Lois Berkeley went to see the Lord on Sunday. She had been seeking the Lord’s presence every Sunday for many, many years in her long, fruitful life. Each week, without fail, she would go to church. For many years in her home village of Kake, Alaska, Lois went twice on Sundays, first in the morning to the Memorial Presbyterian Church, where she was a member, and then in the evening to the Salvation Army Church, where she was an adherent and loyal supporter.
Sunday after Sunday she was faithful still, even when her body got older, and her joints ached with age, her youthful enthusiasm for Christ kept her going to spend time with Him in His houses each Sunday. She was over eighty in earthly years, but her love of the Lord and His people remained ever young and strong.
Last Sunday morning Lois got up early and got ready to go to church as she had done thousands of Sundays before. She could see the classic church building down by the shore, down a steep hill from her Senior Center apartment. So, as she had done so many times before, Lois dressed for her trip to the Presbyterian Church, and sat ready, with her purse in her lap. She was waiting for Pastor Eric Gebhart to come by and give her the customary ride to the church by the ocean. But on this Sunday, God had an even better destination for his faithful servant Lois. On Sunday morning, instead of going to the little white wooden church, Lois went home to be with the Lord.
When they found Lois body patiently sitting in her chair, a smile was on her face, and she had a look of peace that spoke richly of the peace that had been in her heart for a long time. Lois knew Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, as Elder Brother and Friend. She had responded to the gracious gift of salvation with a life of service to God and neighbor, acted out for many years in the Native Alaskan village of Kake, working as a part of two churches and as a part of the great Tlingit tribe that is Kake, Alaska. A white woman who married a revered Native man, a longtime resident who was twice adopted by the people of Kake, Lois dearly loved the beautiful village on Kupreanof Island. And the people loved her as much as she loved them. She was cherished by her family, churches and community.
She was a familiar face at every village event and every church gathering. As long as she had breath, she lived to be a helping presence in the place where God had planted her – Kake, Alaska. Often she made donations to help the needy, usually without anyone knowing the name of their gracious benefactor.
Lois was known as someone you could depend upon. He word was her bond, and you could trust her promise, which was as permanent as the mountains of the Alaska that she loved. God blessed Lois with a strong will, and it grew stronger over the years, as she worked building airplanes for her country in WWII, and as she learned to fish and hunt and trap as well as almost anyone in the Great Frontier, and as she served the Lord as a faithful Christian year after year. Lois was a rock because she knew the Rock of Ages. Lois was a good wife, a wonderful mother to her daughter Carol and son-in-law Greg, a matriarch to the great Berkeley family, a revered grandmother and great grandmother, and a genuine friend to many, many people.
Lois spent many years working as key assistant at the only store in the village, which belonged to the legendary Raymond and Florence “Ma” Bell. Florence was know as Kake’s Guardian Angel, best known for delivering more than 100 babies during 32 years in the picturesque Southeast Alaskan village. In her early years, “Ma” Bell worked as a nurse and nursing instructor in hospitals and schools on the East Coast and in the South. After her first husband died, Bell joined the U.S. Public Health Service which sent her to Alaska on the U.S.S. Hygiene. She soon settled in Kake, where she met and married Raymond Bell, proprietor of the town's only store, and became friends with Lois. With no doctor in Kake and no roads to other towns, Bell's role as nurse and midwife was critical to the community. Lois saw much of this good work first hand, and spent much time in prayer for it.
"She saved many people's lives, you bet she did," Lois told me, obviously proud of the work that Bell did. And Lois played a role in much of that good service, by helping free “Ma” from her duties at the store and being a constant prayer support for all that Ma Bell did.
After “Ma” Bell retired to Petersburg in 1978, Lois still continued in the work of guardian angel, but mostly as a prayer warrior for those in need of help in the village. Not a day went by when Lois was not praying for Kake and its people. One of my great privileges was praying many times with Lois. She always was thinking of others. She took their concerns to the Lord in prayer. Often Lois would call on us to agree in prayer for people who needed comfort and care.
In 1997, a grand Presbytery meeting was held in Kake, with over a hundred visitors coming to the island. Lois was at the top of her game, serving as a gracious host and helping with much of the behind the scenes work of the great event. She had served as treasurer and an elder of the Presbyterian Church for many years, so she was always in the middle of helping with projects and keeping the church strong.
To honor her many years of service, the session of the church had Lois be their Presbytery representative and she gave the speech reporting the progress at the little church, which had been very active in recent years. Lois looked physically like a grandmother from Norman Rockwell’s paintings, and sometimes she spoke slowly and often kept silent in a respectful way. But on that Friday night in October, Lois had the big crowd laughing and smiling with her quick wit and gentle humor. She closed with a story that said so much about her, and about the strong, frontier spirit of a little church that came close to closing in the 1980’s, but held on due to the strong faith and faithfulness of members like Lois Berekley.
Lois told of a big storm coming to the island one winter Sunday years before, dumping snow and ice in its wake. Somehow, as was her pattern, Lois made it to the church despite the bad weather. She made some coffee for others to warm themselves when she came, then she went from the Wilson-Dewitt fellowship hall into the main sanctuary of the historic church building and waited for the others to come. But no one came. Minutes turned to an hour and more, and all she heard was the wind howling outside.
But Lois was a good Presbyterian, so, since she was there, she decided to have church. She read some Scripture aloud, sang a favorite hymn (“Amazing Grace”), and said a prayer for the church and the village. Then she turned off the lights and went home. “But we still had church that day!” she proclaimed with a smile. And the Presbytery meeting said Amen with a thunder of applause and gales of laughter. Lois had a gift for speaking the truth with love and a smile.
We loved Lois as a one loves a favorite aunt or a mother. She was a dear friend who we will miss immensely until we see her again on that beautiful shore. Our children called her Grandma Lois. They cried on Sunday evening after hearing of her passing. So did my wife and I. But as long as we have church on this side of the veil, we will remember Lois. She was always faithful and true, trustworthy and strong. Until we meet again, Lois, we will cherish memories of you.
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