Leigh Ann Gregory - June 29, 2023

We have gathered here today not so much to mourn the loss of Leigh Ann Gregory but to celebrate her life and the faith that today takes the sting out of death.

It is in the Bible that we read,

For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

55 “Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:53-57)

In 2 Corinthians 5 we read, what I hope, are familiar words. I read this paraphrase from the MESSAGE in the hope we can hear the words with new freshness,

we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not hand-made—and we’ll never have to relocate our “tents” again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we’re tired of it! We’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less.

That’s why we live with such good cheer. You won’t see us drooping our heads or dragging our feet! Cramped conditions here don’t get us down. They only remind us of the spacious living conditions ahead. It’s what we trust in but don’t yet see that keeps us going.[1]

I think these words seem to describe Leigh Ann. She was someone who seemed to be able to see beyond the pain and disappointment of life. And that is what we are called to do today.

Will you please pray with me,

Our Father, we trust you, but we hate cancer. We would rather be visiting with Leigh Ann than talking about her. But here we are. We ask that you strengthen and encourage our hearts today. Help us to remember the life of Leigh Ann rather than moan about the death she died. Give us a measure of her spirit and cause the brightness of her character, a reflection of your love, to shine on us. I ask in Jesus’ name. Amen

You are here today because you knew Leigh Ann. She was a popular young lady, who turned into a beautiful woman, and this beauty was more than just her appearance. She had a tender heart and an ability to feel with the people around her. When you talked to Leigh Ann, you knew she was really listening. That is such a rare quality in people. She could give you her undivided attention for hours. You felt heard, understood, and valuable.

As classmates shared memories, we take a trip back a few years to when Leigh Ann joined the class of 76. She moved to La Harpe from Fairfield Iowa and had no trouble fitting in. Leigh Ann loved music. Her first musical performance might have been in sixth grade, joining Becky (Cratsenberg) Wilhite and Lynne (Little) Beaver in a trio. Their first “gig” was the opportunity to sing before the class. They found matching costumes: blue jeans, red, white and blue striped shirts. (Isn’t it funny the things people remember?) They went shopping for an iron on patch and the only one they could find where they could get 3 was a goofy green dragon. So, they were the Green Dragons. (Where was America’s Got Talent back then?) They sang “Georgie Girl.”

Leigh Ann had a good soprano voice. She also played the flute. She used this in various musicals, Swing choir, and in the Followers, a singing group from the Union Church. In later years she loved Christian music. I vividly remember her coming back to La Harpe to hear the group: Sidewalk Prophets, and how excited she was to have her picture taken with the lead singer Dave Frey.

Tammy (White) Rupp remembers a sleep over at Leigh Ann’s home. The girls were bored, so they decided to make cookies. They made up their own recipe: Nilla Wafers, eggs, flour, and some other ingredients including some Southern Comfort. That cookie recipe did not result in good cookies. Apparently, these two girls also knew how to get in a little mischief when they would “camp out” on Tammy’s front porch across the street from the math teacher, Mr. Corey.

Mary Beth Shutwell remembers getting to know Leigh Ann when they lived across the hall from each other in Carthage in an old house converted into apartments. Most of us who knew Leigh Ann know that she was meticulous about her appearance. She was always trying new things with her make-up, clothes, and hair. Beth remembers that Leigh Ann had a date, and she asked Mary Beth about how her new hairstyle looked. Mary Beth thought it was very flattering. The next day Mary Beth asked about her date. She asked what the guy thought about her hair . . . Leigh Ann said, “He said it looked like a football helmet.” I’m guessing she was mortified and there was no follow-up date.

Someone pointed out in the slide show and pictures this morning, Leigh Ann was nevef wearing the same outfit!

It is hard to describe Leigh Ann. She wasn’t exactly wild, but she wasn’t tame either. She enjoyed adventures. She seemed to savor life. She was frequently heard to say, “It’ll be alright. Don’t worry about it” And she believed that. She was too busy savoring life to be weighed down by what she could not control. She had this marvelous ability to roll with things.

