On Friday morning, July 12, 2019, at 11:00 a.m., the First Presbyterian Church in Greenville was filled to honor the life of a ninety-six-year-old woman who didn’t know a soul when she came here thirty years ago. Autumn Colby, a pharmacist from Pittsburgh, headed for Erie looking for a place to retire. Downtown Ministries, First Presbyterian Church, and all who knew her will be eternally grateful that someone convinced her that Saint Paul’s in Greenville had everything she was looking for!
Everyone chuckled when her pastor told us he had never had more instructions about how to do a service than he’d had with this one! He had four bullet points to guide his meditation:
-
1. Speak a clear word of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
-
Announce often the amazing grace of God.
-
Lift up Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation
-
Don’t take too long!
And one last instruction that made me laugh and cry: Talk about Autumn over the lunch table; in the sanctuary, talk about Jesus.
Autumn was in the prayer group that was the foundation of Downtown Ministries twenty five years ago and still there when I joined the group about eighteen years later. How thankful I am that God gave her the gift of long life.
As I got to know her, I never ceased to be amazed at Autumn’s refusal to allow her age to keep her from being involved with life. One Tuesday morning when we met for prayer at Fresh Grounds, I noticed she looked a little sleepy and asked her teasingly, “What time did you go to bed last night?”
In a small voice, she responded, “1:00.”
“1:00! What were you doing up at 1:00 in the morning?”
“Making tea cakes for the church.”
I laughed, shook my head and said, “I’m a good bit younger than you, but I don’t even stay up until 1:00 a.m. making tea cakes for the church!”
Autumn admitted she also often stayed up half the night reading because once she got started, she couldn’t stop. Then she added, “But I can’t go into my bedroom during the day.” When I asked her why not, she said, “Because my bed calls my name real loud!”
Her sense of humor was one of the things I loved most about Autumn. One day at prayer meeting, Marty Johnson, Director of Downtown Ministries, was talking about the new defibrillator Fresh Grounds had purchased which can prevent sudden death. Autumn looked at him sternly and said, “ DO NOT use that thing on me!” Amidst the laughter, we all knew Autumn would live out her life of service to the Lord but did not want to remain on earth one moment longer than necessary.
After I received the news of Autumn’s passing, I grieved because I hadn’t gotten to say good bye. Then I remembered that every Tuesday when we were both at prayer meeting, I walked to her car with her (yes, she was still driving), tucked her in on her big cushion, kissed her cheek and told her I loved her. I had told her good bye in the way that probably meant the most to her.
Unlike the ninety-year-old man who said, “If I had known I would live twenty five years after retirement, I would have spent my time doing something besides perfecting my golf swing,” Autumn spent her retirement investing in the Kingdom. Only heaven will show the harvest that resulted from her investment.
Father, thank you for Autumn’s life and for the example she set of how to spend one’s retirement years. Give us grace to follow her example to spend our entire life, including our retirement, investing in your Kingdom. Amen.
