Lucile Barker Brickle
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Welcome / Scripture / Prayer
I want to welcome everyone to the celebration of the life of Mrs. Lucile Barker Brickle.
Your presence gives comfort to this family
And together today, we’ll remember good memories of Ms. Lucile
And we’ll thank God for a life well lived.
I’d like to read one passage of scripture that reminds me of Ms. Lucile.
A Psalm for giving thanks.
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!
Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Would you pray with me?
“It It Well With My Soul” - Matthew Pittman
Eulogy - Randy Darnell
They didn’t have air conditioning in 1925.
Well, actually they did.
The first residential unit was installed in 1914 but it cost the equivalent of $500,000 in today’s dollars.
Not many people owned one.
In 1931, the window unit was introduced.
It looked pretty much like window units do today only much more pricey.
They were still too expensive for common folk.
It wasn’t until the 50’s that AC became more common place.
All of that to say that when Lucile Barker was born to Thomas and Rosa on October 9, 1925 in Tifton,
I’m pretty sure Ms. Rosa was a mite uncomfortable.
I’m sure Lucile was born at home like most babies were back in the day.
With open windows and hopefully a cool breeze.
1925.
Penicillin wasn’t invented until 1928.
The bi-plane was just giving way to mono-wing airplanes.
And only the extremely high priced automobiles could do 60 miles per hour.
What did Lucile Barker Brickle’s world look like?
The way things change now boggles our minds - can you imagine what Ms. Lucile saw?
Somehow her family moved from Tifton to Payne City, Georgia.
Her family lived at 152 Comer Terrace - at least that’s what her marriage certificate says.
Payne City was built around Bibb Mills.
Bibb Mills was a textile mill - they spun cotton into yarn and who knows what all they made.
The way things worked back then, life in the mill village revolved around the mill.
The mills built houses and rented them to the workers.
They were close enough to the mill that everyone could walk to work.
Typically they had a company owned grocery store.
And even the entertainment was organized by the mill.
On a weekend night at the mill’s auditorium, they would have a gathering for the teenagers.
And of course everyone went - I suspect there wasn’t much else to do back then.
Lucile was sitting at a table with a girl friend of hers with the last name of Brickle.
There were seven boys in the Brickle family - seven boys and one girl.
One by one the Brickle boys showed up.
One came in and Lucile said to her friend - what about him?
“Nope, he’s got his eyes on another girl.”
“What about him?”
“Nope, not him either.”
And then in walked her brother Clarence.
“What about him?”
“He’s free.”
Lucile somehow met Clarence that night, and save for the years he was away in World War II, they were inseparable.
I don’t know how old Lucile was when they met, but Lucile was 18 when they married on January 14, 1944.
They were married in Norfolk, Virginia by Reverend Neal W. Ellis, Chaplain, United States Navy.
Clarence was listed as a Private First Class in the United States Marine Corp.
I suspect they married before he shipped out.
They eventually set up housekeeping on Florida Avenue right off Vineville Avenue down past the Academy of the Blind.
I don’t know much of their life together.
I know Neva worked for Bibb Mills in the spinning room for a little while but that didn’t work out.
See, the spinning machines kept breaking her nails and that just wouldn’t do.
I think she worked retail for a minute but ended up at the Middle Georgia Hospital working the switchboard.
She stayed there for well over 20 years ending up as the supervisor of the patient information group.
That suited her fingernails just fine.
I know Clarence passed away on May 12, 1995 at the age of 72 and Lucille never remarried.
Their only son Gerald passed away too on December 2, 2011 leaving Lucille to her grandchildren, great grandchildren, great great grandchildren
And to Barbara and Mike who very lovingly made sure Lucile was taken care of and that she didn’t run off somewhere and get lost.
I don’t know when Ms. Lucile joined First Baptist - somehow that didn’t get recorded.
She was added into our Church Management System on February 19, 2008 so maybe it was around then, but I’m not sure.
She joined First Baptist by transfer of letter, which means she was saved and baptized someplace else.
But I know for a fact Ms. Lucile was saved.
Beyond the fact that she could be caught reading her Bible at home
Lucile gave a very interesting profession of faith one day.
The Young at Heart was meeting and it must have been around Thanksgiving because I asked them to name one thing they were thankful for.