I did not really know her much before Curt came around. It sure seemed like she enjoyed people. She actually met Curt at a Disco here in Fort Madison. He was a former Marine and was, at that time, a disc jockey known as Greg Curtis. Curt didn’t waste any time. He and Leigh Ann were engaged before they ever went out on a date. You’ll have to ask him about that interesting fact.

When they came to be married I knew there was something special about these two. I could tell that Curt wasn’t just “hot” for Leah Ann, he loved her. And she loved him. And that never changed, the love only grew deeper. It was not dampened by the fact that Leigh Ann was not a particularly good cook. It was not diminished because her idea of cleaning up the crock pot after a meal was to put in on the back porch until things began to grow inside of it. Curt said they went through several crock pots until he volunteered to do most of the cooking.

She loved her family and her friends. Curt says she remained a small town girl (perhaps a little naïve). She refused to become an angry Chicagoan. And that fact just made her character and attitude shine that much brighter.

Leigh Ann loved make-up and clothes shopping. She also had quite the collection of nice purses. Curt reports she never saw a sale she didn’t like. She had drawers and drawers of make-up and hair car products. When Curt got a motorcycle, Leigh Ann wanted to ride with him. He told her she had to wear a helmet. She said that was fine but they couldn’t stop anywhere because she would have helmet hair and she didn’t want anyone to see her with bad hair. Needless to say, they never went very far on the bike.

They stopped riding the bike together when Leigh Ann decided she needed to help cars see them, so she waved her arms wildly when they came to a stop. Curt told her all those red lights on the back of his motorcycle were designed to help people see him and her waving would just distract people and make them wonder if she was being kidnapped or something! As a police officer, he didn’t like the prospect of being chased down by police cars.

Leigh Ann loved and respected her mom. When her mom died it was a devastating loss. Then when her brother died, the loss was multiplied. But the thing about Leigh Ann is that she always kept going.

In her family, in early afternoon, everyone took a nap. Literally. Her friends told her that such a practice wasn’t normal for people after they became teenagers and then adults. Leigh Ann was dumbfounded. When she started dating Curt, he was at the house one day she said, “Let’s go ahead and take our nap.” Curt’s response was something like, “What?” Curt tried to explain to her that adults didn’t take naps in the afternoon. She continued to take naps the rest of her life. There was even a quiet room at work, and she would go in there at lunch, and take a nap. She would go take a nap and Curt would figure out what he was supposed to do for the next 2 hours!

She loved traveling to Vegas and to Black Hawk Colorado. Wherever she went, she loved shopping and looking for bargains. She also liked to play video poker. She was able to take a trip to Ireland with Curt, and that was certainly one of the highlights of her life.

Curt always made sure Leigh Ann had a safe car to drive. It was tough to car shop with Leigh Ann . . . she liked cars based on how they looked rather than on the quality of the car (or the price tag). When it became apparent that this approach often cost them a lot more money, Leigh Ann let Curt do the car shopping independently.

She enjoyed working at Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals in Deerfield, Illinois. She could have moved up in the company, but she loved what she did and the people she worked with. However, she would sometimes call Diane and complain about how shallow and crazy the girls who worked in the office were.

Leigh Ann was so proud of her husband and the way that he served the community and his church. The two of them attended the Chapel Church in Libertyville IL. This became a place where they had great friends and grew deep in their faith. That faith served as an anchor as she battled her cancer.

More than half of their marriage of 38 years, they battled Leigh Ann’s cancer. It was up and down. Curt says, “Leigh Ann went after cancer like a Marine.” She refused to stop living because of something she could not see in her body.

Curt was by her side as she went through cancer treatments; He celebrated with her when it seemed the treatments were working. He was her rock every time she had to face the horrible news that the cancer was back. Curt was by her side through the hope, disappointments, and as the cancer finally took her life.

Through it all, this was a woman who embodied her faith. She refused to be defined by her disease. She chose to be happy. She continued to be like a ray of sunshine in the lives of so many.

Maybe one of the greatest tributes to Leigh Ann was from Diane (Boyd) Painters' son Shane. He was always fond of Leigh Ann. When he found out she had died, he had his softball teammates all wear something for breast cancer awareness. They came out in force to pay tribute to this woman who meant so much to Shane.

