Norma Jean Renshaw - 7/28/17
We have gathered this afternoon to celebrate the life and mourn the loss of Norma Jean Renshaw. Norma lived and died with dignity. We also gather to remind ourselves of the confident hope that we have in our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Bible we read,
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. (John 14:1-3)
Norma’s favorite passage, Psalm 23, brought her comfort we believe, right up to the moment she died.
1The Lord is my shepherd;
I have all that I need.
2He lets me rest in green meadows;
he leads me beside peaceful streams.
3He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
bringing honor to his name.
4Even when I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will not be afraid,
for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff
protect and comfort me.
5You prepare a feast for me
in the presence of my enemies.
You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
My cup overflows with blessings.
6Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me
all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the Lord
forever.
Please pray with me,
Gracious Father, in this time of loss we come to You for comfort and perspective. Someone significant has left our lives and we feel a little lost. We know Norma is with You and that fact comforts us. Help us today as we remember how blessed we were to have had Norma in our lives. Help us to believe your promises about life beyond the grave, not only in our head, but also in our hearts. Comfort us in our sadness we ask in Jesus name.
Dayna and Alex want to share a couple of memories about their Grandma.
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Song
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Norma was born at the beginning of the Great Depression. So, times were very tough. When Norma was just six years old, her dad died. As a child, a Doctor said she had a heart condition and probably wouldn’t live much into her teenage years. At 12 years old she started having migraines. She suffered with them for 40 years. She said school was hard at times because of the migraines. Norma told me that Don and Bill always picked on her.
When Norma was in High School she wasn’t very athletic. She watched the cheerleaders and figured she could do what they were doing. So, she did the splits and then couldn’t get up because she had dislocated her knee! The boys coach had to come and help so she could go to the Doctor! She was embarrassed (but she apparently got over it because she’s the one who told the story.
Norma was 18 when she met Wendell (who was then 35!) He spotted her from the restaurant going to the Post Office in Blandinsville. Wendell asked Norma if she would like to go to the boat races in Keokuk. She asked her mom and she said “No” because Wendell was her age! So, Norma asked Grandma Fisher and she said yes and went along as a chaperone.
Wendell and Norma were married about a year later. Wendell didn’t even tell his mom until the day of the wedding. They were married in Rock Island. Wendell had a black eye (from getting hit in the eye with a baseball) and Norma cried throughout the ceremony. They didn’t take any wedding pictures until they looked a little better.
She and her husband were owners and operated the Main Street Café in Blandinsville. They later sold their part of the café and it became Tinks. Wendell wanted to farm. Norma went to work at First National Bank in Blandinsville (where she worked for 29 years).
When Rebecca was born, Norma was in labor for 33 hours! She thought about going back to work but couldn’t leave her little girl. She ended up taking 9 years off. Pam was born five years after Rebecca. As Norma tells the story, they decided she would not go through that kind of labor again. They gave her some medicine but the medicine produced stroke like symptoms. She could hear them talking as they said, “we are losing her” but she could not respond. Her concern was for the life of her baby. She said during that time she saw a beautiful and colored tunnel. There was a figure at the end who was all dressed in white. She had a wonderful feeling of peace. She never entered the tunnel but instead delivered the baby and came back to normal.
I asked Norma if that experience made the decision to forego treatments at the end of her life easier. She thought a little bit and said, “I guess it probably did.”
Norma loved being a mom, Grandma and Great-Grandma. She had a strong sense of family and nothing was more important to her than keeping the family together and cheering them on to be the best they could be. She raised her girls to be self-sufficient. She told them to fend for themselves and not to be dependent on some man to solve their problems. He had a huge garden of both flowers and vegetables. Norma always made sure the girls had what they needed. She was an expert in putting aside 2 dollars here and 2 dollars there so she had money to help her children and Grand-children.
Norma worked hard all her life. She helped Wendell on the farm (until he said she wasn’t doing it right and should go back to the house). She was the one who always ‘broke news’ to Wendell because she knew how to talk to him.
