Memories of Sara

Sara with her brother Tim

(The most recent pictures I have of Sara are from my wedding)

I wrote this tribute to Sara one year ago, and decided I couldn’t improve on it, but I wanted to post it in my blog today. She went to be with the Lord on August 2, 2006.

I have been thinking about my daughter, Sara, this week. Three years ago today the Lord took her home to be with Him. When someone close to you is gone, you tend to remember the good memories. I know Sara wasn’t perfect by any means, and she had some very hard times in her brief life. But what I remember are the wonderful qualities she had.

From the time she was small, Sara did not know a stranger. I used to worry about her, because she would make friends with everyone! When she was taken from us she had so many friends. This was very evident at the memorial service we had for her in Oklahoma City. There were so many young people in her age group in that service. We talked to some of her friends, and these are the comments they made:

“She was my best friend”, “We were like sisters”, “she was so nice and kind”, “I don’t have one bad memory of Sara”, “she knew how to make us laugh”, “she gave backrubs”, “Sara never held grudges”. Her brother said, “she was springy, she was peppy; she had no volume control! She believed in God.”

As her mother, I remember her sweet spirit. She was always much more concerned about other people and tried to encourage them. As young as kindergarten, she would be going around the room helping the other kids.

After my first husband, her dad, died, Sara was the one that would remember special days—his birthday, our anniversary, the anniversary of his death. I remember once on my birthday she came over to spend the evening with me; we watched a movie and had popcorn. I remember telling her, “you don’t have to hang out with me.” Her comment was “now that dad’s gone, someone has to take care of you.”

After Sara’s funeral, when we were cleaning out her apartment, I found a piece of paper way back in the corner of a closet. It was a letter she had started to write to my current husband, Lynn. She said, “I hope you are enjying being married to my wonderful mom. I am sure she is taking good care of you ‘cause she is great at that; and in return I hope you are giving her a hard time, because someone needs to, and that was always my department.”

I miss Sara’s laughter—she had a great smile and a great laugh. I miss her calling me and saying “Hey, mama, wha’s up?” She used to call at least once a week.

Sara gave her heart to the Lord at a young age. Although she strayed away from Him for a while, she had come back to her personal relationship with the Lord. When I would ask her about it she would always say, “Yes mom, I know I’m saved. I know I’ll be with dad when I die.”

Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to have Sara as a part of my life for 28 years. She was a sweetheart and brought much joy into our lives.


We thought of you today, but that is nothing new.
We thought about you yesterday, and the days before that too.
We think of you in silence, we often speak your name,
Now all we have are memories, and your picture in a frame.
Your memory is a keepsake with which we’ll never part;
God has you in His keeping, we have you in our heart.