We understand because we all feel the same way.

As I said, Leigh Ann had a strong faith. She grew in her faith, and that faith was tested. She showed her faith in Christ by holding God’s hand even as she “walked through the valley of the shadow of death.” As I said, we are not here to think about how she died. We are here to celebrate how she lived and the fact that she continues to live . . .free from the cancer that stole her earthly life.

The Apostle Paul spoke words that could have come from Leigh Ann’s mouth,

We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. (2 Corinthians 4)

That statement from Paul was then soon augmented with these words,

That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

Leigh Ann fixed her eyes on that which cannot be seen. And that is what we need to do today. We must distinguish between the wishful thinking of the world (that thinks everyone goes to Heaven) and a confident faith. It isn’t that Leigh Ann thought she was a good person and therefore would surely go to a better place. We must recognize that even the best of us falls far short of what God has called us to. If Heaven were only for good people, no one would be there.

We need a Savior, someone to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. And that is who Jesus is. He is the One who lived the perfect life and then gave that life as payment for our sins. And because He is the Son of God, this payment could be applied to anyone who turned to Him in repentance and trust. Leigh Ann had that faith. It is what sustained her.

In Romans 8, Paul says, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The bad is forgiven. The rebellion is erased. It is an incredible promise. At the end of that chapter, we read these immortal words,

35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? . . . 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell (or cancer) can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Today, Leigh Ann can speak from firsthand experience. She did not lose her battle with cancer . . . she conquered it and now stands before the Lord to hear,

You fought the good fight, you finished the course, you have kept the faith, and now there is laid up for you the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, gives you. (2 Timothy 4:7-8 paraphrased.)

Leigh Ann’s death and life point all of us to the Lord she served, even in the toughest times. Real faith doesn’t desert you in the hard times, this is when faith should shine. We should all be asking: do I have this kind of assurance of life beyond the grave? Do I know that I am forgiven because of my trust in Christ? Of course, there are other things we can and should learn from Leigh Ann’s life, but this is the most urgent and is the most important. Where do you stand with Jesus? Is your faith genuine or superficial? Are you trusting Him? Or are you hoping you are good enough to get to Heaven? Jesus is the only one who can bring us into life beyond the grave. And because of that fact, even though we say Leigh Ann “died” on June 16th, we know that Leigh Ann is now more alive than she has ever been.

If I may, let me give you 10 other things we can learn from Leigh Ann.

1. Life is more fun when you can look at it with the attitude, “Everything will be fine”

2. True faith shows in the way you handle the hard times of life

3. A Bargain, is a bargain, is a bargain.

4. Finding the love of your life is a treasure you should cherish.

5. A nap is refreshing, no matter how old you are.

6. You know you have found the right man when he accepts the fact that you can’t cook.

7. Worry is overrated.

8. You don’t have to let the city mentality take over your life. It is up to us to choose who we want to be.

9. Crock pots aren’t really all that expensive.

10. Grief is a natural counterpart to love. The more you love, the more you will grieve. However, for the Christian, grief is temporary because we look forward to the joy that will come in the morning.

Let’s pray together,

Lord, first we thank you for Leigh Ann’s life. Her enthusiasm for life and her wonderful spirit touched all of us. We ask you to welcome her into the place you prepared for her. Please make sure she knows how much her life mattered to us.

Father, if it is possible, please infuse a little of her spirit into us. Help us to care as she cared, and love as she loved. Help us to develop a faith that is strong enough to endure the worst life can throw at us.

Finally, I ask you to fill the void in the hearts of her family with your presence. Replace the horrible memories of these past weeks in Curt’s mind, with the joyful and fun memories of the times they shared together. Help his gratitude for what You allowed him to know and enjoy, to overshadow the sadness and emptiness. Surround him with loving friends and an extra measure of your Spirit.

Lord, you have given us one more reason to long for Heaven. Sustain us until that day when the longing becomes reality. Amen.

[1]Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), 2 Co 5:1–7.