12-23-23

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
December 23, 2023
Guest Writer: Marilyn Lewellen, Elder 
It was about 20 Christmas' ago that I received the most unusual phone call.  The tremoring, aged voice in my ear asked for me by name, or at least, SOMEONE with my name.  But I didn’t recognize the caller, and I suggested he had the wrong number.

​Clearly, this unexpected caller was disturbed with my “wrong number” response.  He confirmed my phone number, insisting it's accuracy, since he had gotten it from the information operator!  Now, for the sake of this recollection, and because I can’t recollect his name, I’ll call this stranger Mr. West.  (Lack of name recall can be so frustrating...)

Mr. West went on to explain he was actually calling to speak with my mother.—Then I was really confused.  Mom had passed some three years prior.  I was certain my mother hadn’t known this man.  But he was insistent that I was her daughter.

It seemed Mr. West was calling from Idaho, still living in the same house across the street from this person he was searching for.  But this long-time neighbor and friend had moved away a number of years before. Her health was not so good due to past injuries in an auto/pedestrian accident. Mr. West believed she had moved to Spring to be with her daughter.  Her daughter’s name was Marilyn Lewellen. 

Mr. West was 86 at that time, and widowed.  There was a determination in his tired voice, something of a deep need to wish his long time friend a very Merry Christmas.

Over the years, I had heard of this Marilyn Lewellen person with whom I shared names.  Marilyn was a well-known and honored band director at Klein High School, had been for several years.  Marilyn lived in the area, and we both shopped at the same grocery.  Cashiers were Klein students. It was not unusual for one to do a double take when verifying the name on my check.  (Remember when we wrote checks rather than using credit or debit cards?)  There was also the Music Rack where my music and Marilyn’s were often switched.

​God has given me a couple of exciting and satisfying callings in life.  One of them is helping people find people.  It has been my joy to find and reunite loved ones.  In this case, it became my Christmas gift to help Mr. West find HIS Marilyn Lewellen, the daughter of his lost neighbor and friend.  And it was also time for me to meet this Marilyn, after so many years of our paths ALMOST crossing. 

Locating Marilyn was not too difficult for a genealogy hobbyist.  My phone call was greeted with…. “I AM SO GLAD TO FINALLY MEET YOU!”  Marilyn and I had a wonderful exchange,  She had definitely not forgotten her former neighbor, Mr. West, and would make it possible for him and Marilyn’s mother to reconnect.  As luck would have it, Marilyn’s mom, now well into her years, had moved back to Idaho, living not far from Mr. West.