There were a few things Mamaw would not have liked about her funeral service yesterday. I was carrying a brown leather backpack purse and wearing a dressy pair of black beaded slides. That would have certainly offended her impeccable fashion sensibilities. Any good Southern woman knows that your shoes have to match your purse. I wasn't wearing hose either. Strike number two.
So maybe I'm exaggerating. That's all I can think of that might have bugged Mamaw at her funeral. She was an incredible woman.
I have met few women who can do so many things as well as Kathryn Shireman Bell did.
Every meal she cooked was good. She was a gifted organist. Her house was always in perfect order. Any outfit that Mamaw wore was perfectly put together. She wore makeup everyday whether she was mowing her huge yard, going to the beauty shop, or wringing a chicken's neck so she could start supper. Her nails were always painted and there was never a single piece of dirty laundry at her house—and I promise I'm not exaggerating about that.
She tirelessly did what was right whether she wanted to or not. She always did everything with excellence, diligence, and dignity. I sincerely don't know how she did everything she did, but she always gave her very best. Proverbs 31 was written about my Mamaw:
So with the dignity and iron will of my Mamaw, I stood at the funeral with my sister to sing "It is Well With My Soul." Kathryn Bell taught me to do things right, whether I wanted to or not, so I did. Instead of sobbing for our loss, we sang for my gain—the gain of having been influenced by a woman who always gave her very best.