Remembering Richard

My brother-in-law, Richard Wilson, suffered a massive stroke last Tuesday evening and passed from this life into glory at 2:40 a.m. on Saturday, the 16th of January. He had just celebrated his 68th birthday on Christmas Day. He is Graham's younger brother by three years, with Pat somewhere in the middle and Judy being the baby. All four kids were only six years in the making; consequently they have had a close relationship all their lives.

Dickey, as only his closest family members called him, was particularly keen on family. He had a love for his siblings and their spouses and children, just as he loved his own children and grandchildren. He didn't have "in-laws," just extended family members. After their father died in 1972, we began a Christmas tradition of getting all the siblings and their respective families together before Christmas for dinner and an enactment of the Christmas story by the children or sometimes read by one of the adults. After about twenty years of that, the extensions of family grew too large and complex to continue, but we always had a Christmas/birthday visit where Graham and Dickey exchanged birthday gifts. It was just something that had to happen.

I rummaged through boxes of photos tonight, looking for a recent picture of Dickey to post. This one was taken in 2002 at Graham's graduation from Dallas Seminary. It should have been no surprise for us to look around the cavernous auditorium at Prestonwood Church and find Dickey, Sue and Rich smiling broadly in support of their brother. And right in the midst of the festive group is middle brother Pat, lending his encouragement to the "old man's" accomplishment.

We are left today with more memories than can ever be recounted. But we'll surely try to capture them all over and over again. That was almost a tradition at our Christmas gatherings. All the kids and grandkids gathered around to hear the exploits of three lively Wilson boys of long ago, with the occasional inclusion of baby sister Judy. The stories were told every year so that the successive generations will remember and savor the legacy and share them with their children. And on and on it will go.

I would be remiss if I didn't recall that Dickey was the first of the Wilson siblings to trust Christ. He and Sue prayed for the rest of us until we were all finally brought into the family of God. We have the assurance that some time in the future we will all be gathered together again, maybe for a pre-Christmas dinner and reading of the Christmas story as in days of old. How comforting to know that these children, so close in age and held together by love, will enjoy each other's presence throughout eternity.

As Dickey was prone to say, "Until then, our brother, until then."