Two Milestones For Our Family

My Uncle Bob died yesterday.

His name was Jerry Robert Stidham. He and I shared the name Jerry from his father and my grandfather, Jerry E. Stidham. His wife, Irene, and a number of their friends and most of his customers called him Jerry, but to our family he was just Bob. If I am not mistaken, Bob was two years younger than my mother, which would mean he was about 76 years old when he died. He went home to be with the Lord while no one was home at their house in Valley View. His body was found slumped over the bathtub by his son, Greg. His loss will be deeply felt by Irene, their two sons, Bobby and Greg, two daughters, Debbie and Mary Ann, and all of their spouses and children. He will also be missed by his church family, which meant so much to him.

Bob was a quiet, humble man. Readers from Westmoreland Baptist would understand what I mean when I say he reminded me a lot of our brother Lowell Thompson. Very similar in many ways. He was kind, quiet, and faithful. Bob served in the U.S. Air Force in the early to mid 50's. He was stationed in Alaska in my earliest memories, and he was transferred to the west coast in California where his oldest son, Bobby Keith, was born. He returned home to Logan County after his discharge and remained there the rest of his life. In fact, I would be surprised if he ever left West Virginia more than three or four times since returning from the service. Logan was his home. His life revolved around his home, family, work and church.

Bob served for a number of years as a Company Store Manager for Island Creek Coal Company. Eventually he went to work for Steele Furniture Company in Logan, and worked in the furniture business for over 30 years. Even though "semi retired" he still worked about three days a week at McCormicks, the largest department store in Logan. His many years in the retail business brought him acquaintance with large numbers of people, and his name which he shared with his father, made many who didn't know him personally, feel as though they did.

His funeral will be held (probably Monday or Tuesday) at the Whitman #20 Community Church where he served as Treasurer for over 35 years. Dates and times will not be set until the family knows when his sister, Dori, will be able to make it in from Houston.

Bob was my mother's only living brother and she loved him dearly. One brother had died back in the 30's at the age of only three months. When Dad broke the news to Mom yesterday she was shocked. She threw her hands over her face and said, "Oh no!" But mercifully within a few minutes she had already forgotten that it had happened. If there is one good thing about Alzheimers Disease, that is probably it. Mom was with me in the hospital room three years ago when they told me that I had "incurable" cancer. I thank God every day that she doesn't remember that, and has no clue about what I have been through these past three years. It hurts that she has lost so many good memories of people and events, but I thank God that she can't remember the sad stuff either. It is a blessing in disguise.

This weekend also marks the third anniversary of when my cancer was found. Surgery took place on Monday morning to remove three and a half feet of my intestines. They also took out my appendix and 14 lymph nodes and did a biopsy on some "suspicious" spots on my liver. Three day's later I got the sobering diagnosis - "Cancer - 4th stage - incurable - hopefully manageable with chemotherapy".

Many of you know the story and I will not bore you with recounting it here today. But I do want to acknowledge my thanksgiving to God for giving me three years of full, wonderful life, when only 18-22 months of slowly dying were what was expected. I don't know why a Sovereign God has chosen to spare my life this far, but I have promised Him I will use whatever time is left to do all I can to make Him known to others and to Glorify Him for who He is. I am thankful for the wonderful treatment I have received and am receiving from Dr. Kirti Jain, but I do know that The Great Physician in the one who is control.

On December 17th I'll have my regular 3 month CT Scan on my abdomen and pelvic area, and my semi annual full body PET Scan. Then we'll get the results from Dr. Jain four days before I leave for my 7th short term mission trip to the Philippines. Am I worried about what may show up?

Not in the least.

Naturally I hope the scans are clear, but whether they are or not, God is still God, and He is in control. That is comforting to know, and it is the only way to face the future!

Have a good weekend. Be blessed and be a blessing to someone else ...