GATHERING: Family and Friends

WORDS OF GRACE: John 11:25-26; 14:19; Rev. 1:17b-19


WELCOME:

Friends, we have gathered here to praise God and to witness to our faith as we celebrate the life of Montine Pruitt Wadleigh. We come together sharing our grief, acknowl-edging our human loss. May God grant us grace, that in pain we may find comfort, in sorrow hope, in death resur-rection. The writer of the 55th Psalm gives us some direction for our mourning. He wrote: "Cast your burden on the Lord, and God will sustain you."

OPENING PRAYER:


WORDS OF STRENGTH: Psalm 121


WORDS OF COMFORT: Psalm 23


CELEBRATING MONTINE'S LIFE:

The journey of life for Montine began on November 19, 1929 in Rodney, Arkansas when she was born into the home of Charles and Lillie (Hall) Pruitt.

The Pruitt family moved to the Horse Creek area here in Southeastern Colorado in the 1930's. After the death of Charles in 1940, Lillie and the kids moved to the Cheraw community.

Montine, with her Dutch Boy hair cut, entered the Cheraw School in the second grade where she quickly teamed up with Edith Allen and Stella Schultz to become the Cheraw female Three Musketeers. These three had a giggle problem. They would giggle late into the night at sleep-overs with the slats finally falling off the frame and the mattress hitting the floor. Sometimes they put the bed back together and sometimes they spent the night on the floor. They even got kicked out of study hall because of their giggling.

Montine and the girls often had to climb on top of the chicken coop to get far enough away from Harold Wayne so he couldn't hear what they were talking about and tell her mom. Friendly and outgoing Montine participated in many school activities like pep club and she and Roger Wadleigh were often seen together. Intelligent and competitive, Montine graduated salutatorian in the Cheraw graduating class of 1947. She then attended La Junta Junior college for a year. She then went to Brown Business College in La Junta.

On April 11, 1953, Montine Pruitt married her high school sweet heart, Roger Wadleigh, at the Cheraw Methodist Church. To this union a son was born, Mike Wadleigh. Montine had told Edith Graham, who married first and had the first child, that when she had kids "When I say plane, they'll fly!" Mike says that she wasn't that strict but it was close. When Mike brought home a toad in his lunch box to surprise Montine, he had to make his own lunch for a month.

Montine was a hard worker, on the job, in the school, in the church and at home. She worked for attorneys Clyde T. Davis and George Strain, for the Cheraw School District, and for the Otero County Court. She retired in 1993 as Clerk of Otero County Court.

Active in the community and the church, Montine and Roger received the Lions' Club Community Service Award in 1980. They are members of the Cheraw United Methodist Church.

Montine loved working puzzles, reading, collecting clowns, and making crafts. She loved family and travel and combined the two for maximum enjoyment. Where ever they went throughout their adult lives, the rout always included stops to visit siblings and cousins, aunts and uncles, and old friends.

Loving, supportive, attentive, playful and witty, Montine touched a lot of lives and left her impression on us all. She will be dearly missed.

Montine was preceded in death by her parents, an infant brother, sisters-in-law Dorothy Pruitt and Lyndall Wadleigh, and a brother-in-law Lee Ross.

Montine is survived by her husband Roger Wadleigh, son Mike and his wife Teresa, and granddaughter Heather all of Cheraw; brother Harold Wayne Pruitt of River Falls, Wisconsin; brother-in-law John Wadleigh and fianceé Cheryl Rappsibler of Palisade; sisters-in-law Vera Louise Lane and husband Emmett of Lakewood and Esther Ross of Grass Valley, California. There are also twenty nieces and nephews, an aunt, an uncle, several cousins, and numerous friends.

WORDS OF LIFE: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8


EULOGY: "Intimidating Love"

When I first came to my new appointment at the Cheraw and Swink United Methodist Churches on July 1, 1995, I stopped in La Junta at the home of the former pastor to pick up the keys to the church and call the two names on my list I had to contact when I got in town. Neither gentleman was home so I sat at the La Junta parsonage chatting with the La Junta pastor. The phone rang and the pastor handed the receiver to me. It was Montine. They had prepared a welcoming dinner for me and were waiting at the church for me to show up! When was I going to get there? That voice was an intimidating welcome to my new church home. But in no time at all, Montine became a loving friend I could trust and depend on.