Wendell wasn’t a “romantic” kind of guy. He liked to give Norma a hard time. Once she complained about how she wanted a new stove. She saw the one she wanted at the store and told Wendell about it. He was uninterested so she decided to buy it with her own money. When she went back to the store to show the girls the stove she wanted it had a “Sold” sign on it. She was angry and let Wendell know she was angry. What she didn’t know was Wendell and Pam had been to the store earlier and had bought the stove for her. When it was delivered, she walked through the kitchen and didn’t even notice!
Norma was always trying to figure out what her Christmas presents were. Sometimes Esther Boyd would come over so they could shake gifts. On occasion Wendell would hid her gift so she couldn’t shake it.
Whenever Norma needed to go someplace Wendell always made sure the windows in the car were clear the car was clean, had plenty of gas, and was warmed up for her. They didn’t travel much because as a couple Wendell always felt there were things they could not leave undone at the farm. Perhaps that is why Norma was always ready to go later in life.
There were always teenagers around the house. The kids loved coming to the Renshaw farm. Norma welcomed them. When the next generation came along Norma loved having her grandchildren playing at the house. They knew Grandma always had candy and she used to love to rock with them . . . even until they were quite a bit older. Norma loved watching “the Young and the Restless” and “The Price is Right.” In fact, Adam’s first words were “Bob Barker.”
Wendell died in 1994. After his death, she cared for several other family members but also seemed to throw herself into loving her grandchildren. She played games with them and seemed to find that special thing that each one liked to do with her.
Norma tried to be the disciplinarian but sometimes that was hard. Like the day Sarah, Dayna and Alex were playing upstairs. When they came downstairs she saw that Sarah had cut off Dayna’s curls and tried to make Alex look like Garth Brooks (bald spot and all). Norma knew she should scold the kids but instead called Rebecca and told her she had better come over and act mad before Norma busted out laughing! She did take a picture of the kids for the memory book.
Norma went to every special event whether it was a game, a performance, or country fair. She was ready to go. Whenever there was a “first” in the life of one of her family, she wanted to pay for it (First prom dress, first birthday cake, clothes for the first day of school etc…). It was hard to go out to dinner with her without her picking up the check. She loved doing special things for her family. She wanted to make sure that they did not miss any special opportunity. If you tried to argue with her she would wag her finger and say, “Now you listen here!” There was no arguing with her.
She loved to shop for Christmas. When she was no longer up to shopping she just gave everyone $100.00 until she felt he couldn’t do that anymore. She was was wonderfully generous.
Norma had a great sense of humor and a wonderful laugh. That got her in trouble once. She went with Ron, Pam and the family to Mexico in 2001 on cruise. She shared a cabin with Alex and early one morning she was looking out the window and had to wake Alex up to show him the lights that were under the water. He told her they weren’t lights, they were white caps reflecting off the boat, and he was going back to bed.
On that same trip the family was riding the elevator down from dinner. Apparently, Ron had had too many beans for lunch and he had to release some of the pressure (if you know what I mean) while in the elevator. Immediately everyone was suffocating. That was funny enough. But when the doors opened and they got off and another couple walked into the cloud of stink it was too much. Norma couldn’t stop laughing. In fact, she laughed so hard she peed her pants and left a stream on the floor. She had to go up and change before she could do anything else.
When Walker was born, Pam and Dayna came to take Norma to the hospital to see the newest great-grandchild. They pulled into the driveway and saw Norma standing on the porch waiting for them. They looked away and when they looked back she had disappeared. She had stepped on a bad board and went through the porch! She wasn’t hurt and they got a good laugh out of it. In fact, they are still laughing about it.
She loved doing puzzles with Lucas. She liked to tease Autumn. She and Walker had their own special wave.
Norma enjoyed her many outings to Burlington with her friends Doreen and Mary and Jim. As I said, she was always up for an adventure. She enjoyed playing cards and was good at it! If you weren’t very good she would play just well enough so you would think you had a chance. However, if you were pretty good, she had no mercy! She learned how to play 4 point pitch from the Markey’s and was soon playing like a shark!
