I remember: Love always continues

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By Doris Schroeder

Had I not known before my last column how important love is in this world today, I would have been surprised at the response it brought. It is gratifying to see how many of you agree with me that love is the one thing we can count on when life gets tough or the way grows difficult. No matter what else happens, if we have God backing us, we can take it! We all do know that life is not an easy road…there are things that come along we have no control over but we can get through anything if we look to our God who created us for we know that God is love!

There are so many different things that can come along in life…things you don’t particularly desire but God knows you can, with His help, handle it. I was reminded of this when I read in the News about Tech taking over the first floor of the old Wiley Bldg. and having an open house with some of their Art students. I know two different families with a child in Tech and one had painted a beautiful picture for the showing. The parents of that child were overcome with love and thankfulness…in the simplest form.

Another mother with a child in Tech is always telling me another everyday thing or truth her child has learned and it is so gratifying to see what joy it brings. I know God must choose the parents to such children carefully because  not everyone is able to comprehend it.

An older gentleman who told me he was once the principal at Buhler High School called about the teacher I had mentioned in my column and agreed that Esther Pankratz was one of the best. We both agreed that we should have thought at the time to thank her when she was alive. I know she was my favorite and I do think she knew that. I do remember I loved to write but thought everyone  did. She did read some of my writing in the different classes and I did write for the school paper as co-editor. Both the former principal and I agreed that we should have done it sooner.

Another lady I loved was my Kindergarten teacher at Allen School. She had also taught my sister Luella Grace Kroeker the year before the summer she was killed accidentally by a neighbor boy while she and I were playing with their kittens.

She was always very nice to me and would play the piano during our nap time. She always played the hymn “Blest be the tie that binds” and it comforted me.

The next year we moved to my grandparents’ farm when they moved to Buhler and  I went to the country school of Sunrise. We had a man teacher for all eight grades, Mr. Daniel Diener, and he was also a good teacher. During that year my second sister, Carol Jean Kroeker was born and I was glad to have another girl in the family again.

Then we moved to California for a year and a half and I changed teachers three times as we moved around. They were all nice, however, and then we moved back to the farm and the country school . First Mary and then Esther Willems were the teachers and I thought them superb. They made charts and things and made learning fun.

We moved back to Hutch and I went to Sherman Jr. High where we had a different teacher for every class. It’s a good thing they were all good and I enjoyed each one.

I do think all the teachers in my growing up years were very nice and that is probably why I always enjoyed going to school. As my sister and I got older we became close. It was fun to talk on the phone every day.

I am sad to say she got cancer and a week before she died  this last September, she asked me how I could “guarantee” she was going to heaven. I knew she accepted Christ earlier so I went over   John 3:16 from the Bible with her again, so I knew she would go to heaven. Somehow, I wanted to be sure  so I asked God to somehow send me a positive sign. He did and I know where she is now.

Remember, God is good and God is love! We can accept Him into our life and make it count as we tell others about Him!

Doris appreciates your comments at [email protected]

1 COMMENT

  1. There are not enough words to express my respect and yes love of Esther Pankratz. I will always remember the joy of reading the “Trumpeter of Krakow”.
    The first book I ever read from cover to cover. She took me to the library and picked the book out. I read it and she discussed it with me. She did not “quiz” me. She really wanted me to understand the book and the time period it was written.

    To this day, I can recite Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Macbeth. I Learned to memorize passages in her junior and senior classes. The staff at Buhler was amazing Mr. Hendrixson, Mr. Harder, Mr Balzer. Mr. Goering.

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