In loving memory: Lynne Woolwine

The children of Cassidy School in Fayette County lost a great kindergarten teacher this week. I lost a friend and colleague.

Lynne Woolwine, 58, wife of George M. Woolwine, died Wed, April 11, 2007 at Hospice Care Center. Lynne was born in Circleville, OH, the daughter of Rosemary Boggs Hughes and the late McClure Hayden Hughes.

Lynne was a graduate of Virginia Intermont College. She received her BA and then completed post-graduate work in elementary education at the University of Kentucky. She was a member of Kappa Delta Sorority and Second Presbyterian Church.

She served as a kindergarten teacher at Athens and Cassidy Elementary Schools.

My deepest sympathies go out to her husband George and her children Katie McAllister and Grant Woolwine.
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The following homily was delivered by The Rev Stephen Palmer on 15 April 2007.

ORDER OF THE PUBLIC WORSHIP OF GOD
WITNESS TO THE RESURRECTION OF MARY LYNNE HUGHES WOOLWINE

If a single picture is worth a thousand words, a single sentence about the strong, caring, sacrificial, patient, loving life of Mary Lynne Hughes Woolwine, is worth more than a thousand joyous pictures of the generous gifts God gave to Lynnie to share for the common good.

This is the sentence: Like her mother before her, Lynne Woolwine was a wonderfully, loving kindergarten teacher for more than 30 years, the majority of them at Athens and Cassidy Elementary schools in Fayette County.

Think of the photo opportunities!

With the high speed camera in your mind clicking away in rapid action, picture the dozens of holy moments in each school day when the good and kind teacher -- teaches, touches, comforts, encourages, blesses, holds and molds fragile uncertain lives into happy, confident, and adjusted children in her classroom.

Then multiply those moments by a whole school year, including off-duty times when teacher and student, or teacher and parents, or teacher and grandparents, meet unexpectedly at the grocery, a restaurant, a church, or in the neighborhood to chat about "her" children; and then multiply that number of events again by 30 years. It adds up to a wholly, holy, satisfying life of service for individuals and community. What a treasure Lynne Woolwine was, and is, and will be in the lives she has touched deeply and personally.

In the midst of our sadness today, there also is deep, overwhelming joy in celebrating a life of love and hugs, sticky fingers, and moments remembered, cherished, honored, but not recorded anywhere except in the memory of God. We only have glimpses of her goodness, her service, her sacrifice, her generous love. But that is sufficient for the day.

In the 23rd Psalm, God is pictured as a shepherd leading sheep - not as a kindergarten teacher coordinating the activities small excited children all talking at once. Yet both scenes speak volumes about comfort, care, trust, and getting all your needs met in a timely manner. To be sure kindergarten teachers are not God, despite what some children and their parents mutter in moments of intense emotion, but kindergarten teachers are often clear windows through which God’s light and love shines through with warmth and kindness to an unfriendly world.

Kindergarten teachers teach children and the adult world valuable lessons worth practicing, as a mountain of books affirms. Kindergarten teachers are not brainy theologians, considering the character of God; they are in the words of James: "Doers of the word." They love. They just do it!

If God is love, and God is; if Jesus on Maundy Thursday gave us a new commandment to his disciples, and he did; then kindergarten teachers should be honored and appreciated for their efforts to transform the world for God and for good not only through their students, but by all who see their good works. As all of us know, but need to practice daily, Jesus’ new commandment. We are "to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34b-35).

Born on April 14, 1948 in Circleville, Ohio, which is a few miles south of Columbus in Southern Ohio, Lynne would have celebrated her 59th birthday yesterday. She was an only child of parents blessed with thousands of children. Many happy memories came from her hometown life in Circleville, especially her own fond memories of childhood and kindergarten, where her own kindergarten teacher was her own mother, Rosemary Boggs Hughes. And one of Lynne’s kindergarten classmates and long-time friend in Circleville has grown up to be a fine woman and elder in this church, Linda Gorton (who has served our community as a member of the school board.).

