Her name is Adella Cooper. She is a friend and a member of this church for 42 years. When she came here I was young and just starting this church. Yesterday we held her funeral. It was wonderful. What a celebration. Everybody loved her. Adella Cooper showed us how to live life at its best. She had a purpose to live for, a self to live with, and the faith to live by. That\'s what made her so special ... she had enthusiasm. She was so enthusiastic when she attended a church dinner eight weeks ago. She went up and down the dinning room almost trotting over to her friends ... table to table. She and I laughed, wow, what energy! \"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength...\" That\'s the way we get enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is energy ... and energy can be enthusiastic!
Where did she get her energy? She had it because she was never wrapped up in herself. She was always looking for other people who needed encouragement or hope. During World War II she was a surgical courier nurse on the Santa Fe Railroad from Chicago to Los Angeles. She took care of the sick people and children on the trains.
She met a man on one of her trains, a very successful and famous engineer named Fred Cooper. He was attracted to her. They had three dates and they got married. Last August they celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary! Phenomenal! She was born in a little farmhouse in Saskatchewan, Canada. There is where she learned how to cook chicken. Through the years, at all of the family\'s holiday celebrations Adella has cooked one of her recipes of chicken. They were fantastic. In her written recipe file she had as Cooper\'s first lesson on how to cook chicken:
1. Sharpen your axe.
2. Find a fat and healthy chicken.
When Adella and Fred were married only five days, Adella\'s sister died suddenly, leaving three little children. Adella said to Fred, \"I need to take care of them.\" So she offered an annulment to her new husband because he didn\'t marry her only five days before to suddenly have a family of three kids. But Fred couldn\'t think of annulment. He loved her. He loved the children. So they adopted the three children. That is how they started their marriage. A year later their daughter, Glenellen, was born.
And when those four children became teenagers (Glenellen was Miss Junior Miss of California), the next door neighbor suddenly died. And his wife was also dying of a brain tumor, so Fred and Adella took them into their home ... four children and their dying mother. Two years later, the mother died and Fred and Adella adopted four more children. That means they raised seven children plus their own. This is compassion ... the Spirit of Jesus Christ!
Enthusiasm ... Compassion ... A purpose to live for! ... A self to live with! ... A faith to live by!
When Adella\'s husband was so sick her spirit of enthusiastic energy was exceptional. The Navy had assigned Fred to a very special and secret task of developing a weapon that could save a lot of lives. They tested it out in this little boat on the ocean. There was an explosion, Fred survived, but his lungs collapsed and he would spend four years in the hospital. Adella, now alone, taking care of all the children, was also his nurse, did research and discovered there was one experimental drug that might possibly help him. When Fred was told he had about five hours to live she experimented on him. The drug worked. and both lungs were restored! That was a miracle. What a woman of faith!
Now Fred always liked airplanes, so when he recovered, he took up flying. In fact, 41 years ago, when Adella came to church with the children, Fred was too busy flying his airplane. He was more interested in flying his airplane than church ... until one day he had a forced landing. He survived and he said, \"I\'m going to church with my wife next week.\" And he came every Sunday after that experience.
When the children were grown, Adella decided she was going to learn to fly an airplane. She would learn to pilot their airplane, but she didn\'t have time to go to pilot school. So she taught herself, sitting beside Fred. In case something should happen to him, she wanted to be able to land the plane. And she became a very good pilot and got her license. That\'s adventuresome faith!
One night, she and Fred were flying in their twin engine Cessna Skymaster when the landing gear couldn\'t be lowered. Adella was not afraid to live ... she was not afraid to die. So she was in control over her emotions. When Fred said, \"We have to belly land. Get ready.\" Adella took off her glasses; she unlocked the door latch, tightened up her shoulder harness and slid back her seat. Then she looked at Fred and said, \"Okay, I\'m ready!\"
They belly landed. Whew. It was successful and it made the newspaper the next day. It was a big story of this engineer who had to belly land his plane. And it was reported that he was accompanied by an \"unidentified female companion.\"
What a life she lived. Adella was a pillar in this church. One of the first people to give her offering faithfully. She loved being a volunteer, teaching Sunday school, waiting on tables. She was a volunteer in many, many areas of the church. In the Hospitality Center she greeted tourists who visited from all over the world. This she was doing only a few weeks ago.
Adella always seemed to turn tragedy into triumph. The oldest of her sister\'s three children that she and Fred adopted was a boy named Bob. At 15 years of age he was driving a car and he was killed in an accident. Adella said, \"I don\'t think he had enough drivers\' education. We didn\'t spend enough time teaching him how to drive a car.\" She said the high school should make driver\'s education a requirement for all 15 and 16 year old students to receive a license. So Adella rallied her neighbors together and took up donations to buy a car for the high school and for a teacher to be hired. A law in that high school was passed that every high school student needed a driver\'s education class. And they prepared a driver\'s education syllabus. Adella did it all! That caught the attention of the state and it became a state law in California. Driver\'s education in high school was started by Adella Cooper. How many lives did she save? She made a difference and we all thank God for her! Catch the spirit of Adella Cooper; it is the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Live life at its best
Make a difference in your world |
发表于 2004-3-12 00:00:00