Ascension : News From The Grotto - Thought Of The Week
Submitted by The Islander (Shari Parkhill) 01.05.2008 (Article Archived on 15.05.2008)

This past week, we had to say good-bye to a dear friend and colleague, Deborah Lyons, who passed away last Sunday after a courageous battle with cancer.

This past week, we had to say good-bye to a dear friend and colleague, Deborah Lyons, who passed away last Sunday after a courageous battle with cancer.  Deborah was only forty-five years old.  She loved working on Ascension, and always thought that she would be back.  This week, during the memorial service, she was back; in our thoughts, our hearts, and always in our memories.

Deborah loved to hash, and as a result of her many years in the army, had the hash name of Private Benjamin.  Even after she returned from her first round of treatment, she was back at it.  She even did a considerable part of the Dew Pond Run that year, which was no easy feat.  She enjoyed being back to the things she loved to do.  Even if she wasn’t as strong as she had been physically, her will was as strong as ever.

Deborah never gave in to her disease.  She fought it with everything she had, and lived every day to the fullest.  Her will to overcome the adversity she had been dealt was a lesson to us all.  By greeting each day with enthusiasm and determination, even though she lost her battle in the end, she really won the war.  She lived her life well, and in doing so, she defied her disease, and truly beat it.

She was a true example of the advice to live life, and not simply to exist.  No matter what happens to us, this is the one life we are given.  To simply exist is to not appreciate the gift that we have been given.  Life is precious.  We are reminded of this every time we have to bid farewell to someone who has made a difference to us.  And life is not forever; we are all going to die someday.  We will journey from this existence into the next, and leave behind people who care about us.

But it is a gift to leave people who grieve your passing.  It means that you did live, and didn’t simply exist.  If you make a difference in someone’s life, you are giving a part of yourself to them.  And in this way, we live on forever.  To be remembered with affection, love, appreciation and kind thoughts is to have truly shared your time on this earth.

So, this week, we mourned Deborah’s passing.  We grieved for the end of a life too short.  But most of all, we celebrated a life well lived.  The proof is that we will always remember Deborah, and be grateful for her presence in our lives.  May God hold her family in His embrace; may He give them the courage to journey through this difficult time.  And may their own precious memories of Deborah bring them peace and joy in the coming days.

Deborah, may you forever rest in peace.