It Is Well With My Soul

Lee Ann Strunk wrote this tribute to her grandmother for an FCC Advent publication years ago. This will begin a series of stories shared by FCC members.

My maternal grandmother, Eugenia Shelley Gover, was a lifelong inspiration to many. She always had a smile on her face, worked as a florist for 50 years before it became fashionable for women to work outside the home, and was active in church, civic, and community activities.

She was born in 1903, in a generation of change. At the age of five, she rode in a single coach train, and covered wagon, as she traveled from Albany, Kentucky, to Weiser, Idaho, where her father and uncle opened one of the first banks in Idaho. She remembered seeing Indians go to the reservation, living in the wilderness, and being excited about coming back home to civilization. She continued to experience wonderful changes in life as she remembered getting indoor plumbing, electricity, the arrival of the automobile, and even traveling in a jet! I can't imagine any other generation in history experiencing more change.

In the late 1960s, "Gee," as we affectionately called her, was elected a deaconess at First Christian Church in Corbin following a 30-year absence of women in that role. As Pastor C.H. Dudley used to say, "They were here in the 1920s and 1930s, just wonder what they did that they weren't reelected after that?"

In later life, she told each of her family members that she wanted us to play "It Is Well With My Soul" at her funeral, so all the world would know she was ready to meet her Savior! At 89 years of age, following a wonderful Christian life, that time arrived. We knew the end was drawing near. With the family gathered around her nursing home bed, the nurse told us they felt she had experienced a stroke, as she had not moved in nearly three days. Suddenly, she sat up in bed, reached out her arms, and started moving her feet back and forth as if she were running through the gates of heaven! Glowing with a smile meant for heavenly creatures, she lay down. She was gone.

We as a family shared tears and smiles at having been a part of this beautiful experience. It was nearly 4AM as I left the nursing home to return to my husband and three children. All alone, I turned on the radio and was greeted with hard rock music. Thus, I pushed the seek button on the radio and it stopped on a Christian station. The announcer stated that a special request had just been called in for a special person and then began to play "It Is Well With My Soul."

When peace like a river attendeth my way

When sorrows like sea billows roll

Whatever my lot, Thous hast taught me to pray,

It is well, it is well with my soul.

Lee Ann Strunk

2010