My High Octane Inspiration
Article by: Chonda Pierce
I was at a funeral recently (Don’t go away. I promise this will get funnier.) Anyway, the funeral was for my aunt—Aunt Ruth. My middle name came from her. My love for painting came from her. She owned every Gaither Homecoming video ever made, which meant I didn’t have to buy them. She died not long ago at the age of 84. At her funeral lots of tears were shed, but there was also lots of laughter. You see, Aunt Ruth and her husband were evangelists back when cars got 12 miles to a gallon but gas was only .20 a gallon. They traveled all over the country, Uncle Harry with his giant Bible and Aunt Ruth lugging around an accordion that was six times bigger than Uncle Harry’s King James. They made a record together—as tender as anything Mr. Gaither ever made—of Harry preaching and Aunt Ruth making beautiful accordion sounds. Someone played part of it at the funeral and we laughed and cried at the same time. They made friends with missionaries from China and the Philippines and Haiti and other countries where death was the penalty for even admitting you were a Christian.
In the 1960’s Uncle Harry died. In the 70’s she remarried Pop (that’s what we called him). He was a preacher too, so they traveled some more, sharing the gospel and great accordion music. One day in the 80’s Pop died and Aunt Ruth didn’t marry again. But that didn’t stop her from traveling and playing and painting and visiting missionaries she’d met from all over the world. She did all of this while taking care of Thad. Thad was her Down syndrome baby—only he wasn’t a baby anymore. He was 54 when she died. It takes three people now to take care of Thad. And he misses the accordion music like you wouldn’t believe. When I helped clean up her house not long after she’d died, I found lists, lots of list. A list of songs she and Uncle Harry were going to sing at a revival in Louisville, Ky. There was another list – a prayer list – tons of prayer list. These lists were people I knew (cousins, friends, me, the president, some cabinet members, world leaders) and others I didn’t (Chinese, Philippine, etc.). I found a list of names of people I didn’t know. A woman from India she met at the YMCA needing a Bible, a neighbor looking for a used car. Funny thing, the lists were all made in the last few weeks. When it came to caring for others and praying - Aunt Ruth never slowed down. Never!
Everyone knew this about Aunt Ruth. So at the funeral, there were lists of warm and wonderful things to say about her. However, the tender moment was interrupted by the loud, booming voice of the preacher. “That woman had gas!” He exclaimed. Then, after an uncomfortably long pause (and less laughter then he had hoped), he added, “She could go and go and go.” If there was ever a time for some sweet accordion music, it was then.
