Evelyn Dove Coleman: The Least To Do
When my former Sunday School teacher was in a Rehabilitative Assisted Living Center, I visited her to sit and chat for a little while. As we drove to Greenville, my sister and I pondered whether Mrs. Nannie Best-Hargett would recognize us as adults. Her extended family has always been like kin to us. And "Miss Nannie," as we called her, had been in the Lenoir Community College adult education class our mother had taught. This is what she said as soon as Dee and I entered her room: "Jettie's Girls."
We never asked whether she remembered our names. But she surely knew who we were and whose we were. It seemed to mean a lot to her that we had come to see her. Even at her advanced age and diminished health, she was still teaching. She encouraged us to be steadfast in our faith and to remember the verses we had learned in Sunday School years before. She also gave us a word of appreciation for pausing our schedules to visit her. I told her, "We grew up watching our parents visit the sick and shut-ins." They would say that when someone is hospitalized or confined at home due to their health, the least they could do was drop by and spread a little cheer.
I do not recall either my mother or my father advising us to go see about anyone in our community. I just observed what they did and listened as they planned on where to stop by and what to take. It can be a lonely time when someone becomes less mobile or impaired by health. The least we can do is spread a little cheer.
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