They say older people die in the winter.
I don't know if this is true, but this is the third death in a very short time at this winter's end. Maybe I just know a lot of people.
Marge Lamb and her husband Luke Lamb were among the kindest and brightest of my parishioners at St. Paul's University Catholic Center in Madison, Wisconsin when I worked there at the end of the 1970s as the first woman Chaplain on staff. Their daughters were a little younger than I and we were also friends, but Marge and Luke were my local parents in many ways, and we stayed in touch throughout the years. I visited them more than once after moving away. I have been a poor correspondent in the last few years and I feel badly about this. Marge's obituary is here, with her smiling face, which was even more mobile and lively in person. She was one of the warmest and most welcoming people I have been privileged to know and a person of deep faith. Her husband Luke is also a deeply committed Catholic Christian. He stood by her side with love during her treatment for breast cancer several decades ago. She was given five years to survive and she lived about three decades longer cancer free, playing tennis and working and volunteering and spreading friendship and joy. In the end she became ill again, from what I can tell in the obituary and the brief letter I received from a mutual acquaintance announcing her death, but she lived a healthy life which I know felt like a gift. Besides Luke, three daughters survive Marge, with their spouses and children and a host of friends and admirers.
May Marjorie rest in peace and rise in glory. Pray for Luke, her partner, who has lost the love of his life.
Angels - speed her to paradise and console him for his loss.
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