September 21, 2010
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The Death of Great Women - Eloise Drake
The anniversary of my mother's death is coming up later this month, and when I heard about Eloise Drake passing away, it got me thinking... this, then, is the first of four posts about great women whose deaths have been meaningful to me and, perhaps, teach us something about life. And about greatness, too.
Eloise grew up on a ranch in New Mexico during the 20s and 30s. Her high aspirations and academic competence led her to attend Abilene Christian College in Texas, but she left after a single semester because the formal and informal social restrictions were too burdensome. Seeking a more relaxed setting for her education, she transferred to a school in California, then known as George Pepperdine College. She met her husband David Drake there, as the war ended, and they were married on Christmas Day in 1947.
Over the next 61 years they lived mostly in Hacienda Heights, where they raised three daughters, then moved to Santa Monica. They also called Albania home on two separate sojourns, during which they taught English and the Bible. They were lifelong members of the Church of Christ, and from that stance, served their communities and an ever-widening circle of friends and acquaintances. Eloise in particular gave herself to sharing with others the love and grace and truth of God, which she called "evangelism" but which bears little resemblance to the social science or salesmanship that often go by that name.
In retirement, Eloise and David's "business card" read simply "David & Eloise Drake, A Married Couple Since 1947." Indeed, their real "business" seems to have been valuing relationships and inspiring others to do the same: marriage relationships, family relationships, friendships, business relationships, etc. but most of all a person's relationship with God.
David died in November of 2009, and Eloise died just weeks ago, on September 9th, 2010. Like the other Great Women who have inspired me, she was what Paul called a "ligament" in the Body of Christ, supporting far more persons than anyone realized until after she was gone. Like the other Great Women she was taken for granted, but not in a bad way-- her presence and influence was so constant and reliable that folks simply depended upon it without thought or worry, in the same way that the solidity of a flight of stairs is assumed by those who depend upon it daily. And the reality of its absence is equally surprising.
Eloise was elderly, 88 years old, and her physical death must not have been a complete surprise... it is the adjustments that must be made, the almost-daily discoveries of how exactly she connected different people, and how relationships must change or be lost now that she is gone, all these are as surprising as the absence of a much-used flight of stairs, no matter how much advance warning one might have had of its impending removal.
I had the same surprising realizations after my own mother's death last year... but I will tell the story of her death later.
Meanwhile, my heart goes out to the many who love Eloise and who mourn her passing. Grace and strength to you.
