Rowena S. Francia,
USTHS80, St. Carina
I feel inadequate on my own
to write a eulogy for Winnie. I derive my strength from
the many who have expressed their sympathies, their
thoughts, their grief, and their happy memories of her.
She would never tell her own story, nor call attention
to herself, or her bright mind, her kind nature, her
sense of humor, her stolid dedication and hard work.
Yet paradoxically we all
eulogize about those qualities as having touched us one
time or another. She was right after all, let others
speak of the good you have sown in this life. Words are
not your memorial; a good life is.
Having led a quiet solitary
life, her lingering illness proved she was not for one
instance alone. One batchmate so fittingly wrote that
she never left the thoughts and prayers of her friends.
We came to her aid and in so doing, she held us together
in a way she would never have imagined nor ambitioned.
Her sickness moved us and forged us into action. Her
death gripped us and shed our apathy, even as we release
her unto everlasting peace.
We may never find out why
she
went the way she did, nor what she really went
through in those long countless days locked in her
silent battle. What pains she must have denied or
fears she must have dispelled. Detached from the world
outside, she was left with her Creator. And in her
finest hour she conquered doubts, prevailed upon
sickness and ultimately even death.
On her passing, we pay her
our respects - for her life! Death visits like a thief
but rejoicing is in Christ in whom death is swallowed up
in victory! (YVT)
Winnie's
pictures above and left were taken during the Homecoming
in 2005 and Christmas Party in 2005.
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