Montine didn't make friends, she enlarged her extended family. When Montine welcomed you into her life, she welcomed you into her heart. My mom and sisters from Texas have been to Cheraw one time to visit me in the eleven years that I've been here. They met Montine and her friendship and hospitality left a lasting impression on them. When we speak by phone, they always ask about Montine. And every time I have visited Montine, she has always inquired about my mom and family. Family is priority one for Montine.

Montine loved traveling and always carried dried prunes to chew on the journey. The Wadleighs have planted pits in forty-seven states and three Canadian provinces. And the rout of their journey would always include visits with family who lived near the rout along the way or near their destination. And when time to leave would come, the other family members would be wanting Montine and Roger to stay for just one more day. Montine loved humor and enjoyed having a good time. It was a joy to spend time with Montine.

Montine loved food. She especially love unusual recipes such as Burmese Curry, Sour Cream Raisin Pie, and casseroles. She had a lamb casserole she fixed for a Sunday evening get together at Johnnie and Tina Allen's home. Pat James was there and said she didn't like lamb. Montine said that she thought she did because she ate three helpings of her lamb casserole.

Montine spoke her piece and did her thing. The first time Barbara Broce met Montine, she came into their grocery store, asked Gene to slice her a couple of pieces of ham and a couple of pieces of cheese and picked up some bubble gum and walked out the door. That was Montine. Like Gene says, over time they became more than friends. They became family.

Montine enjoyed going with Roger to the bi-yearly Bee Keepers' meetings in Salida and Denver. Roger would go to the meetings and Montine would go shopping. While Roger was in a meeting at Salida, Montine went downtown to a Hallmark store and had a good old time buying $150 worth of cards. Montine enjoyed sending cards and many persons have received cards displaying her humor.

Montine was always very creative. She was always very active with the Willing Workers, serving dinners and making crafts for the annual Fall Bazaar. I still have angels on my Christmas tree every year Montine had made and sold in the bazaar at the Cheraw United Methodist Church my first year here. In past years, she also helped with the Men's Dinners by putting together the entertainment, such as a skit based on the TV show "He Haw". Montine was Lu Lu. The skit was so good and so popular that they performed for several area churches and organizations. She could even convince men to dress up in ladies' clothes and formal gowns and put on a style show.

Montine has struggled with diabetes and heart disease for many years now. Yet, she was never a complainer or whiner. She was more interested in carrying on a conversation about what was going on in the community and in your life than just talking about what was going on with her. With the inclusion of cancer of the liver into her resume of illnesses, Montine has traveled these last painful miles of her journey with strength of faith and integrity. Now the pain and suffering has come to an end. Montine has been healed and restored. Now she can put together an entertaining evening using the talents and resources of heaven to help all the saints make a joyful noise.

Family, friends, church, community. Commitment, dedication, participation, faith. Montine has touched so many people in so many ways. Creative and funny, caring and compassionate, dependable and hard working, a good cook and a good friend, Montine Wadleigh lived a good life. And now she lives a glorious life with all the saints of heaven. On that we can depend because we have a promise.

WORDS OF PROMISE: John 14:1-3

Jesus spoke these words to his disciples:
This is the promise we have from Jesus the Christ, our Lord and Savior. And Jesus is a promise keeper. He has come and received Montine into his glory, into his presence, into his eternal kingdom. His promise is our strength and comfort for today and our hope and assurance for tomorrow.

Montine would surely agree with the thoughts of this poem:

"Unto my friends I give my thoughts,
Unto my God my soul.
Unto my foe I leave my love -
This is of life the whole.

Nay, there is something - a trifle - left;
Who shall receive this dower?
See, Earth Mother, a handful of dust -
Turn it into a flower."
(By Ethelwyn Weatherald)

CLOSING PRAYER:

Into Your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant Montine Wadleigh. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a child of your own redeeming. Receive Montine into the arms of your mercy, and into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company all the Saints of Heaven. We are your children. Comfort us as we depart and nurture us with your love in the days to come. In the name of Jesus the Christ we pray. Amen.

BENEDICTION: