These are two people who knew what honor means, and we honor them for lives well spent...Ruth and Ned Wiseman
Hello...most of my life, I had the Biblical concept of "honoring" my parents as that of showing respect in their presence, or not saying disrespectful things behind their backs etc. I was raised to have respect for my elders; something that kids today are sorely lacking in, and my parents were the kind of people that commanded respect, but more than that, they both were deserving of it.
I felt that it is fitting...
It is fitting then, that even though my Mom and Dad have passed on, that I pay tribute to their lives. I could not possibly write enough words about them, to adequately describe what they meant to me when they were here on Earth, much less what they still mean to me and everyone in our family. On behalf of my two wonderful sisters Audrey and Virginia, and my "Godly man" brother Ralph(and their respective families), I would like to say that we miss our parents, but oddly enough, they don't miss us, for they are safe in the arms of Jesus, and if we could really know what life is like for them now, we would not want to cheat them, by bringing them back. We were all blessed to know them as people, blessed to be their children, and blessed with the hope and assurance of seeing them again one fine day! Both of them in their own right were truly incredible people, and they knew that anything that may have appeared to be great about them was strictly a gift,"graced" upon them by God.
Longevity is Rare...this day and Time!
In a day where divorce, infidelity, violence, and immorality run amuck, longevity in marriage is rare. Our parents were married to each other for 64 years, and divorce was never an option for dealing with life's problems. "nuff" said; I am proud of them for that! There is not enough time and space to tell the life story of Ruth and Ned Wiseman, but a few highlights should suffice to convey the wonderful life that they had, individually, and as a couple.
Mother
Mom was a great mother and home-maker who reached out to everyone she knew, in love, and volunteered in the every community she lived in. During WWII, she worked as a nurse's asst. at Kennedy Hospital in Memphis. During the 1960' she worked as secretary for the 111th Intelligence Corps for the US Army. She was a Cub Scout den mother, a Sunday school teacher, a pink lady at the Hospital, and loved to feed people. More than anything, she loved Jesus, and always tried to point anyone she knew to the Cross. She loved to sing, and had an angelic alto voice that would make the meanest man in the world break down , and cry. She loved flowers, ceramics, and playing the piano. Behind every great man is a great woman, and Ruth was the entire cheering squad for her husband. One of the things that my Dad was lacking in was education, and she encouraged him to further his education often, and even helped him in his career at Delta Airlines; assisting him with clerical work.
Daddy
Our Dad was probably a genuis; I don't know what his IQ was, but if he set his mind to do something, he just learned how, and did it. I have not known anyone like him in this world, except for my brother Ralph, and me. We are only similar to our Dad because he was our mentor; we are still trying to be like him; it will take a little more time. Dad was not perfect; he had a bad temper, which even he seemed to shed as he grew old, and my brother and I have mellowed now, too. With all of the rough upbringing that Ned Wiseman had, he somehow, by the Grace of God, sought after and maintained character, character that meant doing the right thing at all costs. I think that the one thing that impressed me most about him was that he refused to "kiss up" to people to get ahead; he could have been much higher up in his job, but he wanted to get where he did, on his record only or nothing at all. He was a very successful man; this webpage could not tell it all; Dad taught us that if something breaks, fix it; if you don't know how, learn about it, and fix it. I came home from school one day, and found our television completely dismantled, and Dad was repairing it... it was working fine by that night. My brother Ralph has that talent; he had his own television repair service for about 20 years. Over all the years of my own "do it yourself" projects, I knew that I could call Daddy if I got into trouble. Dad gave his life to Jesus when he was in his thirties, and before he died, he told me that he could go happily to be with God now because all of his children were "saved", and in the fold; that was his greatest legacy.
Today we honor them...
I have not always honored my parents, but since I became a Christian in 1982, I have tried to. My siblings have honored my parents with their lives, also. My brother and his wife Rita put their lives on hold to stay with my aging parents in their latter years, and my sister Virginia was my mother's care taker for the last two years of Mom's life; my sister Audrey took care of all of Mom's affairs, even years after she passed away. We all, in our own ways have tried to honor our parents when they were with us, and now, I would like to honor them again, and I pray that the Father will give them a little glimpse, just to show them what their lives have meant to us, and the awesome legacy of love, that they have passed on to us, and all who knew them.
2 comments:
My friend Diane, who I grew up with, just reminded me of a little invention that Dad put on our TV...we lived in the landing pattern of the airport, and the airplanes would drown out the best part of our TV shows, so Dad placed a microphone in the attic of the house, and designed an amplifier that turned the volume of the TV up to "full" when it heard the airplane, then it would turn the volume back down, as the airplane's sound diminished; he could have made millions on that invention, but he had a co-inventor that helped him with te project; the man die before my Did did, and the plans were locked up in the man's estate, and he never was able to geta patent on it. Neat memories.
Today, I think of all of the sacrifices that my dear mother made for me; she spent money that she did not have to get my all the horns that I played growing up, and made payments to the music stores to make sure that I had good horns. This is just the tip of the iceberg for her life and love for all of her children and grandchildren. She gave many many phantom gifts that, to this day, many in the family don't know where they came from. Her favorite past time was to bless others.
Post a Comment