By Ada
Brownell
“I want Jesus to come
into my heart,” my 5-year-old daughter announced after she’d said her nightly
prayers.
Now that Carolyn is in
heaven, I love the memories of precious times like that. She was a special
child, but all of our five children are special in their own unique ways.
Carolyn had perfect pitch, which we didn’t recognize until she was nine years
old. When she was 3 years old she picked
out “Jesus Loves Me” on a little toy piano similar to Schroeder’s in the
Peanuts cartoon.
By the time she was
seven or eight, Carolyn was playing difficult Bach and Beethoven music. She
wasn’t much older when she began accompanying her older brother when he played
trumpet solos. Then in her teens, she became pianist for a gospel group in
which I sang. She exactly copied professionals who accompanied groups that sang
the music we used. She’d sit down on the floor, listen to a recording, take a
few notes, and was ready.
She played the piano
for our church choir while she was in high school. One of her big
accomplishments and great moments was Denver churches’ If My People event in honor of our nation’s 200th birthday in 1976.
A mass choir from many denominations sang, and she was accompanist. The event
was held in Red Rocks Amphitheater near Denver that seats 10,000 people--and it
was packed.
Carolyn, still a teenager, had
another couple of exciting events at Red Rocks. She was a fan of the gospel
pianist Dino Kartsonakis, and he was on stage where she prepared for choir practice
at the biannual General Council of the Assemblies of God.
It was hot in the amphitheater
and we’d brought an ice chest of snacks and she had a large cup of ice.
“Where did you get your ice?” he
asked.
“My family brought it. I’ll get
you some.”
At the same event, the piano
hadn’t been delivered to the Red Rocks stage. Composer/arranger Ralph
Carmichael asked if anyone in the choir had perfect pitch so they could practice
without accompaniment. Carolyn didn’t volunteer. She didn’t like to flaunt her
talent, but her friends told.
So she hummed on the
needed note. The people near her picked it up and hummed, and soon everyone in
the choir had the pitch, just as if someone had brought a pitch pipe. They
practiced with no problem and I’m sure Carmichael—and Carolyn—were happy the
piano arrived in time for the service.
A few weeks later
Carmichael sent her a big packet of autographed music in the mail and a note
thanking her for giving the pitches.
I was all excited and
when we walked into the house after the celebration. I told everybody, “Carolyn
shared her ice with Dino and gave the pitches to Ralph Carmichael!”
Carolyn said, “It
wasn’t like that.”
“No?” I asked,
confused.
“Well, it’s just that
you’re so dramatic!”
She could tell you what note a
vacuum sweeper hummed on, the washer motor’s pitch, and fill bottles with
varying amounts of water and play a tune on them.
Her great sense of
humor often set me back. Since she was the oldest daughter, I often asked her
opinion.
“What do you think of
this?” I handed her an article I planned to submit to a Christian magazine that
I’d pounded out that day on my typewriter. It was in rough form. I wasn’t much
of a typist.
Carolyn proceeded to
read all my typos aloud, creating words no one heard before or since, and then
she laughed so hard she rolled on the floor with the mirth. I had to smile. So
much for her opinion on my piece.
It probably was about
that time that Carolyn started the trend to pronounce words backward. I
couldn’t do it, but the other children picked it up and did it, too. I guess
since I spoke Pig Latin, they did me one better.
Another time I asked
her opinion when I spoke at a women’s special event she attended.
“Did I do okay?” I
asked.
“You know, Mom,” she
said, grinning and touching her neck. “When you talk, you have this little
double chin right here that wiggles every time you open your mouth.”
I really miss those
humorous jabs now. Although she never told me, I heard later from people she
worked with in a publishing house how proud she was of my writing. Even her
friends, some that I’ve met recently, said she bragged on me.
As any parent is of
their children, I was proud of her.
Our family revolved
around Carolyn because of her caring spirit and her humor. She babysat the
younger children often while I was transporting a child to an allergy shot or
other appointment. I had surgery not long after Jeanette was born, and she was
as comfortable with Carolyn as she was with me. They had a close bond.
We missed Carolyn being
so far away when she attended college in California and married a classmate
whose home was in San Jose.
Seven years later she
was diagnosed with Burkitt’s Lymphoma, an aggressive form of cancer. In only
two months she was gone.
The previous day she
prayed with us and sang from her bed and went to heaven peacefully. She had
listened to gospel music in her hours at home alone when she was dismissed for
a short time from the hospital between treatments. “It is Well With My Soul,”
by Sandi Patti was among her favorites that filled the house and her heart.
That was in 1990.
Her spiritual journey
with the Lord began on her knees at age 5, when she asked Jesus into her heart
as I knelt next to her beside her bed. Afterward, she jumped under the covers
and I kissed her goodnight.
“Oh,” she said,
throwing the blankets aside and kneeling again. “I want to tell Him one more
thing.”
Amazing that even a
child can have intimacy with God, and continue the relationship throughout life
and for eternity. I’m looking forward to a grand reunion!
Copyright Ada Brownell 2016
Note: I share some of Carolyn's story in my book Swallowed by Life
Shorter swallowed summary
Peter wrote, "For we did not follow cunningly
devised fables...but were eyewitnesses of his majesty." (2 Peter 1:16).
Jesus is alive!
SWALLOWED BY LIFE: Mysteries
of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal
By
Ada Brownell
Do you
believe you could live with someone else’s heart or kidneys, but not without
your body? Evidence shows we’re more than flesh. The author, a prolific
religion writer and retired medical journalist, talks about the evidence; the
wonder of life with all its electrical systems; the awesome truth about cell
death and regeneration; mysteries surrounding the change from mortal to
immortal; where we go when our body dies; resurrection; and a glimpse at what
we will do in heaven. Questions and answers make this non-fiction inspirational
book a great text for group study. It’s written for support groups, religion
classes, people with chronic or terminal illness, individuals who fear death or
are curious about it, the grieving, and those who give them counsel.
Review: “It was wonderful how the
author merged the medical with the spiritual.”
