Mike Parker: The Walking Lady’ touched many lives
Like most of us, I had seen a short, thin lady walking along the backroads of county. Often, when I was driving in the direction she was walking, I would stop and offer her a ride. If rain was falling heavily or a bitter and cold wind was blowing, she sometimes accepted my offer. More often than not, she would politely decline.
“Walking is my exercise,” she would say. “I like to walk and see the sights along the way.”
I saw her the morning on the day after Thanksgiving. She had stopped into Smith’s Café for a bite to eat. I waved at her as I left the café to get on with my day. I did not realize I was seeing her for the last time. She was hit by a vehicle later that day.
At the time, I did not even know her name. I learned she was Maxine Herring Smith. She was born on July 4, 1948, and she lived in the Kinston Towers. She was a faithful member of the LaGrange Church of God.
Sandra and I were among the many attended a celebration of her life at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 8. The service was bittersweet – rejoicing in her life tinged with a deep and loving sorrow for her loss. One fellow church member turned to the family as she shared her memories.
“Two words describe Maxine: she loved to walk, and she loved to talk. ‘I love to walk. I’m walking for my exercise. I love to see the sights of the town,’ Maxine told this lady, echoing the same sentiments Maxine had expressed to me. “When she talked, she most of the time talked about her family. She always called out your names in prayer.”
A second church member stood and took the microphone:
“I’m going to try to get through this,” he said, choking back tears. “I am asking you not to judge my words until you hear my heart tonight. I had the honor of sitting behind Maxine for the last 10-plus years. I never remember a regular service when she was not taking notes about the sermon. I believe she was writing verbatim what the pastor was sharing.
“So there was a rustling sound of papers and unwrapping of candy. Always a rustling sound was coming from the pew ahead of me. I told her one time, ‘Maxine, you’re killing me. You make it hard for me to pay attention.’ She knew exactly where I was coming from, and we both laughed.” He paused to collect himself again.
“Be mindful of what you may think that gets on your nerves because it may be the thing you miss the most.”
When her pastor, Rev. Arnold Ball, came to the pulpit, he thanked those who had come out on that cold, rainy night. He said our presence there was a testimony to the love people had for Maxine. He pointed to the spot adorned by a vase with roses and told the congregation that those roses marked the spot where Maxine always sat.
“One difficulty for a pastor is to get up to speak and see an empty spot where a faithful member once sat.”
Pastor Ball told how he and his wife Judy picked up Maxine and her friend Virginia Moody to bring them to church. The pastor had to pick them up early so he could ready things for the morning service. A few years later, when Virginia got her own vehicle, Maxine and Virginia still came early in the morning. They would stop at Bojangles and eat a good breakfast, and then come to the church early.
“A lot of times I would come in to find them sleeping and snoring in the pews.” [Laughter] “But may I say in their defense, at least they fell asleep before I got up to preach.” [More laughter] “Others tended to do it while I was preaching.”
What was so amazing about Maxine was she an unassuming person, the pastor said. “She never sought to impress anybody. She was never arrogant. But there was something about her that caused people to sit up and take notice about Maxine Smith – her walk.”
Pastor Ball said after her death, Facebook was inundated with posts about her. Within just a few days more than 400 posts appeared about Maxine. Her death was the talk of Lenoir County for days and weeks after she passed away.
“Her death has impacted not just hundreds but, I believe, thousands of people who heard about Maxine, or knew something about Maxine, or knew Maxine. So what was it that so impressed people about Maxine?”
Simply stated, what impressed people was her walk, the pastor said. He talked briefly about the physical part of her walking – the round trip of 18 miles she made to visit her sister who lived south of Woodington and the nearly 20 miles round trip to LaGrange and back to her home in the Kinston Towers.
Even more impressive than her physical walk was her spiritual walk, Rev. Ball said.
“She had a walk that many did not understand, but they saw the walk. She walked in the newness of life because she knew Jesus Christ as her Savior. She walked in love, she walked in kindness, she walked in faithfulness, she walked in patience and endurance, and she walked in faith in a God who never failed her.
“We need to follow in her footsteps and walk the walk she walked with the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Amen.
Mike Parker is a columnist for The Neuse News. You can reach him at mparker16@gmail.com .
