would check over our work personally and call us by name to correct anything not done to her satisfaction. We liked to give her a hard time about it, but she taught us the value of hard work and how it’s important to do things right the first time. Just as she could be persistent and sometimes hard on us, she was also persistent in her love and encouragement toward us.

Lastly, she was petite, yet powerful.

I almost said in my introduction, “we all looked up to her.” That would have been a figure of speech of course. She was a tiny little lady – but her prayer life was powerful. I loved to hear her pray, with such a humble and sensitive spirit. She prayed for my dad, her pastor, every day. She prayed for this church and its leadership. She was a prayer warrior and she truly understood the power of prayer. What a blessing in all of our lives to have someone lifting us up to the Father. Again, it’s a great lesson to all of us. Pray without ceasing.

I’ll close by saying that I know Ms. P was special to all of us, but I always considered her and honorary grandmother. She and I were always very close. She and Mr. P have been a tremendous influence on my life. They have been present for all the big events in my life over the last 20 years, even traveling to Waco to attend my graduation from Baylor. She always considered me her own and for that I am grateful.

Your loves has given me great joy, because you, sister, have refreshed the hearts of the saints. Philemon 1:7


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I would also like to mention that 11 years ago today, My grandfather, Daddy Red, went home to be with the Lord.  He was the only grandfather I really remember, seeing as my paternal grandfather died when I was only 4.  I think about Daddy Red everyday.  I see things everywhere that remind me of him.  He was an amazing grandfather.  He was an electrician, a builder, a runner, a pancake maker, a camper, and eagle scout, a hiker, a swimmer and so much more.  Mostly he was a Godly man and a great Christian example in my life. 


Also, yesterday marked the one year anniversary of my dad's cancer surgery.  We have so much to be thankful for.  He has been cancer free for one year, and has survived a deadly infection numerous times now.  God's just not done with him yet. 

I'd like to post some pictures of Daddy Red and Mrs. P.  Maybe I'll find some later and add to this post.

I head back to Dallas tomorrow and will go through Tyler to look for housing once more.  I'm praying I find something soon.  God has worked out every other detail of this move and I  have faith this will work out too.