Courage and Faith Personified

by rosemary on 01/20/09 at 10:13 pm

My mentor, Lois Handsaker was a charismatic elder Friend [Quaker] in my Monthly Meeting. I met Lois when I was 11 years old. I was 24, and with her, when she had her first stroke. A mentor is not always a comfortable or a perfect person. Lois was a difficult person to know, but I could not ignore her.

I was in awe of her, she terrified me with the power of her faith; she poked and prodded into my psyche. She insisted that I, a painfully shy human being, must live boldly, peacefully, simply; such irony. I often asked myself, “Why did she choose me to pay attention to”? She made me cry and work in concepts beyond my capacity. She is the voice in my head, pushing the “reluctant me” to act on my conscience; She said, “love is courage, it lights the way”.

Lois, always a spinster, lived 1904-1981. By late middle age, Lois had cataracts that limited her vision. Even with immensely thick lens eyeglasses she was legally blind. She learned Braille so that she could continue to read independently. She was crippled by arthritis and hard of hearing, but flew to France, alone, for a vacation tour during the General Strike of 1968. She was brittle of nature, but courage and faith personified.

Consider my favorite Lois story: She enjoyed holding formal afternoon teas in her home. One day, during one of these teas, a large man, bearing a shotgun, broke through the front door of her home, and demanded the ladies’ money and Lois’ valuables. Lois responded, “Young man, put down your gun, you’re disturbing our tea”. “Do what you must and quickly; we will hold you in the light [Quaker-ese for gather in worship and pray] until you leave”.

Yes, he left.