A Generous Heart

Thornton Wilder stated, “All that we can know about those we have loved and lost is that they would wish us to remember them with a more intensified realization of their reality…The highest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude.” I love this quote and feel that this blog for Kristy accomplishes this "highest tribute". Here friends and family have shared fond memories of Kristy, and have highlighted her talents, characteristics, and generous heart. If you didn't know Kristy well, you get a good idea of who she was by reading the words posted here.

I didn't know Kristy very well, but had many occasions to be around her. That's all you needed to see her bubbly, happy personality. She was a patient of my husbands, and he knew her very well. He never was shocked by her willingness to verbalize what we all wanted to verbalize, but were afraid to. I think he understood her in these moments and I think they endeared her to him. I just wanted to share an experience he had with her that is a true example of the generous heart she had.

Every year my husband sponsors a Sub For Santa drive through his business. He works 2 days for free and allows his patients to bring in gifts, food, or money for the children's Christmas. Last year he sponsored 7 children. Kristy brought in a pair of shoes for each child. She said that if she was a struggling mother, she would want her children to have nice, warm shoes to wear, and she felt that this was the greatest way for her to help. I remember seeing all 7 pairs of shoes under his Christmas tree, and feeling so grateful to her and her generosity. It may seem like a simple thing, but I'm sure it meant so much to those children, and also to the mother of those children.

Kristy will truly be missed by her friends and family. I want to share a passage from 2 Timothy 4:6-8. "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." This scripture brought me so much comfort when I lost my best friend 4 years ago. I know that Kristy fought a good fight, and she definitely kept the faith. She will receive her crown of righteousness, and how beautiful she will be indeed.