Grass huts and coconuts

I haven’t told too many people about this, but I figure that it rolls with the topic of my late Aunt Willie Doll (I love that name). My grandmother, Ruby Thomas (my dad’s mom) died of cancer in the 70s. Obviously, I never met her and she never met me. But her sister, Mable, lived until last year. Dad has always spoken highly of his mom, and I can tell is upset that none of his three sons ever got to know her. But I feel as if I slowly am.

As soon as I found out that Aunt Mable had died, I went straight into the Abbey Church to pray a Rosary for her. I was close to Aunt Mable and am very close to her daughter, who is like a sister to my dad. So I was choked up and upset over her death. I remember asking Grandma Ruby (as I have come to call her), “if you are in heaven, please take care of your sister Mable.” As soon as I had asked that, I suddenly felt a calm come over me, as if someone had assured me that everything would be OK. I have taken this to mean that Grandma Ruby is in heaven, and she is praying for us.

So now I can say that I have two wonderful women in heaven praying for me! Who am I do deserve such a thing? Two women, one I hardly knew and the other I never knew, are in the actual presence of God pleading for me.

Why does death always have to be an end? I see it as a new beginning. I see it as a chance for us still on earth to make up for time missed out on. So I didn’t get a chance, or take advantage of a chance, to get to know these two wonderful women. Why not pray for them, then? Or why not ask them to pray for me, and thank them for it? Why not offer Masses in their honor? What better way could you say thank you? After all, if it wasn’t for their positive influence on my parents, would I be typing this right now?

Ruby Thomas, pray for us!!

Willie Doll Thomas, pray for us!!

What really happened the last two days...

So I ended up going home for Aunt Willie Doll’s funeral. All morning on Monday I couldn’t concentrate worth a crap because it was in my mind that I was not going to be at the funeral. So I sat down in the chapel before Mass and just wrote my worries, weighing the issues at hand. This was a great-aunt that I hardly knew, yet felt called to pray for and be present at her funeral. Why? By the time I was done writing, I had decided that going home was really my best option. A card to the family would be too impersonal, and I had nothing to say in a phone call other than “I am too lazy to skip class and come home to be with you”. So I went home at the recommendation of Fr Pat, the Rector, who said I should go or else I may regret not being there.

While talking to Aunt Cecilia, Aunt Willie Doll’s daughter, I found out how Aunt Willie Doll had a strong devotion to Mary and the Rosary, and that many Rosaries were offered for me and my vocation. In fact, the only time she would look at the diocesan newspaper was when I was in it. She really was praying her heart out for me. And I do believe that she was the voice in my head during Mass on Monday telling me to go home. And I am so glad I listened to that voice.

I was able to help lead the Rosary Monday night at the visitation. And I also served the Funeral Mass Tuesday. It was my first funeral to serve since 8^th grade, that I can remember, and probably my third ever. But everyone said it was wonderful. After all, it is a divinely inspired liturgy dating back to Christ (the Last Supper). Fr Hayes (one of my teachers) has said many times that the best thing we can offer the dead is the Mass. It is our highest form of prayer and is what links us with heaven.

Aunt Willie Doll, pray for us!!

Willie Doll Thomas, entering eternal life Nov 11, 2006

As Catholics, we have a close relationship for the dead, praying for those in Purgatory and asking those in Heaven to pray for us. We honor Saints on numerous days throughout the year. There truly is a communion amongst us all.

Today, I post the obituary of my great-aunt, whose funeral I will miss. My family has been close to her's over the years, and I hate that I won't be in Jackson for any of the services... Please pray for the greater Thomas family. Thank you.

Willie Doll Thomas, 91, loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend passed away Saturday, November 11, 2006 at her home. A funeral mass will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at St. Richard Catholic Church with burial in Parkway Memorial Cemetery. Visitation is 5-7 p.m. today with a Rosary at 7 p.m. and 10 a.m. Tuesday at the church.

Mrs. Thomas was a native of Yazoo City and a longtime resident of Jackson. She was a graduate of Yazoo City High School and New Orleans School of Beauty, she also studied in New York, before working at R. E. Kennington's Department Store.

Mrs. Thomas was an active member of St. Mary's Catholic Church and a communicant of St. Richard Catholic Church.

Mrs. Thomas was preceded in death by her loving husband of 55 years William S. "Bill" Thomas in 2001. Two sisters, Lena Thomas, Mary Thomas, and brother Dr. McCalip Thomas.

Survivors include her sons, William S. Thomas, II and Michael J. Thomas of Jackson; daughters, Cecelia R. Thomas of Jackson, Veronica Thomas Saab and son-in-law Louis of Crowley, La. and Clare Thomas Van Loon and son-in-law Gilbert of Jackson; six grandchildren and one great-grandchild, three sisters, Catherine Thomas, Juliette Thomas and Elizabeth Shores all of Yazoo City and numerous nieces and nephews.

Memorials may be made to St. Richard Catholic Church, the Carmelite Monastery or St. Jude's Children Hospital in Memphis.

The Thomas family would like to thank a special friend Dr. Murphy Martin for his kind and special care, also Dr. Grace Shuemaker and her staff and nurses, Home Health Nurses, Deb Recio and Tom King.
Published in the Clarion Ledger on 11/13/2006.

http://www.legacy.com/clarionledger/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=19914900