Goodbye Sue and George

I'm leaving in about an hour for a funeral at St. Charles. Sue Wenrick, a neighbor and fellow St. Charles parishioner, died last Sunday after a fight with cancer. Such a cool lady. Ro used to rent studio space from her when she owned the St. Charles School Building. She almost singlehandedly saved St. Charles when it was on the "Archdiocese hit list" to close in the late '80s/early '90s by buying the school building and giving St. Charles a little income. She rented the space to starving artists who sometimes paid rent...but always had a lot of fun. She was a realtor and most importantly, was a great single Mom to her son Clayton. He is now an amazing young man. She pinched and saved and got him through Waldorf, Cass Tech and then art school. Sue always had a "cause," whether it was a teen at church who needed tuition, the Dearing Dance Company, a gay man who couldn't pay his mortgage because his partner didn't leave him the house in the will when he died, a stray dog, something. Even as she was struggling with chemo, she would call me and want to help with this or that. She will be missed.

I learned last night that we'll have another funeral at St. Charles next week. George Taylor died yesterday during his dialysis treatment. Another amazing man. He was a Detroit cop who dealt with the riots in the '60s during his first week on the job. I'm really grateful that a few months back Jackson spent some time chatting with George for a paper he was writing on the riots. They had a great conversation about a ton of issues, especially the tensions between black and white cops. George was an amazing role model. In his younger days, he organized tons of basketball leagues for the Detroit Police Athletic League to keep teens busy. George and Glenda had five kids of their own but there are always tons of people at the Taylors house because of the incredible love the Taylors show everyone. The first few years I attended St. Charles I had the wrong number written down in my phone book for the church. I always called the Taylors house instead. It never crossed my mind that they didn't answer "St. Charles Church." Instead, when I would call to ask what time this or that was, they always answered my question and never let on that I had the wrong number.

Here's my favorite George story. During the last few years, his diabetes left him blind. I went to his house and picked him up for a Parish Council meeting. While driving from his house to the rectory, we chatted about this and that. Then he turned to me and said, "Colleen don't go down this street. There are a bunch of drug houses here. Turn left and go down Lafayette instead." Somehow, this blind man knew what road I was on. He said he could tell by the bumps in the road that he remembered from his years on the force. I was taking directions from a guy who couldn't see!

I'm sure Sue and George are enjoying each other's company today in heaven.