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Beverly A. Freitag
11/9/35-9/23/02
- Bev Freitag: Her Parting
- Bev was diagnosed with cancer in August 2002. She didn't want to die, but she accepted with grace the fact that she would be going soon. She said many times, "Knowing I am terminally ill is a blessing. It is giving me a chance to do some things I want to do."
- Unlike so many people, she had both the courage and opportunity to utter many parting words and create many precious moments to mark her last days. Her attitude regarding her own parting will forever be an inspiration on how to face the non-negotiable transition of death and how to help those that love you face that same transition.
- She stayed long enough to do and say what was needed to leave peace in our hearts and leave with peace in her heart. The faith, strength, integrity, gratitude, and pure love Bev poured forth during her life and in her last days ensured that the meaning of her life and her parting was not wasted on any one of us.
- Have no doubt, she has carried a piece of everyone who ever loved her and anyone she ever loved with her to heaven.
- Her Love For Family
- "I have always truly been blessed with my four beautiful children. My children are my greatest accomplishment and my favorite part of this life." ~Bev Freitag (9/8/02)
- Bev took great pride and pleasure in being a mother and grandmother. She devoted her life to creating the family that most of us are automatically born into and given without asking. Bev was orphaned at birth and raised in foster care. She never had anyone to call Mommy or Daddy, or Sister and Brother. She didn't have the benefit of a family to teach her how to love and receive love. Yet, somehow she managed to give her children the motherly love she herself had never received.
- She even went a step further. Through her example, she taught others how to love those who are not blood as if they were.
- Her Wisdom
- Bev understood the difference between love and popularity. Although she lived a fairly reclusive life, she loved many and was loved by many. She knew that in the end, the only thing we take and leave in this world that matters is love. The rest is just a husk that is shed.
- Bev wore her sincerity on the outside. She understood the difference between honesty and nicety. Although at times in her life, she may have said or done things to offend people, no one was ever left wondering what she really felt or believed.
- Bev understood that people were not perfect, but that ALL people are worthy of love regardless of their sins and imperfections. She often shared the observation that people had a tendency to criticize themselves and others for the personal characteristics that they were least able to change. She emphasized the importance of embracing one another's vulnerabilities with compassion.
- When friends and family were troubled, Bev often consoled them by reminding them that, "As people, all we can do is take care of the small things. If we take care of the small things, God will take care of the rest." She lived this wisdom by doing the small things where ever she thought they were needed whenever she thought they were needed.
- Her Gifts
- Bev understood that our worth is measured by what we give, not what we possess. She also understood that we should not expect to receive in the same ways we give nor from the same places we give. Bev gave generously throughout her life, and she often went without, simply so she would have something left to give.
- Bev's gifts were many, sometimes small, sometimes big, but their meaning was always significant and deep seated in love. Her gifts expressed a sincere desire to make life easier for others, and for others to experience happiness, and fulfillment of their potentials. Her gifts nurtured many talents, eased many struggles, and brightened many days. For example, giving the perfect collection of books to inspire the desire to read in a child who was struggling with their reading skills, or enrolling a loud mouthed child in singing lessons, giving cheese cakes to those who needed to be touched with sweetness, putting away special coins to pass on to her grandchildren, making wood burned plaques, or collecting bushels of pine cones for someone else's craft projects. She was ALWAYS giving thought to what she could give to others.
- One of Bev's most important gifts was her ability to receive the gift of each of us, and recognize the unique talents and attributes that each of us brought to her life. You did not have to be hero or superstar to be great in Bev Freitag's eyes. All you had to do was be willing to share something of yourself with her. She always encouraged others to do the right thing and had a way of understanding that the right thing was different for each of us.
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