We were very pleased with our minister's eulogy, Morris Davis, and the Eulogy and service he prepared for Mom's celebration. I can't say enough good things about him. He spent a lot of time with our family and he already knew a lot about Mom and what he had to say was so personal to her life and we love him. My daughter Mary also had some wonderful words about Mom. But some of you had to miss the service due to work and many other reasons so I thought I would post this eulogy from Morris Davis. This is partially what he had to say:

I want to thank everyone for the Ricker family, for being here today to help Reeves, Janice, Mary and Chelsea to celebrate Mary Lee's life. To calm our spirits, to help compose our emotions, and in Thanksgiving and in honor of our Lord and Savior, who gave Mary Lee to us to love for 85 years, I am going to read a favorite piece of comforting scripture - The 23rd Psalm. (and it was read) 

Prayer: Oh Lord, we thank you for being the Rock, the stay and the everlasting portion in this trying time in the Ricker's lives. We ask that you comfort and bless this family today. May the memory of Mary Lee's life strengthen their hope, faith and love and may your Presence, peace and power give them the strength to carry on with ease. Touch each one of them today and help them to depend on you for continued help as they adjust to life without Mary Lee. Give them just the comfort and encouragement they need today, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Song: How Great Thou Art.

Mary Lee was born Jan. 30, 1930 during a huge shower of snow.. a true snowstorm in Hot Springs, NC and this past Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015, she passed from this world to the next, in a shower of tears from her beloved husband, Reeves and her 2 granddaughters, Mary and Chelsea who were blessed to be there with her at her death. This extraordinary transition from our world to the next world where she met her Savior face to face, happened after a long and happy life of 85 years that included living a life for her Lord and doing her best to help others to live the good life through Jesus Christ. Mary Lee was born one of three children to Elmo and Jeanette Sumerel who were also called Doc and Net. Mary Lee shared her childhood with her 2 brothers, Elmo and Charles. 

(paraphrased about her growing up years) She grew up in Hot Springs, NC where she was Salutatorian in her graduating class. She was active in team sports. She helped people any way she could. This trait she carried into her adult life. Janice said that her mother was the most giving person she knew of. As a child, Mary Lee was always giving her allowance away because she would feel sorry for someone who was less fortunate than she.

Mary Lee and Reeves knew each other as children. Reeves oftened dropped by the Sumerel home to deliver the Grit newspaper and when he was there, would swing Mary Lee in the old swing in the yard. If Mary Lee was not there, Reeves would leave a penny on the swing to indicate that he Had been there and missed her. This was the beginning of their love for each other.  Upon graduation, Mary Lee left for Warren Wilson College and she missed Reeves terribly so after a year, she went back home to Hot Springs and they were married in 1949. They were married 66 years.

Reeves and Mary Lee's first business together was shortly after marriage where they opened up a small restaurant, the Sleepy Valley Cafe where they offered free coffee for truckers. There was no running water so they carried water from the creek and boiled it and they cooked on a wood stove. The remote business was not a success so it soon closed.

Mary Lee and Reeves moved to Brevard where Reeves became a milkman for Sealtest. It was a year after that, Janice, their first child, was born. Then shortly after that, their second child Michael was born and he only lived a year or so. She carried her son's memory in her heart all of her Earthly life.

Her granddaughters, Mary and Chelsea, feel lthat their quickness to tear-up at their own tender feelings, or emotions, is inherited from their grandmother, whom they lovingly call Gammy. Tenderness is an attribute, ladies. Thank you Gammy for this part of her DNA.

The Rickers joined Brevard Wesleyan Church in April of 1954. That means Mary Lee was a member for 61 years and I have known Reeves and Mary Lee for 35 of those years. I was Mary Lee's pastor for 22 years and I can readily say that she was an easy parishioner to deal with- an easy sheep to shepherd. I cannot say that about everyone that I pastored. And no, if you are thinking about someone in particular, it was not one I was thinking about.

Mary Lee was a gentle soul. She loved to be helpful. She wanted to assist those in need. She was a great neighbor and a great church member. She was very much involved in the life of Brevard Wesleyan Church. She was involved in the choir and she was involved in Bible school, was extremely active in the church programs for older adults when I was the Congregational Care Pastor here. Mary Lee was right there when it was time to go and do. She went on trips to Hephzibah Children's Home in Macon, Georgia, St. Simon's Island for annual retreats and to Junaluska, NC, for BYF banquets, etc. She was an enthusiastic person to be around. The granddaughters indicated that she could not sit around and do nothing. Her motto must have been, "Let's go and get it done."

