We Lost A Great Lady This Week

We Lost A Great Lady This Week
by Bart Gragg on Friday, April 1, 2011 at 7:33pmA great lady died this week. When people die (I make no excuses for not saying 'passed'), when people that we were close to die, many thoughts and emotions pass through our brains and bodies. Even as we are in stunned and in shock, thoughts stream through our brains like vignettes in a black and white movie. I am still in shock days after looking down to see a text from another great friend, who wasn't sure I had heard. I have a feeling I will be in more shock when I step into the church for the memorial...for there is when the reality will finally come to rest with the finality of a boulder from a landslide stopping in a dry creek bed.

Let me say something here about another choice of words - "great lady."

She wasn't great as in famous. Well, maybe a little amongst the Toastmasters of the Bay Area, but even then it she was not a seeker of the limelight.

She wasn't great as in being all things to all people.
She wasn't great as in holding a torch for any one specific cause.

She was a great lady.

It wasn't poise and elegance that made her great. The Lord knows she wasn't one for 'putting on airs'.

It wasn't that she was a great speaker. Anyone that ever heard her speak knew she had a natural gift that wasn't hampered by the polish professionals like to think makes them great.

JoAnn Juhala was a great lady, and shall remain so in my mind as long as I have one.
You ask "What made her so great?"

Humor.
Smiles.
Hugs.
Telling the truth in a way that didn't hurt.

Getting us in trouble whispering jokes to me at business meetings.

Great Mom. Not just a mother, but a Mom, a friend to her children, all grown with children of their own. Funny thing, I was never around when when JoAnn had the grand-kids over. Could have been timing. If I had made that observation to her she would have smiled, put her hands on her hips and either whispered conspiratorially or loud enough for everyone to hear "It's because I don't want you to be teaching them things...!"

JoAnn adopted people (like me) as many folks adopt stray cats. Stray cats don't have to live in your house, but you take care of them when they come around. It's just what you do.

Seriously. I never knew JoAnn to not care about anyone. Never a bad word. Doesn't mean we didn't share a few giggles about a low neck line on someone or a hair do that would make a wood-duck or peacock proud. She just wasn't mean about it the way a lot of people are. Yet, it wasn't that she wasn't mean about it, she actually cared about how people might place themselves in a position that wouldn't benefit them.

All of us go through rough patches. How we carry ourselves through them is a great part of what makes up our character.

JoAnn had rough patches. Some I knew of, some I heard of. She fought a battle with breast cancer. Maybe more than one. She fought a nutrient imbalance in her blood. What took her life was non-alcohol related cirrhosis of the liver. Maybe from chemo.

What took her soul was God. You see, throughout it all, JoAnn believed in God. It was the one thing that kept her going, for no mortal could go through the things she dealt with and smile all the way. It wasn't a particularly hard life to her personally... No. What could have made it rough when JoAnn cared for the Lord first, her husband Harold next, her children and blood relatives, and then almost anyone else she ever met? But that first part, that caring for the Lord first, that's what got her through. That's what gave her poise and dignity and the ability to push on. And deal with stray cats like me.

We lost a great lady this week. And God gained not only a great lady, but a great right-hand.

I miss you JoAnn.

Bart