A Tribute to
Sarah Isbell (Armour)Cottrill
1908-2001

     Some keepsakes from years gone by are especially precious.  We have an old Bible of my mother's--in fact her very first Bible.  In the front flyleaf she wrote:

     I thank the Lord for my mother and for her long and faithful walk with the Lord.  A Christian from her mid-teens, she formed a habit early on of the regular reading of God's Word.  Once each year, for over half a century Mom read the Bible through from cover to cover.  She not only read it, she lived it.
     From my boyhood days, Dad and Mom gave me consistent Christian training.  And when, as a child of seven, I raised my hand in a gospel meeting to indicate my desire to receive Christ as Saviour, it was my own mother who counseled me and prayed with me afterward.  In later years, she followed my education and varied ministry for the Lord with prayerful interest.  With the Apostle John she would say,"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the truth" (III Jn.4).
     As well as being a busy homemaker, "given to hospitality", Mom sang in the Garside [church] choir, and taught the Young Married Ladies Bible Class.  These young wives and mothers not only received teaching from the Word of God on Sundays, Mom would sometimes visit them at home and give practical suggestions on housekeeping and child care.  Many of the women, now in middle age with grown children, still "rise up to call her blessed" (Prov.31:28).
     Beginning in 1996, Mom lived with us for two years in the west, and then spent three years in a nursing home.  In her youth she had had the discipline to memorize a great deal of Scripture.  Though Mom was nearly blind and unable to read, the Lord continued to bring many of those passages to mind to bless her heart (and ours) again and again.  She also remained a woman of prayer.
     Just before entering the nursing home, Mom was able to attend our son's wedding in Calgary.  "Grandma" took a vital interest in Jim and Shari.  We are sorry that she never got to hold her new great-granddaughter, Hannah--but she may well know all about her now!  And Mom's faith and commitment is a heritage being passed on to still another generation.  Abraham Lincoln was right when he said,"No man is poor who has a godly mother."

                                                                  ~R. Cottrill