Mary Lee tried her hand at a number of different jobs. She worked as an Avon sales person, sold encyclopedias and worked in the high school cafeteria. Then Mary Lee found her vocation when she and Reeves decided to purchase Brevard Hardware. They owned and operated Brevard Hardware for 33 years. Mary Lee, Reeves, Janice and Vesta Owen worked there together until the year 2000, at which time the business was closed and Mary Lee and Reeves retired.

Mary Lee and Reeves have lived in Brevard over 65 years, in their current house, 50 years. She has had a long, lively and interesting life and she has lived it with a zest and enjoyment that was contagious! Mary Lee lived a good Christian life that radiated her love for the Lord. One of the interesting things that Janice told about her mother was that as a young girl, Mary Lee's parents were not going to church and Mary Lee would get up on Sunday morning and go to church on her own. This very act of determination and persistence by her, led to her mother and father's conversion and making such a difference in the Sumerel family.

Mary Lee loved to travel from family vacations to group tours, and she particularly loved to go on church outings. She loved being involved in get togethers and celebrating life. She loved board games and loved to play games with her grandchildren. They will never forget their grandmother's love for them and her desire to take time to play simple board games with them. Mary Lee played the piano and organ and she played them often in her home. 

Mary Lee had such respect for the military because her father and brothers had all served with the military and she was a great one for story-telling, very entertaining for friends and family. She was a loyal member of Brevard Wesleyan Church and a dedicated follower of Jesus Christ. Many times, she hosted church member gatherings at her home. Mary Lee was a person whose life radiated the Christian characteristics of hospitality  and love.

I feel very fortunate to have been her friend. We shared a middle name and we always had such fun calling each other Mary Lee and Morris Lee! I was happy to have had the privilege of being her pastor.

Mary Lee has left to her family and to us an example of the good life lived in Christ Jesus. It behooves us all to follow in her steps, as she has followed in Christ's steps. Let us purpose to live in such a way that we too, can leave a legacy of a full life, in the manner that Mary Lee did and touch the lives of others for good as Mary Lee did through the help of the Lord who gave her strength to do just that. And now, cherishing memories of Mary Lee that are forever sacred; sustained by her faith in Christ who said, "I am the resurrection and the life and any one that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live and whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die!" and believing that, THAT faith is stronger than death; and comforted by the hope of these scriptures she loved and from which she took her promises of a life that shall endless be, we commit the soul of our dear Mary Lee Ricker, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, friend and a dedicated follower of our Lord Jesus Christ, to His Sacred Care, remembering that the Lord, Himself said, "I will never leave you or forsake you.. lo, I am with you always" and He also said "In my house are many mansions and where I am, there you shall be also." And that my friends, by the grace of God, I believe is on what Mary Lee staked her life! Amen and Amen!!

Let us pray.. "Dear Lord, today we remember how Jesus reached out to touch those who grieved and we remember that his touch was true healing to a hurting heart. So, I pray now that you will touch this family so that their grief may be a cleansing thing and that healing may begin after their loss.

 You know our loneliness. Send us the warmth of your friendship. You know our regrets. Send us the balm of forgiveness and renewal. You know the emptiness of our hearts. Give us a new song to sing, a new day to live and a new joy to behold. You know our weaknesses. Help us to lean on your strength.

You have showered us many times with gifts and we thank you now for the gifts that you shared with us through Mary Lee's life so that our lives might be enriched. We pray that you will affirm again today our faith in your raising Jesus from the dead and we ask for a share of that life which Jesus gives to all who are faithful.

May Reeves, Janice, Mary and Chelsea feel the comforting Presence of our Lord moving in and around them. Help them to lift up their heads in faith, help them to put a smile on their faces and to walk with the Lord expectantly because of what they know and believe. Help us all to be reminded how fragile life really is and help us to continue to walk with the Lord so that we will invest our time and energy serving God as we should, until our summons comes to leave this world for the next. Gather Mary Lee now unto yourself, for she has departed this life, loving you as her Savior. Be with this family as they go forward in their lives to be better servants of yours. I pray this prayer in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.