7/28/2009
<br>Author: Devin Pickard
<br>Title: Granny Giggles
<br><br>I heard someone say recently that if you are not living on the edge, then you are taking up too much space.  I think it is safe to say that in her almost 85 years, Mrs. Cora Lee Hutchinson lived much closer to the edge than she ever did the middle.  Sometimes I get to thinking that I live a pretty exciting life, and then I compare mine with someone like Ms. Cora Lee's and all of a sudden my existence looks pretty mundane.  God called Sister Hutchinson home to be with Him this past week, and much like the passing of Mrs. Bea Batts, the Fairfield Church of Christ lost yet another beautiful, faithful servant of the Creator of the Universe.  Ms. Cora Lee lived life to its fullest, and grinned the entire way.<br><br>To be honest, I knew very little about Ms. Hutchinson before participating in her funeral on Saturday morning.  This is what I did know ..... I knew she usually sat on the third pew from the front with her sisters, Martha Page, Mary Norton, and Margaret Givens ..... and I knew that she smiled and nodded in agreement with me on a consistent basis.  Now, I'm not exactly sure that she was able to even completely understand what I was saying most of the time .....(probably the biggest blessing of all for her) ..... but regardless of what seemed to come out of my mouth, Ms. Cora gave me a number of “silent amens” with a positive nod and a smile.  Most speakers pick out certain focal points in their audience to direct their attention at, and for me, one of those spots was directly to my left in the direction of Ms. Hutchinson.  She was always so very kind, so very friendly, so very encouraging.  In fact, I suppose we could have called her Sister Barnabas.<br><br>As I stated above, Ms. Cora lived life to its fullest.  Married to a service man, Ms. Cora spent much of her life raising a family while calling a number of different places home.  She spent a great deal of time in Alaska,  California, Georgia, Tennessee and even for a brief stint across the big pond.  Although she was primarily a homemaker, she was known as a roofer, a seamstress, and a homesteader.  The one constant thread in the life of Ms. Hutchinson besides God and family was her love of music.  At any given time she could be found with a guitar in her lap singing and strumming out a favorite tune.  She understood what the Apostle Paul meant about being content with whatever life threw at you, and that regardless of what it was that was thrown, its best to try to catch it with a smile.<br><br>Ms. Cora Lee spent the last bit of her life in the Nursing Home.  During her time there, she was affectionately known as “Granny Giggles”.  Just hearing someone referred to with that name makes you smile, doesn't it?  Mrs. Cora Lee Hutchinson was, as we say in the south, a “good un”.  I suppose she and Mrs. Batts are up there now trying to out-smile each other :) <br> <br><br> Smile the extra mile - Devin<br>