Lucille would have been in her later 80’s about then and she said, “I’m thankful I’m going to heaven one day.”
Neva asked her, “When you go, will you take me with you.”
And without missing a beat, Lucile said, “No!”
Now Lucile might not have wanted to take Neva to heaven with her, but Lucile was bound and determined that she was going to heaven well dressed.
While she was still able, she got with Barbara to make her final arrangements.
She wrote a four page obituary - she had a lot to say.
And she picked out a peach gown to be buried in.
Now here’s a bit of information that would have been too much then, but is OK now.
Seems Lucile was very concerned that everything she wore all of the time matched.
Every piece of her clothing.
Including her underwear.
If you want to know how rare peach colored underwear is, ask Barbara.
She said they went to every clothing store in middle Georgia looking for some peach colored underwear.
Barbara was about run ragged and finally she asked Lucile, can’t you just be buried in your regular underwear
And Lucile replied indignantly, “No. I will not stand before Jesus knowing my underwear does not match my outfit.”
Lucile made sure that everything she wore matched.
And do you know what one of her favorite patterns was - leopard print.
Lucile - leopard print - who knew?
And even with the leopard print
Every last one of her - get ready - 2,000 jackets, sweaters, vests, jeans and of course, their associated accessories matched.
Every last one.
And speaking of accessories.
I’ve taken a lot of church trips in my time.
I’ve taken children to children’s camp.
I’ve taken students to student’s camp.
I’ve been on RA camp outs and taken kids to conferences all over the place.
But only once, only once have I had the police called to one of my groups.
And it was on my Young at Heart group in Pigeon Forge.
More specifically, they were called to Lucile and Neva’s room.
Seems Lucile - the fashion maven - had brought a fairly expensive bracelet with her
So she could be coordinated, right?
After the evening event, when we are all tired and about to pass out - I get a phone call.
You need to go to Neva and Lucile’s room - the police are there.
I went tearing down there and sure enough, there were two very young and very nice policemen there.
Seems when we got back to the room, Lucile went looking for her bracelet and couldn’t find it.
She and Neva tore the room apart looking for it.
They practically disassembled the bag where it was supposed to be - to no avail.
So Lucile called the cops.
The cop was very nice.
He took me aside and said - “it’s still in her room somewhere.”
“99% of the time, it’s found in the room.”
Lucile would not be denied - someone had stolen her bracelet.
And while we talked to the police, Neva went back for one more dive in that giant bag.
And finally, Neva found it.
Way down deep in that bag was a hidden zippered compartment.
You know, the very place you’d hide something valuable.
When Neva told her where it was, she said, “Oh Yeah, I remember now.”
And she smiled her pretty smile and sent the officers and me packing.
I really hadn’t given much thought until now until just how independent Ms. Lucile was.
If she wanted something, she expected to get it - it just seemed to be a given to her that it would happen.
She did travel extensively - 49 states and 4 foreign countries.
When Clarence passed, she never remarried.
She was her own woman doing her own thing.
She did love to shop and I suspect QVC stock dropped once she was no longer able to shop with them.
One Sunday she told me she had bought me something.
I smiled and told her thank you but she didn’t need to do that.
And she told me, you are on the road traveling and you need it - when it comes in I’ll give it to you.
It was a Halo Bolt.
It’s a little whiz bang thing you use to jump your car off when your battery is dead.
It wasn’t cheap and I was a little embarrassed accepting it
But Lucile wouldn’t be denied - she was taking care of me.
And she has - from jumping off my car to cranking my lawnmower and powering some lights when the power was out.
Lucile took care of me.
We had a lot of fun on our Young at Heart trips.
I have a picture of us in my office that she gave to me.
We were at the Fields of the Wood in North Carolina and she, Renee’ and I posed like we were falling backward off the mountain.
She had it framed and gave it to me.
Lucile was my problem child though.
To be as old as she was, she could escape faster than anyone I’ve ever seen.
About the time we got the group off the bus and headed in one direction, someone would say, “Where’s Lucile?”
Someone would finally spot her way ahead of us.
I told Barbara and Mike that one day I was going back to the Ark Encounter so I could really see the displays.
When we went, Lucile and Neva got power scooters.
They didn’t have any trouble driving them - in fact, I kind of wish they had.
