Eulogy Juliette Deadwyler

Eulogy For Juliette Deadwyler

Psalms 139:13-139:16

There are some people in the Bible who we know instantly at the sound of their name. Names like Moses, Esther, Peter, Mary and Paul. Yet there are people whose names we don’t know yet their actions changed history, the little girl who told Namaan the great Syrian General how to be healed, the little boy who shared his lunch with the disciples so that Jesus could feed 5,000, or the woman who used her hair to wash Jesus’ feet with her tears and her perfume so that Jesus could teach us the heart of forgiveness.

Though we do not know their names, their actions are emblazoned in the Christian hall of fame.

God creates some people who are to become well known in the world, and God creates some people who to be very special in the world. Now some would say it is better to be well known than to be special, but I think when we come to the end of our days, we’re not looking back to see how well known we were, but rather were we special in the lives of others.

When death is staring at us in the face, we do not usually take great pride in our degree from Harvard or Yale or in our position as executive vice president, nearly as much as we do from a child saying I love so much because of all that you did for me and I’m going to miss you, or from a person coming in and saying, when I was hungry, it was you that saw to it that I got a meal and for that I am grateful.

Juliette Deadwyler was not created by God to be somebody well known whose name would cover the country and the globe at large, but she carried out the mission of God for her life in the way that she has touched the lives of others.

We sometimes forget, that no matter who we are, what we have done, or who we have become, we all started out in the hands of God.

For the Scripture tells us in Psalm 139:13-16

[13] For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. [14] I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. [15] My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, [16] your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

It was on a hot summer day, July 19, 1930 that God sent Juliette into the world through the bodies of Robert Fairley and Ollie Jones Fairley. Juliette arrived in Camden Alabama. It was the largest city in the county at the time with a huge population of 697 people. Now the fact that they had 10 children altogether in rural Camden, Alabama lets you know that they were either very rich or somewhat poor.

The fact that Juliette could pick cotton faster than most and couldn’t wait to get away from the cotton fields let you know they were not from the wealthy part of society. But that didn’t stop God from having an interest in their lives.

God blessed Juliette with an intelligent, sharp and witty mind. She was the salutatorian of her class, and the class speaker because the valedictorian could not do it. Juliette was proud to have graduated from the Presbyterian School that she attended. As the second oldest and the first girl among 10 siblings, Juliette learned about responsibility and how to help others coming behind you in the family.

Juliette was eager to leave Camden Alabama and come north to visit her aunt. Three things kept her from returning to Alabama. 1) She did not want to be anybody’s house maid. 2) She was not interested in a cotton picking career, and 3) She met a fine looking guy from Lithonia, Ga by the name of Ralph Deadwyler who captured her heart and she his.

They both had a sense of humor that interlocked the two of them together and they started an incredible journey of life together. God blessed them beyond their wildest dreams and imaginations. Both of the them came from poverty and yet those rose up to give birth to a family, sending their children to some of the finest colleges in the country. They purchased their own home.

They worked together as a team. Ralph was a hardworker, often doing the great yard shift and a part time job. Juliette was the homemaker supporting and encouraging her kids to do the best and become the best they could be in life. She taught her kids the value of having rules to help you in life.