The
service for Allie Mae Cromer was a celebration of her godly life of 102
years. "Beautiful on the inside and
out" has become so cliché, but I can honestly say that Allie Mae Cromer
was truly this and more. Ten years ago, her
granddaughter Amanda Vickery, one of my closest friends, wrote an accurate,
unforgettable story about her Mama Cromer for Grandparents' Day at Midway Elementary
School, where she teaches. Both privileged and honored, I read it at Mama Cromer's
service.
The story
was followed perfectly by a message by her pastor, Don Cox. I know you'll enjoy
Amanda's story as much as I did. And
please, don't miss the message after that.
Both Amanda and Don gave me so much to think about for my own life.
My Grandmother
Allie Mae Cromer
 |
| Allie Mae (17) & Claude Cromer |
I always dreamed of having a little girl
one day and naming her after my Grandmother.
In 1996, my dream came true. Our
daughter, Allie Cromer Vickery, was born.
My grandmother was so thrilled to hear that we had named our Allie after
her. We decided to go with Allie Cromer,
leaving out the Mae knowing one day she would "get us good." My
grandmother could not understand why we would name our daughter Allie. Here are
some of the reasons we did:
Mama Cromer, as most call her,
turned 95 in May. She has piercing blue
eyes that twinkle and a sweet cackling laugh.
She is 95 going on 18. She even
has Oil of Olay anti-age wrinkle cream in her medicine cabinet. She washes her own little station wagon AND
drives it, too. She never misses church
and backs her own car up in her parking space each Sunday.
Not long ago after church one Sunday, it
was raining really hard. I said,
"Mama Cromer, let me go and get your car for you." She said, "No, honey, I'm fine!"
She proceeded to put her black leather purse on her frail shoulder, her black
leather Bible under her armpit and pop up her "flowery" umbrella and head off in her black leather pumps.
Her favorite shows are Jeopardy and Price
is Right. She continues to bake her famous
coconut cake. She still insists on doing
it the old-fashioned way by breaking the coconut herself on her driveway. She grates the coconut only on the fine side
of the grater. (That takes a lot longer!)
Most of all, my grandmother is known for her
flower garden. It is more magnificent that any words could ever say! It is
where we gather each Easter to hide eggs.
We have to be careful amongst her flowers. Each flower has a tin stake labeled with a
shaky hand-written name of each flower.
My grandfather made all of these for her before he died.
She goes to bed at 8:00 and rises at
5:00. (These days she even wakes at
12:00 midnight to turn off her sprinkler). Early each morning she heads
straight out to her garden. If you ride
by her house, you can see her bent over body and the silhouette of her wide
brim sunhat. You really don't notice her
small white wood house because it is surrounded with so much beauty! She has
gardened her entire life. Her garden is
loved and visited by so many people. She
says that God has multiplied her seeds and bulbs because she has shared them
with friends and family. Although she
lives alone, she is never lonely, for she has so many garden visitors during
the day.
She wins awards for her flowers, too. Mainly, she is known for her daylilies. One time, she even won an award for winning
the most awards. Another time, she won a
Bass boat and sold it to purchase central heat and air for her home.
She is a strong and prideful woman. I have never known a woman quite like
her. Over her 95 years, she has lost her
husband and one of her five children to cancer.
She has kept her strong spirit through it all. Her beautiful blue twinkling eyes are
beginning to fail her, and her hearing is growing weak. Other than that, she is still much like the
young girl picking cotton, but in an aged body.
After my own father died, she and my mama
became best friends again. During
Grandparents' week, she always comes to Midway with Mama. My daddy never had a chance to come and visit
our wonderful school. My mama gently
leads Mama Cromer's frail body down these long shiny halls. She holds on to her tightly every step of the
way. Having her here at Midway for
Grandparents' Day is all I have ever known.
"I can't imagine," she tells us, "being a part of such a
wonderful, beautiful school as this. Midway is such an opportunity," she
tells my girls. They ask her about when
she was in school. She tells them of how
schools were long ago. We are all amazed
at how things have changed.
That one little girl I dreamed of turned
into two little girls. My prayer for
them both is that they grow up to be like my Mama Cromer.
Amanda Vickery
Amanda's
prayer for Allie and Maggie is what a mother's prayer should be for her daughter, a faithful and giving life.
As for me,
my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death
is near. I have fought the good fight. I
have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. 2 Timothy 4:6-7
Paul encouraged
Timothy personally and challenged him to be faithful and persevere in his
ministry. Dr. Cox spoke of Mama Cromer's race.
Looking at the tiny
frame of Mrs. Cromer, you might not think of her as a warrior or a runner, but
in essence, in Christ that is what she was. She became a disciple of Jesus
earlier in life when she placed her trust in Jesus to be her Lord and
Savior. She was one who put her hand to
the plow and never looked back. Her battle and race was not like that of
Apostle Paul. She did not face martyrdom, but she was
faithful in that sense that all Christians are called to be in how she lived
life in the sphere the Lord gave to her.
Paul places this type of life right in the center of what it means to be faithful to Jesus.
As Amanda
mentioned in her story, Mama Cromer's yard was a sight to behold. In Anderson, most know about her yard,
especially her daylilies. No matter how
fragile, she didn't stop working.
Everyone knew she enjoyed God's creation. Dr. Cox reminded us that not only did she enjoy communing with her Savior as she worked, she also glorified Him with the array of colors that grew up due to her diligence.
Amanda
prays for her daughters to be like Mama Cromer, but that is actually an
appropriate prayer for all of us. I,
too, need to grow up to be like Mama Cromer. She was a person in love with Jesus who did
good and showed kindness. If she gave
you a flower from her garden, she gave the best that she had. Dr. Cox challenged her family, and I felt
challenged as well.
As Paul wrote to
encourage Timothy through his life, you her family know that as she loved you,
raised you, spent those times talking with you, listening to you, praying for
you, cooking for you, she was doing that to model before you how a believer
should live for the Lord. She wanted to be a consistent witness, and she was.
Allie Mae had to make choices to sacrifice so as to minister to others and to
advance the cause of Jesus. Mrs. Cromer would want you her family and us her
friends to see her life in the light of Paul's words to Timothy. She was pouring her life out for Christ not
so as to earn eternal life but because she had received eternal life as a gift.
As she lived out her life by the principles of the faith she kept or to which
she was faithful, she would want us to run the race well.
Mama
Cromer lived a faithful life, even in difficult circumstances. She was certainly a role model for those
seeking to live that life.
You are known as ones
who are part of the family of Allie Mae Cromer-a great woman in the eyes of
God. As people could always look at her and see faithfulness, as they could
pass by her house on that little corner with the beautiful garden and be
reminded that the fragrance of Jesus hangs there as much as the fragrance of
flowers, so let your homes and your lives continually be known likewise.
I can only hope and pray that when my race is finished, I leave a story as this,
Katy
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