This thought-provoking question is meant to challenge believers in the Quaker church as they examine values they hold in high esteem. In other words, do people see Christ in you as you live your normal, daily life?

Roger and I chose to return to our faith in our mid-thirties. Our children were three and five. We didn’t own church clothes as we were practicing hippies. We happened on one of the most conservative churches in the world, the Mennonites. It made sense at the time though, because we were pacifists in the era of the Viet Nam war and the Quakers and the Mennonites were the only peace churches we knew.

It was in this tiny Mennonite church that we met one of the most important women in our lives, Pauline King. Pauline was a little bitty thing, just about five feet tall, including her Mennonite hair do. She taught an adult Sunday School class and she literally shone with love and exuberance.

Pauline wasn’t a trained teacher, she was a homemaker. She baked bread, quilted, sewed clothing for her husband and four daughters and loved to invite company in for dinner. She was the oldest of fourteen children and had learned at an early age to work hard and keep a home. She never aspired to a career other than caring for her family.

She was also a thoughtful, kind person. Although she didn’t actually believe she had to refrain from jewelry, she didn’t wear any, not even a wristwatch, as long as her parents were living out of respect for their beliefs. Honoring them was important to her.

Though she was a simple homemaker, she was also a born leader. Over time she would come to be an area director for Women’s Aglow and held a Bible study in her home for many years, attracting women from many different walks of life. People wanted to spend time with her. There was just something about her that drew people and encouraged them.

Pauline took our little family under her wing. She prayed for our marriage, loved on our children, encouraged us in our faith and our new lifestyle and welcomed us in every way. When she realized we struggled having fun as a family she bought us a Rummikub game and instructed us to get busy and play it.

When our family packed up and travelled all across the U.S. to attend seminary in Virginia, Pauline made little care packages for our kids to open each morning of the trip. She had a ready smile and an encouraging word for everyone. It was just plain fun to be with her.

Once when I was teaching fourth grade in Portland, years after we met Pauline, I invited her and her father to come speak to my class. We were studying pioneers and Pauline’s growing-up years were close enough to stark pioneer life to wow those city kids. As the oldest of fourteen, she had great stories to tell of life in West Salem in the “olden days” when people still churned butter, made their own lye soap for washing clothes and cooked real food from their own gardens. Her father brought along his bee-keeping gear and my students sat in awe of these real-life pioneers.

Pauline passed away two weeks ago at age 88. We had visited her just a few months ago in the assisted living home she and her husband had chosen. She struggled with the effects of Parkinson’s and had trouble expressing her ideas. At one point she said, “The people here will never know me.” We assured her that we knew her and would not forget all she’d meant to us.
We attended her memorial service last Sunday in a Mennonite church where a third of the congregation were family members. She’d attended that little church as a child and now all her loved ones remembered her with great love and admiration.

Pauline was one who absolutely let her inward faith turn outward to all she met. We’re sad that she’s gone, but we won’t forget her. True to form, she had pre-planned her memorial service with requests for her children and grandchildren to read verses of scripture and sing certain hymns she especially loved. It was a fitting tribute to a wonderful woman of God.

Well done, Pauline.