For the past three weeks we have been running back and forth to the Hospice Home where a dear friend of ours, Leona Surrette, had gone to spend her last days on earth. It was a shock to everyone for she went in the hospital to have a blockage removed between her stomach and colon. When the Dr. opened her up, he immediately sewed her back and let her family know there was nothing he could do, for she had cancer of the pancreas and it had spread.
Her dear husband, Frank, of many years broke down. The Dr. told her he was sorry, if he had known he would never have operated and put her through more pain. She even had the Dr. crying as she told them all not to worry for everything would be alright. That she was ready to meet God and spend an eternity with Him.
For three weeks this dear lady laid in a bed with nothing to eat; it had already been around a week before that that she could not eat because of getting sick. The only thing she could do was sip liquids and a little Jello, and at times it was hard to keep even that down. She said that God had taken hunger away from her. That she could close her eyes, imagine something and she could taste it.
Everyone who came to visit her to cheer her up were the ones who left being cheered by her. Even on her death bed she was testifying for our Lord God. She told our Pastor one day that God was working on her powder room and when He was finished, she would leave. It became a joke between the two of them.
People where she worked came everyday to see her. There were many that she had a hand in leading to Jesus; for Leona would testify where ever she was and didn’t care who heard her. There was one guy, for five years Leona would say good morning to him and he would never speak. One morning she went into work and did not say good morning. He tracked her down and asked why she did not tell him good morning. Leona said, “I figured five years was enough time to get you to say hello.” After that they became friends and she lead him to accept Jesus.
She kept saying, “it will be okay, what a beautiful journey that I am on.” As her time drew nearer, her pain grew worse. Friday, August 31, 2007 when my two daughters and I arrived at Hospice, Leona was really in a bad way. They kept her as-comfortable-as possible and told her husband, Frank, to just keep talking to her.
Our Pastor, Garland Simmons, told her to let go and go on home to Jesus as he quoted the 23rd Psalm crying like a baby. Pastor had known her for a long time and their two families were like one. He preceeded in telling Leona all who were present. Even in the pain that she was in, she noticed one name missing, her son Freddie had not gotten there yet.
Leona told Pastor Simmons, “God is almost done with my powder room, He has one more coat of paint to go.” It wasn’t long after and Freddie came, she took his hand and smiled. Shortly after that, Leona went on home to be with our Lord.
If we could all leave a legacy like the one Leona left, what a world it would be. She was such an inspiration to all who came in contact with her. A fiesty little woman who did not mix words and who never let a moment go by without talking about God.
Her funeral was held at our little church and it was packed with people who loved her. As Pastor Simmons said at her funeral, and it gives us all something to think about, “Is God working on your powder room?”
Pat Finn finn@mebtel.net