Aunt Lillian

Aunt Lillian
Nov 2015

For the past few days, I’ve been thinking about Aunt Lillian. She passed away last Thursday at the age of 91. She was my Daddy’s oldest sister. She was the most like him of his four sisters and seven brothers. They were gentle, humble, quiet, kind, intelligent and shared a love of books, ideas and learning. They looked a lot alike. She was slow to judge and even slower to criticize. Oh, those birthday cards and that handwritten note that would come in the mail late every September announcing the family reunion. It’s interesting, but I don’t think I have been to a family reunion since those invitations stopped being penned by Aunt Lillian. With her, there was total acceptance of who we were. She taught us girls that our worth was not in our fertility, but rather in our character. I’m not sure if Aunt Lillian was childless by choice or not, but I know her lifework was her gift to the world and what a gift it was! After grandma died, Aunt Lillian became the matriarch of the Catoe clan – giving all us “orphaned” grandkids, (all 33 of us), room to grow and always inspiring us with her words of encouragement.

I now have two material possessions that are linked directly to Aunt Lillian. One is a mirror that hung in her home – which is perfect because Aunt Lillian “saw” us and helped us to see ourselves – our real selves – who we were inside. Now when I look into that mirror, I imagine Aunt Lillian looking back at me with a knowing smile, twinkling eyes and that nod of approval. I’m going to keep a photo of Aunt Lillian tucked into the corner on that mirror. The other thing I have that came from Aunt Lillian was a gift she gave my Daddy when he left the farm headed to Clemson. It’s a Parker 51 pen/pencil set. Mama gave it to me after Daddy died in 2004. It is sitting by my side as I write this. I have treasured this pen set and what it represents my entire life. It represents my link to two people who loved me, valued my words and encouraged me to put pen to paper.
Tomorrow my family will say our earthly goodbye and give thanks that we were blessed to walk in the shadow of someone who always pulled us into the light.
http://www.bpafuneralhome.com/obituaries/Lillian-Galloway/…