Some recent events including the death of a friend from brain cancer and the rapid physical and mental decline of an elderly friend have caused me to reflect upon the person that I want to be. More specifically the elderly person I want to become. My role model for this older person would be Sarah Gillespie Manley, who recently died of a heart attack at the age of 80. Sarah Manley died while on a mission trip to New Delhi, India. She died in service to others and that’s what I would like, a swift death, while working on behalf of others. What a fabulous legacy Mrs. Manley leaves behind not only for her family but also for all of us who had the pleasure of knowing her and admiring her from afar.

I met Sarah Manley through my work as a volunteer guardian ad litem. I begged her to sit on our Greenville County Friends of the GAL board but she was too busy with too many other activities and charities. Mrs. Manley had a rather full calendar serving as a volunteer GAL for many years as well as being an active member of the First Baptist Church, delivering Meals on Wheels, and visiting the sick. During her professional career, Mrs. Manley taught chemistry and physics at Greenville and Wade Hampton High Schools, was a member of the Greenville County School board, assisted her husband in his medical practice and also served in the SC House of Representatives for four years. Sarah Manley also managed to nurture a marriage for sixty years and raise five children.

When I think of the older woman that I want to be I want to emulate Sarah Manley and my dear friends Ethel Piper. Women who remain humble and generously give of their time and their money. I want to be a person who talks the talk then walks the walk. I want to live until I die. I want to be the kind of person others want to be around, funny and kind a good friend and a nurturing parent.

My dad is eighty years old and my mom is just a few years younger and they are as busy with volunteer work and socializing as they’ve ever been in their lives. The serve as ushers in church, volunteer at a charity thrift store and are hospice volunteers. My mother keeps track of all the neighbors and bakes home made treats for them while my dad volunteers to fix what’s broken. They are pleasant and funny, generous and kind. They are the kind of old person I hope to be in the future.

I pray for the willingness of spirit to become the person I want to be, to be curious and kind, generous and fun. Help me to think of others before myself more often than not and to listen more than I talk…I know that’s a toughie for me! Let me try every day to do something nice for others because I know that everything I do that’s good comes back to me eventually.