When I visited her after she had just come home from the hospital the house was filled with activity. I looked over at Norma at one point and her eyes were filled with joy. She loved seeing everyone engaged and having fun. And that kind of summed up Norma Renshaw, she was happiest when she knew others were having a good time. She was proud of her family. And I must say, she did really well for someone who wasn’t supposed to make it to 18.
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SONG “On the Wings of a Snow White Dove”
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In 2 Corinthians 5 we read these words that may be familiar to you,
For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. . .While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.
This is the truth that fueled Norma Renshaw these last six weeks. Her body was giving way and she did some groaning and sighing. She might have prolonged her life (and her suffering) by aggressive treatments, but she saw no point in that. She was ready to move to her house in Heaven and the body that God himself had made for her.
As the text says, it wasn’t that she wanted to leave this world. She would have liked to have been at Sarah’s wedding, celebrated Walker’s first birthday, and held Adam and Sarah’s baby. But she faced the reality that her body could not go on so she decided it was time to trade in the pleasures of this life for the unimaginable glory of the next.
Some people say the idea of life beyond the grave is just something the imagination cooks up to help us cope with the nothingness of death. However, that wasn’t the case with Norma. She had her near death experience and that gave her an assurance most of us never find.
Norma also had something else: she had a trust in Jesus Christ. She wasn’t the best church attender out there but that didn’t mean she didn’t believe. On the contrary, she knew that Jesus died and rose again and that he did it for her. That is the true anchor for our hope. Jesus died, He returned from the dead and told us that everyone who lives and believes in Him will live even though he dies.
The resurrection of Jesus is one of the best attested historical events. It is recorded not only by the Bible but also other historians. There were hundreds of eyewitnesses. Those who saw Him were dramatically transformed. They went to a tortuous death rather recant their testimony. This much I am willing to stake my life on: Jesus died and now He lives! I believe that was Norma’s confidence as she made the decision to forego treatment. Those who do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus choose to ignore the evidence . . . to their peril.
If you believe Jesus rose from the dead you are confronted with a choice: you can follow Him or you can dismiss Him. Norma chose to follow Him. Even though we see her form in this box . . . she is not here! She has gone on. The Bible says,
Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. 43Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. 44They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies.[1]
The Bible tells us that those who have put their hope and trust in Jesus will live with the Lord where there is no crying or pain. It is the place where joy is unleashed and relationships become what they were created to be. It is where reunions take place and insight is given. We get new bodies that are incorruptible. But most of all, we get to see Jesus and express our love and honor to Him.
There is a sense today that we are saying “Good Bye” to Norma Renshaw. But for those who also have turned to Jesus for forgiveness and new life, there is a better term. As a good German boy I learned very young the saying “Auf Wiedersehen!” It doesn’t mean “Good Bye” it means “See You Later!”
So as we remember the life of Norma Renshaw, we cherish the things of the past. You will remember her
Every time you are tempted to shake a Christmas present
Whenever there is a first for someone in the family
When the family is gathered around
Whenever someone fills the air with stink
When you are heading somewhere and think, I wish mom could come with us
Whenever you see a “Sold” sign
Or see a bowl filled with chocolate
Hear “the Young and the Restless” referenced or someone say "Come on Down!"
At simple times in little ways you will be reminded of Norma’s life. And as you do, give thanks.
And then look forward to a reunion that lies ahead in the future. May God protect, keep, and lead us until we meet again!
[BECAUSE HE LIVES]
Father, we thank you for the life and the impact of Norma Renshaw. We thank you for the faithfulness we witnessed these last weeks as she died without fear. Even in the end she was teaching us about life, about death, and about faith. Help us to learn the lessons well. Give us a measure of her spirit.
Help this family to follow in her footsteps. Grant many warm and vibrant memories that for a while may bring a tear but eventually will just cause us to smile and give thanks for the life that was so well lived. Lord, we entrust Norma now to you in the confidence that some day we will see her again as we take our place with you.
[1] 1 Co 15:42–44.