Having this purse on my shelf carries on her memory for me. And each time one is sold, I feel as though I'm imparting her joyous spirit on those who will carry it around.
Dee was killed suddenly in a car accident in June of 2007. She was on her way to pick up our kids to babysit them for the weekend. She was always so excited to spend time with them, and the kids felt the same. It was devastating...not being able to get in touch with her, going out and looking for her, then finding her vehicle already surrounded by flashing police lights. When I arrived at the scene, I could barely hold myself up, knowing what news I'd be given. I was met my some officers, whose gift to me was ironically the purse I made for her.
Delila Arletta Woodworth was born in the small town of Venus, Nebraska. She was the youngest of 12 kids and named after her mother. She always admitted to being spoiled, but when you live on a farm out in the middle of nowhere during the great depression, being spoiled didn't mean much. She was skin and bones with scraped up knobby knees. In every picture I've ever seen of her, she was wearing a cute little hand-me-down dress with a bow in her bobbed hairstyle, her light green eyes glowing. Or she'd have on her high school baton twirler outfit smiling from ear to ear.
She married Oscar Van Buren, though I don't think he ever went by Oscar. He was always Buck. You'd think they were Romeo and Juliet as they went against both their parents who wouldn't consent to their marriage, mostly because they were so young. So, they eloped, which meant driving up to South Dakota to make it legal. It wasn't too long before Buck was whisked away to Texas to work for the military during the Korean War. In Texas, Dee worked as a roller skating car hop. This began her life in the service industry, mostly working as a waitress until Buck bought her a gas station of her own in the mid 1980s.
She lived such a full life...full because she made it that way, whether she was serving meals at Food City or Duggers, or was bowling with her friends Claudie, June and Jackie, or square dancing with Buck. Yet her greatest joy seemed to come from her kids, Kevin and my husband Steve.
I'm sure she had pain in her life, and struggles, and wants, but you'd never hear about it, about her miscarriages, health problems, or life's disappointments. They just weren't on her radar because there were so many other good things she focused on. She could only see the bright side and the good in people.
You've never seen a funeral so full of people wanting to tell their stories about how Dee had helped them or inspired them or loved them, topped off with a song I'll never forget reminding us how Dee was one who "raised me up, so I could stand on mountains." She was a support to many. The life she lived was one that positively affected any person who had the privilege of knowing her!
So, to me, the Delila purse is a reminder to always find the good.