I remember the first time I met Dot Ford. A large group of Julie's friends went to spend the evening at her house when we were teenagers and were being introduced to her parents. Dot looked at me and asked if I was Fran Bibeau's son. She said the colour drained from my face as I realized I would now have to be on my best behaviour as any transgressions could be easily reported to my parents. We laughed about it a few months ago, forty years after it happened. I also recall my embarrassment after being caught emerging from her chest freezer with a pail of cookies, again to her amusement. She was a kind and gentle soul who thought of others, and made delicious cookies as it turns out!
I offer my heartfelt condolences to Dot's family and I would like to share a partial excerpt with them from a letter written by Abraham Lincoln. It expresses, more clearly than I ever could, the feelings associated with the loss of a loved one.
"I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming.
I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost..."
Abraham Lincoln
