Marilyn Mae Roe

Thank you for coming today to remember my mom, Marilyn Roe. I am her daughter, Becky Morse. My family and I thank you for joining us today to mourn her passing from this world, to celebrate her life, and to rejoice that she is now in the presence of Jesus.

The list I read was just a portion of the organizations she supported with her Social Security check and the meager earnings she made from cleaning houses. She cared deeply for the hungry and the hurting and she desperately wanted people to hear about Jesus.

As I looked through her apartment trying to decide what to keep and what to take to her sisters I found prayer journals. Not just one or two but several prayer journals where she had recorded prayers for someone’s health, prayer for a person trying to find a job, parents whose child was in a bad situation, prayers for her sisters, praise for answers to prayers, praise for someone coming to know Jesus as Savior, prayers for her friends, some of whom are here today, prayers for her country, prayers for her grandchildren, prayers her son-in-law, and prayers for me.

I also found prayers that she had written asking the Lord to forgiver her for her stubbornness, to teach humbleness and patience, and to take away her pride.

My mom recently told me that she was planning to live to 100 and I believed that she just might. I figured that when she was 101 and I was 80 she would be taking care of me. She had recently been to the doctor who told her that her health was excellent, her sugar was great, her blood pressure was perfect, and her heart was strong. Her medication list was an eye drop that she took daily for a corneal implant she had several years ago.

My mom loved giving to others but she LOVED opening gifts. We all enjoyed giving her a hard time with this especially at Christmas. In our home we like to take turns opening gifts so we all can see who got what and who gave what. It was pure torture for my mom to hold a gift and have to wait because it was someone else’s turn to open. We would laugh at her when it was her turn and we could see that she had already gently and quietly pried open one end of her package or she was peeking around the paper in the gift bag.

Stockings are a big deal in our house and usually we like to open those in some kind of order, normally by age youngest to oldest. I’ll let you imagine what we would catch her doing while she was waiting her turn.

As you probably know my mom was very stubborn and my family will attest that I get that from her. I want to tell you a story of just how stubborn she was. Mom was in her late 30s or young 40s. She was in a downtown area with a friend and they were stopped at a stoplight. A desperate young man came to the passenger side window and demanded their purses. My mom’s friend handed over her purse but my mom said, “no”. The young man reached through the car toward my mom who clutched her purse even tighter and jumped out of the car. The young man proceeded to come around the car and chase my mom. They both were running around the car in circles. By the time a gentleman in another car came to help, my mom and the young man were in a tug-a-war. I asked when I was older why she just didn’t give him her purse. There was only a few dollars in it. She said it was the principle of it, it was her purse, not his. She would have probably given him money if he had asked.

My mom hated to see:

Tomato worms and squash beetles but more seriously,

Someone choosing to abort a baby

Tragedies large and small

Any creature suffer

The abuse of anyone but especially children

People going hungry

People dying without Jesus

My mom loved

Sunrise

Sunny days

Soft rain

Butterflies and ladybugs

A clean house

Yogurt from grass fed cows

Coconut water

Kumbucha

Organic food

Lavender

Candles

Whole milk (organic, of course)

Pastel colors

Flowers

Chocolate

Anything sweet

Learning more about Jesus

To hear birds singing

Animals

Chocolate

Ice cream

Her pups Jingle and Tiffi

Her sisters and brother and their children

Her grandchildren

Her son-in-law

And me

But most of all, she loved Jesus

My mom was a little afraid of the act of dying but not afraid of death because she knew that her last breath on this earth would be followed by her first breath in Heaven. She knew that she would see Jesus.

In John 11:25-26 Lazarus is dead and Jesus is talking to Martha.

John 11:25-26

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?

To closing I would like to sing a song that I believe sums up how my mom felt about Jesus.

In the morning when I rise

In the morning when I rise

In the morning when I rise

Give me Jesus

And when I am alone

When I am alone

When I am alone

Give me Jesus

Give me Jesus

Give me Jesus

You can have all this world

But give me Jesus

And when I come to die

When I come to die

When I come to die

Give me Jesus

Give me Jesus

Give me Jesus

You can have all this world

You can have all this world

You can have al this world

But give me Jesus