Judy Pickett, RIP

-






We were sorry to hear this past week of the death of our fellow missionary who lived in Chinhoyi (3 hours towards Harare from here). Judy would have been 75 years old in April. She has been sick for a long time with Arthritis, Diabetes and Hypertension and heart problems. She started feeling ill on Friday and her foster daughter, Kina, came out from Harare and was there with her. By Sunday night she was unable to walk or talk and Monday they moved her to Harare where she died about a day later.





Judy worked with women's groups in the area around Chinhoyi, teaching many to read the Bible, sew and cook. She worked at Chidamoyo for 9 years as secretary at the hospital. She moved to Chinhoyi when the mission was evacuated in1978 due to the increased civil war.





I replaced Judy for her first furlough in 1978 when I had just turned 18 years old. It was through this experience that I made the decision to become a nurse and return to help at Chidamoyo. She had a big influence on my life.





Her Homecoming service was on Friday at Hillside Chapel in Chinhoyi. Many people came together to bid her farewell. She was buried with her foster daughter Ireen who proceeded her in death in 1999.





We are rejoicing with her that she is now out of pain and sickness. A memorial for her is being set up which will be a scholarship fund to sponsor students through Zimbabwe Christian College where her foster daughter Kina and her husband Edmore work. I will pass on more details when we get them.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Unpacking cintainer, interviewing a new doctor

-
Image
It has been busy this week unpacking the container that arrived recently.  We have been unloading it a truck load at a time and bringing it up to the hospital to unload.  Carolyn Mereki has been helping to unload and sort and then she delivers it to the different departments. We are really happy with a lot of good supplies that we are unpacking to use at the hospital. We are putting the barrels and boxes in the hallway outside my office and opening them when we have time.  It is always fun to see what we get! On Friday this week we traveled to Kadoma (1 hour south of Harare), about 4 1/2 hour drive for us.  We met up with Mashoko administration to interview 6 people for jobs at Chidamoyo and Mashoko as doctors.  We have tentatively made decisions, but have another 2 people to interview--so please pray with us that we choose the right doctor. The doctor strike continues since 1 March.  No settlement and government hospitals only doing emergencies so we can't really refer o
Read more
-
Image
 I stopped chemo in mid-February and the oncologist tried a period of Immunotherapy by itself to see if it would work.  In March I started to produce a lot of abdominal fluid (ascities) and had to go to the hospital every 2 weeks and then every week to be tapped to remove the fluid.  They got off up to 8.8 liters a time which gave me a few days relief before it would come back.  It made it hard to breathe without laying on my sides and I couldn't really eat without pain. So, I was in bed a lot of the time. They decided I needed to start Chemo again with the Immunotherapy.  My Oncologist said it was not time to give up yet!  He said the chemo helped before to shrink the tumor a bit so they felt if I could shrink it again I wouldn't have to go for tapping.  I was all for that. He did remind me there is no cure only remission and that I have months not years to live but he felt there were other drugs to try if these don't work.  I am usually not in pain so I am so thankful for
Read more

Happy Boxing Day

-
Image
Our Christmas dinner theme was Hawaiian Retro Christmas--so we had dress 1950's Hawaii. Michael, Major's son decided to add some tummy to his costume to look like his Dad! Enjoy these pictures!
Read more