Today Paul and I went for a ride and brought Dot’s cassette tapes that she had labeled “Bethany Radio Music”. We went through them somewhat this week looking for a couple of songs that Dot and Emilio sang together for the “Bethany Hour” years ago, to play at her funeral. I’m not sure where she got the tapes from. I think maybe Lyle Chadwick made them for her. When she went to the Atrium we bought her a little cassette player so that she could listen to them. Somehow the tape recorder got lost and we ended up putting the tapes away. Today we listened to all of them (Paul has some type of inverter so that we could play them in the car). So many memories came flooding back, not only duets by Dot and Emilio, but solos of Emilio (one of my favorites was Bless this House), Men’s Quartet, Women’s Trio, and choir songs. It was wonderful listening to these old songs; I remember them so well. I have always felt so blessed to have grown up in Bethany, and I experienced that same feeling this week at Dot’s funeral. Bethany isn’t just a church, it is a family, then and now.
The picture is of Dot at the microphone, reading the Scripture for the Bethany Hour.
I have often questioned why Dot had to suffer with dementia for so long. She didn't deserve it. She was a wonderful person and so good to me. But then I think that Dot is mobile now, no longer confined to that reclining chair, and I wouldn't wish her back for anything.
