A couple weeks ago I went to the estate sale of a lady who used to be in a church group I belonged to. I guess you would call it an estate sale, since the family was dispersing her household but Ms Dorothy is still alive and kicking at 102! However she hasn't lived in her home for many years and it was just time...
Ms Dorothy is one of those ladies who would just make you smile. Tiny in stature, she was as tough as nails, no nonsense yet with a gentle heart. You could find her easily in a crowd as she always was stylishly dressed with a hat. When she could no longer drive, her son would pick her up for church. She rode along in the back seat, sitting up straight and looking ahead. We'd tease that her son was "driving Miss Dorothy". (Seriously tho.. there was a LOT of resemblance between Ms Dorothy and Miss Daisy!)
She worked as a hospital volunteer well into her 80s. Her place was the nursery; first doing nursing procedures then as she aged, her job was to love the babies.
From that came her own special ministry. She told of how sometimes families didn't have any sort of layette for their new child. So she made sure every child that needed had a 'onsie' or a sleeper, socks, a cap, a blanket appropriate to the weather, and a tiny New Testament. Our mission group made sure she stayed supplied. She would never announce that she needed anything to the group but would stop by me (I was President of the group) and 'mention' she was 'getting short on XXX'. I would then during the meeting ask her 'how it was going'... THEN she would tell the group what she needed. She didn't mind very gently used items but would admonish the group, "Don't give me anything you wouldn't have put on your own children!"
We had visited Dorothy many times in her home, so it was very surreal to be walking around poking through her things. Soon tho we were smiling as memories came.
This is what I brought home.
Little odds and ends. The round pin next to the dragonfly is a Sunday School pin.
She values education and was very well read.
That is an old book...
She has so many Bibles, commentaries, and Christian books.
Himself went through every Bible there. He ended up finding some fairly important family items which he handed over to her daughter-in-law.
And he came home with this Bible of hers. The illustrations are really interesting.
It feels kind of nice to have a few of her things. I hope I wear her hats with the same sass she did!
Ok, I gotta ask...what are you planning on doing with the cigar boxes? I had a few in my garage sale but then decided I wanted to try and alter them somehow, so I took them back out of the sale. I ended up getting rid of a bunch of jewelry that was my Mom's and Grandmas....and then wished I hadn't. But, I was never going to do anything with them so hopefully the older lady that bought them was going to wear them.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to use them to store small odds and ends from our travels. Each one will be decorated with a map of the country/state. Then I'll have a shelf in the living room for them to sit on.
DeleteLove all your finds, and the way you want to honor Ms. Dorothy.
ReplyDelete