The big event in Circleville, then and now, is the 4 day event beginning on the third Wednesday through Saturday of October, known as the Circleville Pumpkin Show, billed as the world’s biggest free show, which features 25-30 amusement rides, 40 floats, 50 bands, 300 food booths, 3,000 pumpkin pies including the world’s largest at 14 feet across -- and 100,000 pumpkin donuts. Naturally, there is a Miss Pumpkin and a Little Miss Pumpkin contest. And last October, the Circleville Pumpkin Show celebrated its 100th Anniversary. Lynne loved the Pumpkin Show, in her own youth and when her own children were young enough to be awed by this huge event of hometown goodness.

As she grew into womanhood she developed the personality of a gentle saint, organized and disciplined but didn’t take her self too seriously, and she clearly, specifically, directly and honestly disciplined others firmly and lovingly when necessary.

She created a sense of cozy-ness for herself and others, especially her family and the friends of her children. Her family celebrated her ability to be a great teacher -- a calm, positive and patient person in adversity or stress, motherly without being overbearing, and who wasn’t overly serious about the small stuff. Her outgoing, easy demeanor was a gift to her children and her children’s friends, who affectionately called her "Mama Woolwine." She was a kid magnet and often shared cookies and hugs from kids who were not her students at school or church.

She was a people person, with a wonderful sense of fun and humor.Even before she and George married, he learned to take her spunky or feisty side seriously. Wisely she had taken a woman’s self-defense class early in life. So when they were dating and she was showing him some of the moves: George wasn’t giving her the proper respect she wanted for her accomplishments, and then somewhere out of the blue, she flipped him over and he was lying flat on his back and looking up at her. Don’t think he made that mistake again. Sometimes Lynne relaxed by doing needlepoint and knitting, going though periods of making sweaters, ties, belts. And for more than 20 years the multi-generational family vacation spot was Destin, Florida where the main event was the crystal clear water on the Emerald Coast and the sugar white sands. This was the place for recreation and re-creation of the Spirit.

Her two not-so-secret weapons in dealing with kids, her family and the friends of her children was that she gave them what they wanted and needed most: love and boundaries. Everyone soon learned that while she loved generously, she drew some lines in the sand at potty humor, clutter, unnecessary messiness and what she specifically labeled "inappropriate behavior." Her mantra was "you can't define it ahead of time, but you know it when you see it." Like Paul in First Corinthians 13, she knew the value of love - not a sentimental, undisciplined love that says anything goes - but a structured love with backbone that is kind, patient, and rejoices in truth.

She lived a life of love to a very high degree. She wasn’t perfect, but then none of us are. Her children suggested a strong image for her in recent years (when they were becoming young adults) would be that of a mother hen, sitting on the nest, helping the eggs to hatch but not getting up fast enough to let them fly away when they thought they were ready to move. That is often the perspective of young adults.They may be right, at least, exactly right at this moment in their lives. Someday, maybe they will learn that the love we all cherish most comes from those loved ones who hold us too close and who get in our way because they love us so much. Kind of like the way God does sometimes -- holds us too close when we think we are ready to move on, or do everything on our own timetable.

All of us have two basic needs in life: to love and be loved. Thanks be to God that Lynne’s life helped us to see and feel that clearly and deeply. That she died quietly and peacefully in the presence of her husband George and her son Grant with a smile on her face after 3 years of pain and suffering with cancer was a wonderful miracle. That we can remember and rejoice with her, with broad smiles on our faces and in our hearts, is another miracle of grace -- that her suffering has ended, while our joy and gratitude for her life of showing us how to love -- will continue forever.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Service conducted at 2:00 p.m. April 15, 2007
Second Presbyterian Church
Lexington, KentuckyBurial in Lexington CemeteryService conducted by:The Rev. Stephen Palmer - The Rev. Darla Blatnik
Pastors at Second Presbyterian Church