It is March 13, 2019
and today would have been Jacqueline Carriker’s 99th birthday.
I have thought of her off and on all day today.
I always do every March 13th.
She was such a special lady.
She passed away in 2010 and
I miss calling her to sing Happy Birthday.
I was so blessed to have Jacqueline in my world.
I miss her.
Her husband, Heath, passed away in 2012.
His birthday was on Christmas Day.
I always called him for his birthday, too.
I miss them both.
.................................................................
Posted below is something I wrote about Jacqueline and
Heath
in April 2010, right after Jacqueline passed away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Written on April 20, 2010
In the life of a minister's
family, as we live and move and serve, we get to gain many friendships and we
get to grieve the many losses. Truthfully, sometimes for me it
takes a while after a move to form close friendships just for the sheer
fact that it's so hard to lose them when we leave b/c no matter how hard we all
try - maintaining close friendships after a move is difficult at best.
But sometimes there are a few
friendships that last with complete contact on and on. One of those
friendships for me began when I moved with my parents to Ellerbe, NC in
1982. I was 14. Heath and Jacqueline Carriker were retired teachers and
members of the Ellerbe church. She took piano from my mom and they
developed a close relationship and a shared love of music. Heath
and Jacqueline both loved my dad and
his ministry. They took a special interest in us children - always giving
us Christmas and birthday gifts - always supporting us in our
activities, even helping us when it came time to move away (you can see the moving truck through the window of the church parlor).
Their support for me continued as I grew. They were the greeters
at my wedding reception. Rob spent the night with them the night before
our wedding. They hid the car we would be driving on our honeymoon
(so it wouldn't be decorated) and they cleaned up the one that did get
decorated before returning it to my parents. When Crystol was in 7th
grade, she did a WWII report on Heath (he was a WWII bomber pilot and
flew the Normandy Invasion, the Battle of the Bulge and in the
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign). Somewhere, I still have the
audio cassette of the interview that day. As my children came along,
Heath and Jacqueline kept being there. They came to special church
services for them, they sent special gifts at special times, and Jacqueline wrote special notes to
all of my children. And she never forgot Christmas. When
Hallmark came out with those dancing snowmen, Jacqueline mailed one to our
kids. THEY LOVED IT!
So every year, she mailed the next one.
It was something my children
looked forward to as part of their Christmas traditions. Last year, she
wrote me a note and sent a check saying she had just been too tired
to shop for it and would I please go get them one at Hallmark for her. Of
course I did and I put it in a box. The kids never knew it wasn't
mailed. As long as Hallmark makes these, we will continue the
tradition.
And speaking of Christmas, Heath's birthday is on Christmas
Day so another Christmas tradition my kids have is knowing that there is the
"airplane man" to call on Christmas day so we can sing happy
birthday. Jacqueline's birthday was March 13th and 2010 was her 90th
birthday. My parents and I sent her a dozen roses this year. She
said they were beautiful! I wish I had a picture. She always,
always, always sent notes for birthdays. I knew she wasn't doing well
when I didn't receive one for my March 30th birthday. I believe
it is the only year she ever missed.
My kids and I were blessed to
visit with Heath and Jacqueline on Sunday, April 11th - just 8 days before she
died. Somehow, I knew it would be my last time seeing her.
When I
hugged her goodbye, I held her face with one hand and her hand with my
other hand for a moment and made sure she heard me say I loved her. She
told me she loved me too. She was fun that day - even talking about
how she had watched the Duke/Butler game. You see, Jacqueline graduated from Duke (she
told me that day she graduated in 1941) and she was a TRUE BLUE DUKE
FAN!!!!!!! She loved that I married a man on his way to Duke and was so
proud of him when he finished his Master of Divinity and also became a graduate
of Duke. His Christmas presents usually were something to do with
Duke and she would always say buying the Duke things were some of her
favorite Christmas shopping! Her words about this year's Duke/Butler game
were "It was a good game - Butler almost got them."
And as I left Jacqueline's house to go to another
friend's house in Ellerbe to meet her first grandchild, I had to stop, wipe my
eyes for a while, and regain my composure before I could go on.
I will miss Jacqueline. I know she
is with God and I would not wish her away from Him, but I will miss her
presence on earth. Rob, my children, and I will be at her
funeral on Thursday at 1 pm and her casket will be at the altar where
I first joined a church, at the altar where I prayed so many prayers as I
cleaned it during my high school job of cleaning the church, and at the altar
where I married my Rob.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 13, 2019
As I said, I still miss her.
