A Tribute to a Friend!

God knows just the right time to bring someone into your life, that is what he did when Sally Erickson walked through my church doors to become the minister.  She was there for me and my family anytime we called her.  Even after she was no longer my minister I still had a friend that I could count on and was just a phone call away when I needed her.  She has been there for me when I needed her all I had to do was pick up the phone and if she couldn't talk at that moment she would call me back or we would make a time when we could get together.
I do remember when someone brought her 4 baby raccoons because their mom got ran over and they were not old enough to survive on their own, but they knew that Sally would do all she could to get them ready to go out and survive in the wild.  Here is a picture of Sally holding one of them along with my daughter holding another one.

She had her special way with animals as well as kids of all ages.  When she first became our minister she was a camp director for one of the church camps and she just knew that I would be able to be one of her counselors, so he was the one that got me involved in the church camp every summer after that I continued to take a weeks vacation to go down and help with several kids teaching them God's word in the beautiful Rickman Center and it was a wonderful place to teach about God with all of his creations around us.

I also remember the first time that she had a church lock in for junior high age kids, it was a lot of fun getting to spend the whole night in the church with junior high kids and spending time with Sally and seeing how she could interact with the kids.

Then there was the all church stuff at Tall Timbers where everyone had a good time hiking through the woods and visiting with each other.  I have included a couple of pictures one is Sally looking at what my daughter Becky brought to her and the other one is walking in the creek.

Sally was there for me and my family through a lot of things from my sister Rita's wedding to Curtis.

She even did a sending off ceremony for Rita and Curtis when he was in the Air Force and was going to Germany for 5 years.

I remember when my Grandparents changed their membership from the baptist church to the Christian Church, Sally was emotional and even had tears when they walked down front, she was so excited.  Sally often came out to the house when she was in town. 

When my Grandpa passed away in September 2006, Sally did his funeral service and like everything she done it was a wonderful service.

I remember when she moved from my church to become minister at Dripping Springs because at the time I had a Ford Explorer and I let her borrow it to move her stuff from my church to Dripping Springs or what she did was load it up and also load her car up and after I got off work I followed her to help her unload it at Dripping Springs, but even if she was no longer my minister we continued to talk and see each other from time to time, there was times that I showed up at Dripping Springs and when she saw me I seen that sparkle in her eyes and a big smile like she was glad to see me.

This time she was more like my extended family and I felt like I could talk to her about anything and she would usually know exactly what to say and I always felt better after we talked, she was there for me for a lot of talks when I felt like I could do nothing right I knew that I could call Sally and she would make time for us to get together.

In May of 2009 when my Grandma had her accident down the basement stairs and was taken to the ICU at the hospital on my way down there I called Sally and she came to the hospital several times to see us and Grandma and even said a prayer in her room with us.  All the time Grandma was in the hospital I called and talked to Sally and the day that we decided to take Grandma off everything I called Sally and told her.  I felt her caring ways even over the phone. When we decided to take my Grandma off everything and she passed away, Sally was the one that did the funeral service with Pastor David who knew just how close Sally was to my family and was nice to do a co-funeral service.

Sally opened a gift shop Sassafras Moon World Gifts in Hallsville with her sister Kay and besides being a minister she enjoyed working at the store making earrings and necklaces along with sell stuff from third world countries as Kay has her glass studio in the store.  I would go in there from time to time to visit and see Sally, Kay and all of the other employees there when I did it was like I was visiting family.  Becky even did her job shadowing there when she was in 8th grade.  

The picture below was one that I liked from one of their employees that was taken around Christmas 2015, it shows that both Sally and Kay were not only sisters but best friends.

I still think back on November 2. 2016 when I found out about Sally's car wreck. I was at work and I get this text from a number that I didn't recognize asking if I heard anything about the car wreck and I replied back, "What wreck and who is this?"  I got no reply back.  So after work I called my mom Cathie and she asked me if I heard anything about Sally and I told her no but I will send a message to her sister Kay and see about it.  So when I sent a message to Kay asking her how she was, she answered "Not Good and call me and gave me her cell number.  I pulled over and parked and called Kay and when she answered her first question was, "Are you sitting down?"  That made my stomach feel weird and I told her yes, then she told me that Sally was going to pick up lunch for the store staff when she was in a head on collision and was killed.  When I hung up the tears started coming out of my eyes and I couldn't believe it.  I cried all the way home and there is still are times that I catch myself tearing up when I think about Sally.  This is one of those things that lets me know that life is too short and we should live each day in a positive way and always tell your family and friends how much you care about them because you don't know when God wants to call you back to heaven and your time on Earth is done.

Sally was someone who didn't know a stranger and her memorial service showed how many lives that she touched with it being standing room only.  She will be missed by all who knew her.  I am just glad that God made our paths cross and we became not only friends but I felt we were like family.  Love you Sally and I know that even if you are not here and I can't see you that you are always with me as a guardian angel.  

I wanted to add this prayer that Sally wrote for her the bulletin for the service that her and her husband Fred did together on October 30, 2016.  It is known as "Sally's prayer" and is perfect in telling someone who didn't know her what she was like.

"There is beauty in the midst of ugliness, truth in the midst of lies, love in the midst of hatred, and light shining in the midst of darkness.

Help me, O God, to spread beauty, share your truth; not necessarily my truth, speak and think only love, so that I might become your shining light.  Change me so that I am truly yours. 

Amen."