Well done good and faithful servant....

I got the news from my cousin.   This could be it....the time could be very near.  Her mother, my beloved Aunt was nearing death.  My reaction shocked me, I sobbed and sobbed.  I had been praying for her to go to Jesus for some time, but even though that is best and she is so ready, it's sad.  She's a part of me.  One of the best parts.
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During the night last night she died


Bernice Etna Anderson Pratt was 96

They say you can't pick your family, but I know that God picks them 

Since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.......Acts 17:25b -26

Today I'm praising God that he placed me in this family. That I had godly examples......that I had women that taught me how to be a lady.......even though many times it may have seemed that those teachings didn't take.....

Some of the women who taught me to be who I am today are my grandmothers and my aunts.  

Aunt Bernice was very special, maybe because she always lived in the same town as we did, but maybe just because she was who she was!


Aunt Bernice with Uncle Stuart who was so happy to see her when she got to heaven!

These pictures are from her 90th birthday party....

Aunt Bernice with daughter Ann

Sisters.....my mama with Aunt Bernice .....

How she loved this little girl!  Her great granddaughter Kaitlin, who isn't really a little girl but a married woman who gave Aunt B a beautiful great great granddaughter and is expecting another!

Aunt B's grandson Soxie.....some call him Roy.....and his wife Penny

Aunt B's grandson Ron and his wife and daughter

There are too many pictures of loved ones to put here, she was loved by everyone she ever knew.


She lost a very special granddaughter many years ago, 
Melissa.

A lady filled with so much grace and love and a special kind of innocence that you don't see a lot these days.  I loved her.  I loved staying at her home and just being with her, I think we all did.   She was like our second mother. 

- Oh, she was such a perfect housewife....
- she had a spotless home.....I didn't get that trait.....
- she could cook like nobody's business, not only great meals, but pies (best apple pie in the nation) and cakes......
- she sewed many of our clothes and most all of our Easter dresses.....
- we had many the Easter egg hunts in her yard.....
- she could give a mean perm....and did.....often, whether we wanted it or not.....  

- She and Uncle Stuart were such interesting people.  They had many friends both in and out of their church.  They were faithful.


- She liked to be dressed nicely and have her makeup on and her hair fixed  (I guess she was wearing makeup, she sure was beautiful)......I did get that trait....I mean having to fix the hair and makeup at least!  

- She had a special laugh and used it often.
-she told one off color joke that I know of and I almost laughed as hard as she did.
- She had a great hiccup!
-When she wasn't feeling well, she would say "oh, me" over and over.  

She always said I love you and you knew she meant it.  She would smile at you when she said it and you felt so special, a trait she probably got from my grandmother, her mother,  who had that same gift.

Thank you.  
Thank you.  
I can never thank her enough.  
She was like my second mother 
she and my mother were so very close.  
I think they spoke either in person or on the phone every day until the last couple of years when Aunt B was in the nursing home and mama in an assisted living apartment and they couldn't communicate.  

But just the other day, mama said "how is my sister?"  
They loved well.

They had two more sisters and three brothers who died way too young, but they all loved one another in a very special way.


There were seven brothers and sisters,  
Brothers.....Burruss (mama's spelling if that's not right)
Noah
Kade


Sisters........Bernice (like furnace with a B)
Grayce
Margaret
Joyce

For as long as I can remember, Aunt Bernice lived on the bay around the bend from the paper mill.  We spent many happy hours chasing crabs on the beach and getting that paper mill tar on our feet.  

My cousin Ann has always loved books and had a lending library out of her home.....we checked out books and sometimes even returned them. 
I think they had every edition of National Geographic
and of the Reader's Digest 

Aunt B had a lot of suffering in her life..... and I'm not here to say she never complained because complaining is one of our family traits and I think it is a perfectly good one myself!  But she always carried herself in a ladylike fashion.

She lost her son, Arthur, much too soon.  I always thought he was one of the best looking men I had ever known.  Once when I was at Church camp.....thousands of miles away at P. C. Beach, he came with mama to pick me up at the end of my week and I was embarrassed because I cried when I saw mama. 

I am pretty certain that there was never anyone who didn't love my Aunt B.  
I know that my brothers and sisters loved her. 
I know my cousins all loved her.


I loved standing in front of her china cabinet and just looking at all her pretties....she had lots of pretties.  
She also had shells and drift wood and tons of really interesting things.

We're all so glad you're with Jesus today Aunt B.....and a host of friends and relatives.