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Picture of the day -
January 10, 2006
Aunt Cel
Hardly a day goes by when my wife Cheria fails to mention her Aunt Cel
(pronounced like the word seal). Although
their aunt-niece relationship is by marriage, you would never know it by they
way they love each other - the bond between these two exceptional women is stronger than most, even
stronger than one between "blood kin".
Cheria told me how she used to visit her Uncle Earnest and Aunt Cel, and how they
would sit for hours and look at old family pictures. Aunt Cel would get out some
old "Southern Gospel" cassettes and they would sing along as the music played.
After her Uncle Earnest passed away, Cheria would visit Aunt Cel and they would
sing a while, cry a while, then commence singing again - they would share their
memories of Earnest while finding comfort in their own deep love and respect for
one another.
Like the rest of her mom's brothers and sisters, Earnest was more like a brother
to Cheria than an uncle. She loved him dearly, and she quickly came to love Cel
when she became part of the wonderful
Cook Family.
Aunt Cel always treated Cheria like she was very special whenever the two of
them managed to get together. For example, she always cooked stuffed peppers
simply because she knew how much Cheria loved them. And every year when Cel made
the long trip from her home in northeastern Ohio to Widener Valley, Virginia for
the "Thomas Reunion", she always invited Cheria to accompany her.
The reunion's festivities always included a rather long
hayride through the
valley and the Rush Creek community where Cel grew up, and our granddaughter
Olivia really enjoyed going on it. She always looked forward to the fall, when
thanks to Aunt Cel, she would be able to go on "that hayride" again. One year
the rain came down in buckets and everyone on the wagons ended up looking like
drowned rats, but we all had a ball anyway!
Aunt Cel also took a keen interest in Cheria's activities, sometimes even going
along so she could watch Cheria and our daughter Tami clog. She
loved Cheria and the girls very much and she was always very supportive in the
things they did and enjoyed.
As I write this, I'm sitting in a hotel room in Warren, Ohio, the small town
where Uncle Earnest and Aunt Cel settled after they left Widener Valley so long
ago in search of a better life for their young family. You see, Aunt Cel passed
away last Friday, but today's funeral was more a celebration of her wonderful life
and generous love than a goodbye. After all, we'll see Aunt Cel again some
day...but right now she's probably pretty busy getting used to her new heavenly
home and walking and talking with her beloved saviour.
Aunt Cel is now at home, she is at peace, and she is no doubt enjoying the new,
everlasting life that she often spoke of and so looked forward to. She was a
wonderful woman and she'll be sorely missed by everyone who knew and loved her -
but only for a short while until we go to join her in that happy land.
In memory of Celia E. Cook.
1931 - 2006
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