I’m certainly going to miss Marium. She passed away this week and I’ll be doing her funeral tomorrow at 10:30am. Here are some of the personal comments I’m going to make about her:
Marium was born in 1917 & raised in Barbourville, KY. She was raised attending FCC of Barbourville. Although her father was a Muslim from Syria, he always took Marium, her sister & 2 brothers to church because he felt comfortable there, & it seemed a lot like his church in Syria. As a child, Marium spent 2 years in Syria so that she & her family could become acquainted with her father’s family.
Rev. J.T. McGarvey baptized Marium on Oct. 5, 1930. She attended school in Barbourville, and graduated from Barbourville City High School in 1935 during the depression. Financially unable to go to college, Marium went to work as a telephone operator. She worked from Sat. at 6pm to Sun. at 7:30am and made $.63. Yes, that is $.63.
When asked what she liked about FCC, Versailles, which she officially transferred to in 1995, she replied, “It’s more like a family, everybody knows everybody. They help each other. June Dawson is the best SS teacher in the world.” Marium confesses she has been very blessed during her lifetime.
Marium was an independent, feisty, yet loving Christ-follower.
Marium learned compassion as a young woman. Even though Marium’s mother told her she didn’t want her, Marium cared for her during her long illness until death.
Marium could be the life of the party. For Halloween she would often dress up as a good witch or Mae West and hand out candy at the hosp. or join William at a Halloween school party. A lot of people from FCC can remember her making many appearances dressed up as the Easter bunny.
She could make friends easily. She had many close friends in the church with whom she talked to every day. Despite the generational and age diff.s she befriended another tenant in her apartment complex, a young man named Travis.
Marium let you know what she was thinking and could be persistent, especially if she didn’t like what you were doing. Even to a new friend like Travis, she told me she would challenge him to go to church & give money to the church. Apparently she was pretty persuasive because 1 day she brought a check to me from this young man.
Marium’s hobbies included crocheting, knitting & quilting. She made many prayer shawls for other people who needed prayer & she made my family many things when our youngest, Aidan, was born. Another hobby was cooking, a talent she learned from her father.
Marium never learned how to drive a car so she became an incessant walker. She walked everywhere, including to church each Sun. until she was no longer able to.
Though she lived on a fixed income, she gave what she could. She said once, “If I didn’t tithe, I’d be homeless.” During our last capital campaign she called me & asked me to stop by. When I got to her apartment she gave me a check for $15 for the new building. She had sold something from her place & wanted that to go to her church. What a testimony!
1 time while I was preaching I mentioned collard greens in my sermon, something I had never tried. The next day I got a call from Marium. “Could I come by?” “Sure, Marium, I’ll be right there.“ When I got there she had fixed me a heaping helping of collard greens.
