2001 Mrs. Drimmel

Every one has that special someone in their life. Some may not yet know who that person might be. Most of the time that special someone is a person who was able to share their faith in a way that you could almost see God working through them. I had the honor of meeting my special someone early in my life and the horror of losing her just when I was beginning to understand what she meant to me. This is her story.

A close friend of mine, Cindy Drimmel, came up to me our Freshman year of high school with some disturbing news. Cindy knew I could be a good shoulder to cry on and I had cried on hers many times before. This time I knew it was bad because she started to cry before explaining anything. After a hug and a couple moments of silence, she told me what was bothering her. Her mom had been sick and in the hospital and finally the doctors diagnosed her disease. Her mom had bone marrow cancer!

I had known Cindy since seventh grade and we had were officers in FCA together. I knew her mom well. Their whole family had a strong faith and her mom had always been an inspiration to me. So I tried to be encouraging as I held my breath along with Cindy while her mom got tested and waited for results. Mrs. Drimmel visited our health class and explained about her type of cancer and the treatments she was going through. I watched as, over time, she lost her hair and became skinnier because of her diet. Through it all, she never gave up on God and the power of prayer in her life.

My Sophomore year the doctors decided to try giving her a bone marrow transplant and throughout my Junior year they thought they had defeated the cancer. But, at the beginning of Cindy and my Senior year, it came back. Never once did Mrs. Drimmel complain. She continued life as usual, except occasionally when she got so bad that she needed a hospital visit. She was a major influence in our FCA group, she was a leader in her home congregation, and held various other roles in our community. I had asked her to be my sponsor at the Senior Baccalaureate Ceremony because she was such a great model of faith for me, but she couldn’t attend because she was in the hospital that weekend. Because she was too weak to come see us, myself and a group of friends (including Cindy) went to visit her in her hospital room. The sight of her shocked me. She had become even more skinny –if that is possible — and she looked awful. It hurt me so much to see a woman who was such a wonderful person to be in such pain. It was a hard visit for all of us.

Mrs. Drimmel held on long enough to see her youngest daughter, Cindy, graduate. The last time I saw her was at the graduation ceremony as she was wheeled in by her husband. As it turns out my family and I were on vacation a couple weeks later when she passed away. When I got back Cindy told me how the family gathered together and made the funeral plans as I looked at her through my tears.

I was just one of hundreds of people touched by Mrs. Drimmel’s life and her impact on the community was evident at her funeral. This was the first funeral I had attended and the first loved one I have lost, but I know that she is in heaven and one day I will see her again and be able to thank her once more for her display of faith and how she touched my life in such a sad, yet wonderful way.

In Loving Memory of Jeanne Drimmel