Mom's Phenomenal Spiritual Moment

"Angels Carried Evelyn to Heaven"

This is a story told by my sister-in-law, Gerda who is a nurse in Kansas.  She is sharing  the story of the events that unfolded on the final day of our mother-in-law, Evelyn Buck's life.  

Here are Gerda's words:

Following will unfold a story that will make some sort of an impact on our lives…I’m sure forever.

Grandma Evelyn Buck visiting her home in Kansas.

The first day I returned to work after being off for mom’s departing this life was Wednesday, August 24^th, 2005.  The doctor came in around 7:30 that morning and started to share his condolences about mom with me.  He commented in the conversation that it had been reported that she had a “phenomenal spiritual moment” as she died.   He kept going on and on about that and kept giving condolences and saying she must have been a strong woman of faith. 

He did seem very touched and moved by what he was sharing. Coming from him I had many questions and doubts and mixed thoughts about what he was telling me because of his own beliefs. He seemed very sincere and moved by what he was sharing. 

It was really hard for me to concentrate after that but I managed to make it through the busy surgery day.  I wanted to talk to the staff that was on the night mom passed away before I shared this with anyone, even my husband, Dan! 

It wasn’t until Saturday, August 27^th that I got to talk to them.  The first nurse, the one who had called Dan and me that Sunday those two times, came from the nursing home to the hospital side to take care of some business in the office.  I stopped her and asked her about that night.  She shared moments about the whole day. 

I’ll share the day also as it unfolded for us and as the nurses shared. On Sunday morning, mom had a shower and went to breakfast. Dan picked her up for church.  She didn’t have her oxygen on so Dan thought she didn’t need it, however he didn’t realize that SHE took if off, not really supposed to and not realizing that she was in need of it constantly now.  Anyway he brought her to church.  When she got there she needed to use the restroom.  I thought…oh joy!  This was a major project anymore.  But we managed just fine; Edna and Violet helped also.  But mom was white as a sheet.  I was really concerned.  When we came out of the restroom I told Dan she needed to go back..  However, she kept insisting that she did NOT want to go back.  She wanted to stay for church!  So then I told Dan she needed her oxygen.  He didn’t catch that so when I realized he hadn’t gone for it I went and got it.  I had 5 minutes before church would start.  I made it back in time to play the piano.  I kept glancing back at mom to see if her color was improving.  It didn’t look like it was much but she was singing her heart out.  That I could see!  

The aide continued to share that when mom got back from church she wanted to lay down and that this was VERY unusual for her.  She did not want to go to lunch.  She had food delivered to her room and ate very little.  She wanted to lay back down after lunch.  This was very unusual for mom.  She always refused to nap because she wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.    Mom, however,  wanted to be sure to attend the church service they had in ECF that evening because the Nazarene church was in charge and she really liked that pastor and his wife.   (When she was still driving she would go to their church service before coming to ours on Sunday night since they had theirs earlier!)   After the service  she went to supper in the dining room and didn’t eat hardly anything according to the nurse.  She again wanted to go to bed. 

They got her ready for the night and as they were settling her in she commented to the nurse aide. “I want to live.  I don’t want to die, but I know I’m going to.”  The nurse said she asked mom if she’d like to talk to anyone or have anyone called to come and be with her and she said she wanted to talk to Danny.  That’s when they called us at church that evening and said we needed to come up that Mom was not doing well and was asking for Danny.  (That was another unusual thing; for ME to have my cell phone on in church.  I NEVER have it on.) Events of our day had caused me to have it on!  We went immediately.  It was around 7:05 p.m.  We were with mom at 7:10.  Shortly after that Aunt Violet and Uncle Paul came too.  When mom realized we left church she insisted that we go back!  She had forgotten the day and time.   

While we were there mom would touch the bed with her hand as if trying to find something.  When asked, she said she was looking for her scissors.    A little later she had her eyes closed and she was reaching with her left hand into the air as if to get something and when asked what she was doing she opened her eyes, looked at her hand in the air and said, “I don’t know.” And put her hand down.  She would chat with all of us and close her eyes off and on.  Her facial expression was very relaxed and peaceful the whole time we were there.   

We left at 8:45pm.  Mom said she needed to go to the restroom pretty soon and that they would bring her pills around 9 p.m. and she’d be ready for bed.  We could go on home.  Dan and I both gave her a kiss good night and left.  Paul and Violet left too.

 The nurse aide shared that they did get her up about 9 p.m. and gave her pills to her and she was settled in bed at about 9:15.  The nurse said that mom continuously thanked them for all their good care and for being so nice while she’d been in the nursing home.  She had thanked them more than usual all day.   She said she returned a few minutes later after putting mom to bed to check on her and not wanting to turn on the big light in her room and disturb her, turned on only the bathroom light and saw that she was asleep.   The charge nurse came in a few minutes later and couldn’t really see or sense that mom was asleep so turned the big light on and then hollered for the other nurse to come in!

 

This is where Mom's phenomenal spiritual moment begins!! 

The nurses observed the bed to be moving like waves or ripples.  A gentle moving, up and down.  And then said they saw the blind blowing as if the window was open and the nurse knew she was gone!

I talked to the charge nurse later that day and she told the same story about the waves and the blind. She said at first she was upset with us because she thought we had opened the window, thinking we were hot, (explaining mom was always cold and kept the room warm).  She said she was actually mad at us. She went to check the window to close it and found that it was NOT open!!!  That’s when she realized that something phenomenal was going on!  And that’s when she knew mom was gone.  Another aide had come into the room by then and she had said to him, “Did you see that?”  He responded by saying,  “You’ve not had enough sleep,” and then he ran out of the room!  He didn’t come back to that wing the rest of the night!

The hospital staff called us at 9:35 p.m. and told us we needed to come right now.  We were there at 9:45 p.m. exactly an hour after we had left her.  Dan commented to me that as soon as he saw her he knew she wasn’t there.  He said it was so different this time from others he’d seen.   She was gone.

The charge nurse shared that she had attended the Assembly of God church and she knew that the spirit and the soul leaves the body when a person dies.  She also commented that she had observed many deaths in her career and NEVER had she seen such a phenomenon and felt such awe!  

It was as if the angels had literally come down and picked mom up into heaven, out through the window!   

That’s what the doctor had said…that it was a spiritually phenomenal moment.   He mentioned the bed waving and the blind blowing and that her spirit ascended out the window up into heaven!  Him saying that was incredible in itself!  

As the charge nurse was telling the story another nurse came and stood by and was aware of the story.  She acknowledged that she was a Christian and she started to quote a verse about the spirit departing from the body up into heaven when we die.  They both said they really hadn’t told anyone except they talked among themselves…those that were there.  They weren’t sure what people would think of what they had seen and experienced.  They really wondered how the doc knew.  They claimed they hadn’t told him.

I could hardly contain myself…of course I was blubbering, both times as the girls told the story AND off and on that entire day….and so were the two nurses that were there as they shared with me! 

They claimed that they couldn’t go in mom’s room after that for a while even after the mortician had taken her.  They admitted they were scared.   It was awesome but they were still frightened. 

I can picture what they described in my mind and it seems incredible and actually wonderful!  Observing these nurse’s and their faces and their explanation of that night put me in a state of awe and slightly frightening in the "fear of God" kind of way. 

The nurses shared how they loved to go into Mom's  room because she always had a smile was so positive and happy!  They said they would NEVER forget that moment that they got to share and experience with her.  They still call that room “Evelyn’s room.”

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