Alex's Dia de los Muertos Altar

 

 

Alex was assigned to make an altar commemorating a loved one that had passed on in the manner of the Dia de los Muertos celebrations in Central America.  No surprise that he chose Aunt Melinda.  The second picture is of a decorative skull like those used in the celebrations, with details about Melinda filled in.

Always A Friend

As July begins, I am reminded of my last visit with Melinda a year ago. Mike, Todd and a very pregnant Laura went to Oklahoma for a visit. Of course, while we were there, we went to church at Alameda. Although I had emailed Melinda that we were coming, she didn't know that we would be there that Sunday. In true Melinda fashion, she was SO excited to see us and she immediately made plans for lunch. She talked about playing soccer and looked so good. Mark and Melinda were the first of our friends that we met when we first moved to Oklahoma. They took us in right away and the friendship grew. Although we only lived in Oklahoma for a year, every time we came back for a visit Melinda was always there with a hug and a "how are things in Colorado?" She was always a friend and has been truly missed this past year. We think of and pray for Mark and the kids often, wanting them to know how much Melinda was loved by people she touched. Thank you, Melinda, for always being a friend and Christian example.

Mike, Laura, Todd and Scott Collinsworth

Selling Flu Shots

When Melinda and her friend Kenzi were in nursing school, they received an
assignment to sell flu shots at the local Homeland. They were very eager to
find customers so they could practice their new shot-giving skills on
someone other than each other. After about 30 minutes, Melinda became
frustrated at their lack of business. She decided to find some customers by
walking up and down the aisles and encouraging people to come visit them for a flu shot. She found two college-age guys and told them to come visit the shot station. Her reasoning was simple, "Girls won't want to kiss you if you have the flu!" After that encouragement, the young men stopped by and got their shots and Melinda and Kenzi got their practice. After hearing this story, I told Melinda that she missed her true calling - she should have been in sales instead of nursing.
~Mark

A Cake for Jesus and Melinda

This year we started a new tradition at our house. Becky's dad read our boys the story of Christmas from the Bible on Christmas Eve. Then on Christmas we had planned to have a "Happy Birthday Jesus" cake for Christmas dinner dessert. A few weeks ago, my oldest son Alex asked Becky if we could include Melinda's name on the cake and celebrate her also since she was up in Heaven with Jesus now. We couldn't say no to that. Alex wanted a "white" cake, so we found one with chocolate frosting and "1000" mini chocolate chips all over the edge and sprinkled on top. As we ate it, it reminded us about how much Melinda loved chocolate. Aaron, my youngest, wanted to get some cake up to Melinda and Jesus, but we told that they would have to share it with us in spirit. I think we may do this again next year. It gave us a happy moment that we needed at this time of year. ~Jason

When Great Trees Fall

I received this poem from a friend who also lost her best friend about 9 years ago.

When Great Trees Fall – Maya Angelou

When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.

When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.

When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.

Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.

Great souls die and
our reality, bound to
them, takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds, formed
and informed by their radiance,
fall away.
We are not so much maddened
as reduced to the unutterable ignorance
of dark, cold
caves.

And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be better.
For they existed.


God blessed our lives by sharing Melinda with us for a short time. And we are forever changed by knowing and loving her.

~Chasity Vaughan

Remembering Melinda on TV

Fox 25 in Oklahoma City just did a great piece on Sandi Troup and the SHOUT organization she co-founded. She talks about many of the same things she mentioned in her memory below, and she shows off the Live, Love, Smile memory bracelets that Becky designed for Team Evans this year. From all reports, the Race for the Cure was a big success this year in OKC. Team Evans had at least 145 people walking in honor of Melinda, the biggest non-corporate group there from what we here. The video is embedded on the Fox 25 website so I can't post it here, and it is at the top of their "Top Stories" section until a new Top Story comes along. I think I may have found a solution.

To see Sandi's video follow my easy 3-step guide.

1) Highlight the "paragraph" below this step and copy it into your clipboard (Ctrl-C on Windows computers)

javascript:selectvideo('320x240,kokh_top_stories_BreastCancer.flv',story0,'','',417)

2) Go the the Fox 25 Top Stories page by following the link below step 3. (You have to read Step 3 before you go.)

3) Paste (Ctrl-V) the contents of your clipboard into your browser's address bar at the top and hit Enter. The SHOUT video should play.

Fox 25 (OKC) Top Stories video page

A Great Friend

My first memories of Melinda were a long time ago at the OU Outreach Center. At that time, I didn't know them personally, but her and Mark were around occasionally and even then, I knew there was something special between the two of them.
Anyways, my life went on, and several years later, I met my husband and we got married and started looking for a lifegroup to join. We ended up finding the Evans/Vaughn lifegroup, and never went anywhere else. Over the years, our lifegroup "multiplied" and we found ourselves in a small group with just a few families. It was then that I began to really get to know Melinda. She was so awesome! I have never met anyone more honest, more heartfelt, and more positive. She cared about people, all of them, and always had a listening ear or shoulder to lean on. I always knew I could count on her for anything, and she was the one I called when I went through a tough time in my marriage. Her support and comfort meant the world to me, and I will never forget it. It is no surprise that a few years later, when I was pregnant, she was the one I wanted to talk to. Everyone who knew Melinda could not miss the fact that she ADORED her children, and that being a mom was the most important thing to her. I feel like Melinda shared so much, and although many days I am very sad that she is not still here sharing life with all of us, I know that she would want us to celebrate her life and love her kids as much as she did. I miss you so much, Melinda, and thank you for all the comfort, advice, love and laughter that you shared with me. ~Kim Guenther