Patterico's Pontifications

4/20/2014

Enduring Love

Filed under: General — Dana @ 1:02 pm



[guest post by Dana]

For those in the faith, today is Resurrection Day – the make-or-break moment of the Christian faith. Without the Resurrection, there would be no manifestation of a divine living Love – so personal and perfect and whole that He pierces the heart with laser-like precision, laying it bare before our Maker as the amazing and arduous process of transformation begins. The Resurrection is the hope of the believer, the heart of faith, and the assurance that at the end of this earthly journey where we often find ourselves struggling through a vale of tears, there will be rest, there will be joy, and there will be peace. We are but pilgrims passing through. And without hope, what is one left with?

This morning, I considered posting on the unique gift of free speech we enjoy in America – in spite of how cynical, cowardly, and offensive it may be.

I considered posting about Google’s decision not to have an Easter doodle, but decisions like that have become cliche. Let’s just be glad Serbia National Day and Turkey Election 2014 and Britain’s First National Park weren’t ignored, okay? Because that would have been really awful.

But, given that it is a day to recognize Hope and Love, I decided to do a simple post on what really matters in this life: Enduring Love. And if for some reason, one is fortunate to find another to share the journey with, it becomes all the more unique. This love is the difficult love that calls one to walk through sorrow as well as joy while holding on to each other – no matter what seeks to tear apart. It is to believe in the united power of shared love when all might seem lost. It calls, even demands to put the other’s needs and well-being before one’s own, as well as to share in the victories, defeats, struggles, heartache, loss, and golden moments in between – while never letting go of each other.

A couple who held hands at breakfast every morning even after 70 years of marriage have died 15 hours apart.

Helen Felumlee, of Nashport, died at 92 on April 12. Her husband, 91-year-old Kenneth Felumlee, died the next morning.

The couple’s eight children say the two had been inseparable since meeting as teenagers, once sharing the bottom of a bunk bed on a ferry rather than sleeping one night apart

The pair had known each other for several years when they eloped in Newport, Ky., across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, on Feb. 20, 1944.

At two days shy of his 21st birthday, Kenneth was too young to marry in Ohio.

‘He couldn’t wait,’ son Jim Felumlee said.

Kenneth worked as a railroad car inspector and mechanic before becoming a mail carrier for the Nashport Post Office.

He was active in his Nashport-Irville United Methodist Church as a Sunday school teacher.

Helen stayed at home, not only cooking and cleaning for her own family but also for other families in need in the area.

She taught Sunday school, too, but was known more for her greeting card ministry, sending cards for birthdays, sympathy and the holidays to everyone in her community, each with a personal note inside.

‘She kept Hallmark in business,’ daughter-in-law Debbie Felumlee joked.

When Kenneth retired in 1983 and the children began to leave the house, the Felumlees began to explore their love of travel, visiting almost all 50 states by bus.

‘He didn’t want to fly anywhere because you couldn’t see anything as you were going,’ Jim Felumlee said.

Although both experienced declining health in recent years, Cody said, each tried to stay strong for the other.

‘That’s what kept them going,’ she said.

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Note: The views of faith expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of management here at Patterico’s. These are the author’s alone.

–Dana


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