Lucile would decide it was time to move on and she’d floor it.
Never mind the room was packed and in my mind all I could see is bodies flying through the air as Lucile mowed them down with her scooter.
So I ran ahead of her and behind her and beside her protecting the general public from a certain running over.
We had fun - but we might have missed a few things in the process.
There are so many Lucile stories.
The Young at Heart was coming home from Dahlonega and we stopped at the outlet mall in Commerce.
One hour - we’re going to stay one hour.
Meet back at the bus in one hour.
In one hour everyone was back on the bus except three people.
Lucile, Neva and my wife.
I called Renee’ - "We are in the bus, where are are ya’ll?”
Renee’ whispered - “Lucile is trying on clothes.”
I said, “Tell her we’re waiting on her.”
Renee’ said, “I told her that. She said since she was with me, she knew you wouldn’t leave us.”
Eventually she came strolling back, her newly acquired booty in her arms.
We could tell you about the time she bought a recliner chair on one of our trips.
We were in the big bus - and Lucile bought a recliner.
We ate in a buffet in a shopping center with a thrift store.
She found the recliner - just the color I’ve been looking for! - in the thrift store.
So she bought it - never thinking it might be a problem getting home.
Fred and Teresa Allen were following us in their pickup - so we strapped it in and the Lord didn’t let it rain on us.
What I didn’t get to see was Granny Brickle.
I wasn’t around when the grandkids came in and Ms. Lucile’s face lit up.
I didn’t get to see her face when she held grand babies, and I suspect great grand babies too.
I can hear her telling us how proud she was of them.
She’d be smiling so big her face would almost break.
That’s why we read the 100th Psalm earlier.
Lucile WAS a joyful noise.
She was full of laughter and love.
She did serve the Lord with gladness.
And she entered his courts with thanksgiving.
She was thankful and she blessed his name.
And now she knows, face to face, that the Lord is good.
That is mercy is everlasting.
And his truth does endure to all generations.
I know Lucile could be a handful.
I wanted to snatch her bald once or twice myself when she’d slip away from the group and we’d have to send out a search and rescue party.
But that was part of her charm.
I wonder what she was like before we call came onto the scene.
What did she and Clarence look like walking hand in hand through the mill village?
I wonder if she’s getting the chance to walk hand in hand with Clarence right now?
Jesus says in the book of John in the Bible the He, Jesus, is the way, the truth and the life.
Kind of a funny sentence - until you get to know what it means.
Jesus is the only way to heaven.
In fact, Jesus is the only real hope for this life.
We’re all broken, sinners, rebels against God, every last one of us.
Left to our own devices, we’d rebel our way straight to hell telling ourselves we’re loving every minute of it
Until the reality of eternal separation from God sets in.
Jesus didn’t want that.
He came to earth and lived a perfect life.
He was murdered because men hate the truth
But on the third day, Jesus was resurrected by the power of God to live again.
To basically say to us, there is nothing in all eternity more powerful than Him.
And at the name of Jesus, one day, every knee in creation will bow before Him.
The question is, will you bow down now in humility, realizing your sinfulness and asking God’s forgiveness.
Or will you bow one day by force, when Jesus returns and you are forced by reality to realize just how dumb you really have been?
Granny, Aunt Lucile, Ms. Lucile - she bowed before Jesus and asked Him to save her.
And He did.
And because of that, right this minute, wearing underwear that matches her outfit, someone is waiting on Lucile to get out of the changing room
So they can eat at the marriage supper of Jesus.
I love a happy ending.
Praise God for Lucile’s.
“How Great Thou Art” - Carrie Underwood (recording)
Will you pray with me?
Holy Father, We commend into thy hands of mercy the soul of this our sister departed, Lucile.
And her body we commit to the earth, beseeching your infinite goodness, to give us grace to live in your fear and love and to die in your favor
So that when the judgement shall come which you have committed to your well-beloved son,
Both this our sister, and we, may be found acceptable in your sight
And that we receive that blessing, which your well-beloved son shall then pronounce to all that love and fear you, saying
Come you blessed children of my Father: Receive the kingdom prepared for you before the beginning of the world.
Grant this merciful father for the honor of Jesus Christ, our only Savior, Mediator, our Advocate and our Friend.
[Ephesians 3:20-21 NASB] 20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.