I am diminished

My friend of 52 years,

Alison,

died today.

Feminist Friday: Alison Whitton Reeder, 7 August 1926-29 June 2018. Oh how I loved my Australian Granny Bird. She was little, but she had spunk and could hold her own with the rambunctious Reeder boys. She had a heart of gold. The last time she was able to talk to me, she told me how excited she was to cross the veil, to meet her sister and brother who died before she could know them. I'm so grateful that I could give her a hug and kiss yesterday and tell her how proud I am of her and how much I love her, and that I hope she'll continue to look out for me.—Jenny Reeder*

No one told me she was on her death bed. My first clue was when someone wrote about her cabin and said she was soon going on another journey. I made up my mind to come right home from the gym and call her. With Brooke & Family here, by the time I had time to call I saw that she had passed away four hours earlier.

She has been constantly on my mind ever since. At Christmastime I ran into her and Suzanne in the restroom at Centerpoint Theater. We never did get out for my birthday lunch. We are both too reticent. So her passing is a great shock to me.

I remember when she and Grant went on their mission to Bolivia I couldn’t stand the thoughts of her leaving. In Russia, if she got out of my sight I felt lost. She’s sort of my guardian angel and guiding light. And now I’ll miss the funeral since we will be gone all next week to a family reunion on Cedar Mountain.

She was my next-door neighbor in Bountiful. We got off to a rocky start when her son shot my sister's dog. Carol and Charles were helping us move in. The dog recovered and they paid all expenses but they ignored us. Alison had six boys (plus a baby girl) and we had one—her two youngest sons around the age of Brent. Girding up my courage one night, I went over to make amends because not only did Brent need a friend, I needed one too. What a great and loyal friend she turned out to be. Many years later, we discovered that our great grandpas were from the same area in Scotland. We both visited their birthplaces at different times.

Alison’s mother was from India and her dad was from England. Alison was raised in Australia. Her family joined the church in India when the missionaries told them that their baby,who had died and could not be buried on concentrated soil because she was not baptized, was not damned but was saved in her innocence and dwelt with God in heaven. That’s the sister Alison was eager to meet.

*Jenny has been fighting cancer of one form or another

for nearly 20 years now,

having had bone marrow transplant

and everything else to save her life.

Meanwhile, she earned her doctorate

and works for the Church.