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Sunday, August 09, 2009

In Memoriam

Gloria Byrd Ristow
(May 15, 1938-August 1, 2009)
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
—I Corinthians 15:26
My grandmother faced many enemies in her life, and overcame each one. The most notable was the battle she fought so long against her own body, against Schleroderma, an enemy that took from her some of her fingers; that took from her the healthy breath of her lungs; that ultimately took from her her life. Yet she fought with all the weapons she had. The physical ones we humorously referred to as “puff, pump, and circumstance.”