A Childhood Neighbor, A Saint in my Life

Yesterday I had the sweet pleasure of a visit from one of the saints of my life.  Marge Hamlin was my next-door neighbor when I was a child in the San Fernando Valley.  Since 1972, when my family moved from California, I have seen Marge perhaps three or four times.  Marty and I visited her in Idaho when Rhiannon was a baby.  She visited Mom in Morro Bay on occasional visits to the central coast.   It was a wonderful surprise to get a phone call from her son on Tuesday, asking if he could bring Marge by for a visit.   Let me tell you about this sweet saint, and the influence she had on my life.

Marge Hamlin Larsen, me, and Craig Hamlin

Marge had two teenage boys.  Jim was my brother’s best friend.  (John is five years older than I am, which is a significant difference when you’re little).  Craig was older than Jim so I didn’t know him as well.  Jim and John hung out, building tree forts and listening to record albums.  The Hamlins had a golden retriever, Lance, who liked to stick his nose in a hole in our fence.  We figured he was spying on us.  Marge’s house had an elegant foyer, with a glass chandelier and red velvet walls.  My sister and I were so impressed with that elegance that we reproduced it for our Barbie dolls with a red glass candlestick and a red lined jewelry box. 

Marge loved crafts, flowers, baking, and other feminine arts.  Her boys weren’t interested in these things, so she took me under her wing.  She taught me to decorate cakes and make sugar panoramic Easter Eggs.  I remember her showing me how to attach the different decorating tips inside the parchment paper for icing, and what the tips could do.  She held my hand as I held a rose nail, and taught me to spin it as I squeezed the icing bag to make a perfect rose.

Every May Day I would gather flowers from our yard (and probably our neighbors’ yards) and bring her a basket of flowers.  The basket was probably woven from construction paper, or perhaps it was a green strawberry basket.  Marge told me yesterday that whenever she had a craft project to do she’d invite me over, and that I would just soak it up.  My mom didn’t have the patience or will for crafts so I was a surrogate daughter to Marge.

Marge couldn’t protect me, or her friend my Mom, from the evil things that were happening in our house.  She knew that my father was bad, and she prayed for me.  In 1972 my family moved to Illinois, and I soon accepted Jesus as my savior.  I have been thankful for Marge’s prayers.  She told me today she considered me a daughter and that she always prayed for me.  She helped save me.

Marge and I started corresponding by mail in 1974.  She was so happy to hear that I had accepted Jesus as my savior.  She told me how Lance (their dog), Jim and Craig were doing.  I wrote to her in 1979 to tell her about my engagement, and she discouraged me from trying to make my own wedding cake (good advice)!  We continued to correspond, with at least a newsy Christmas card every year.  I was sad for her when her husband passed away, and rejoiced for her when she found a new love and remarried.  Her stepdaughters live near her in Idaho, and she has grandchildren through them.  She has been widowed twice now and lost one of her sons tragically, but she rejoices in the love of her children and grandchildren.

Our visit to Marge and Ed Hamlin in Idaho in 1982 (with Rhiannon)

It is wonderful to see the heritage that Marge has built up.  Not only did she instill a love of crafts and planted seeds of faith in me, but in other friends and family.  I met her niece yesterday who talked about the cake decorating and other skills that she still enjoys.  Marge has been a member of many arts and crafts guilds, and is a proud member of the Red Hat Society.  

More importantly is the heritage of her sons and grandsons.  I was looking forward to getting reacquainted with Jim, my brother’s friend, because I knew he lived in this area.  I searched for him on the Internet, and was shocked to find that Jim had been killed in a car versus bicycle accident in 2012.  Jim was an avid cyclist and loved the outdoors.  That was a heartbreaker for Marge and for his brother, Craig.

Craig is a counselor and pastor of a ministry in Santa Maria through The Coast Valley Worship Center.  He has helped countless men leave the lifestyle of addictions, and many of those men have turned to faith in Christ.  His son, Matt, works with this ministry.  His younger son, Dan, is a surfer/writer/follower of Christ in Pismo Beach.  He attends the same church many of my friends go to (Shouts of Grace).

How amazing, that this family has had such an impact on eternity!  It reminds me of the cake that Marge directed me in making for a junior high cake decorating contest.  It was a book-shaped cake, and on it (in my wobbling writing) I wrote “Teachers effect eternity, one can never tell where their influence stops.”

Marge was one of my teachers.  I think of her every time I decorate a cake for a friend or family member.  I have been thinking of her as I start this Florist business, The Language of Flowers.  I praise God for her prayers for me.  She showed me such kindness and had a gentle, sweet spirit when she welcomed me into her home.  I was not a very lovable child – shy and unhappy.  She took me in.  I grew up to love children, and I eventually became a children’s outreach director, teaching other people that the best way to draw children to Christ is by loving them.  I told people, “Invite your friends’ kids, your kids’ friends into your home, and make them feel safe and happy.  They will see Christ in you.”

Now I realize where I first saw that model.  Thank you, Marge.  She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.   Proverbs 31:26