Dearest Detmer Family...

We were so very saddened to learn of Juanita's passing...and I now know that it was literally at God's prompting that I just googled her name upon returning from a Labor Day trip....and my stomach sank when I saw it there in obituary form. I immediately  went to my desk and pulled a stack of letters from her...the first one being dated June 16th 1986...a note of sympathy at the time of my mother's passing...and It began "Dearest Chris, I have only once before felt the void I feel today and that was at my own mother's passing". As you know, Juanita and my mom, Virginia, were lifelong friends....and they claim their mothers and even grandmothers were friends. They shared a wonderful childhood and teenager days in their beloved Vevay and then a brief time as adults before life and a World War unfolded and my mom moved to Florida. But they always remained...through time and distance...the best of friends, writing newsy letters to one another and then enjoying brief reunions when we would visit Vevay in the summers of my own childhood. 

As I read through Juanita's letters, I laughed and I cried and laughed again...and then I finally recognized a theme that was consistent throughout 30 years of correspondence. It was always there, right before me...but in a collective way this time...and in the midst of Farm Bureau news and 4-H going's on...Vevay H.S. Class of 1939 updates and clippings from the Vevay newspaper reporting what happened "50 years ago" or "100 years ago"...there was Juanita's life and, without doubt, the two MOST important aspects of her life was her family and her faith.

Mind you, a lot of people might have those 2 things at the top of their list...and, of course, we all do care about our family and we all claim to have faith, but with Juanita both were an obvious passion that exceeded most mere mortals! The pride that she spoke with of you all represented a love and pride that ran deep...the "agape" kind of love that we see in the bible...and a pride so evident that it seemed to jump off the page of the now faded notes and cards.

Secondly, her faith...her love of Jesus Christ...was a very real, tangible thing and the joy and calm assurance that it brought her was always obvious and an example that always inspired me and my family. And though we are feeling a loss today, I keep having a smile come over me when I think of Juanita finally meeting her Savior face to face...knowing that her tired and worn body is perfect once more...and that she is finally "at home" with her beloved Carrol, her parents....and her dear friend, my mom. I can here them bantering as they did here, with memories of  "Ginny, why don't you quit smoking?"...and my mom saying "Juanita, if you quit growing tobacco, I'll stop smoking it". As far as the heavenly conversation, I can hear mom saying "Juanita, what the heck took you so long to get here?!!!".

I'll end as I began, with the same words Juanita once wrote me, but now addressed to each of you Detmers: "I haven't felt a void this deep since my own mother's passing". But I know that time heals those voids...that is my prayer for your family...that precious memories will prevail...that is my wish fo your family...and that one day, we will all be together again with Christ Jesus...and that is my sure and certain hope for your family.

Until that time, we hold you all close in prayer and send our heartfelt Christian sympathy ....as you remember the one whose love of God and family will forever be an inspiration to all who were blessed to know her.

In Christ's love,

Chris & Kimberly Ross

West Palm Beach, Florida