Judy's "Daughter"
To Lori, The "Daughter" I Got To Share My Life With
Lori was the daughter I never had - but she was as much a daughter to me as if I'd had her. I always
thought of her in my heart as my girl, and I loved her as much as the boys God gave me.
Lori had enough happiness to make her sweet, enough trials to make her strong, enough sorrow to keep
her humble, enough love and hope to make her happy, and enough money to buy gifts for others to
make them happy. That was our Lori, the sweetest kindest girl there was - with a joyous laughter that
was truly infectious. I loved to hear her laugh, and I miss her laugh. She had her share of trials - a lot of
them - and they made her very strong. Strong enough to fight many times to stay here and be with us,
because she loved all of us. She thought of my family as her family too. It was her Aunty Helen, and her
Aunty Mary, and her MaryAnn, and she loved to come visit Edmonton and get together with everyone.
And all my family loved to be with Lori. She was a charmer and enchanting and could keep the
conversation going, making everyone have fun. But she had a lot of sorrow in her life too. She lost her
baby girl Danielle in 1986 and a few other babies before that. She so much wanted to have her own
baby, but her body wouldn't let her. It wasn't well enough or strong enough because of Lupus. But a lot
of time when you saw Lori, even though she wasn't feeling well, she still wanted to have a good time
with you and I know she pushed herself to do it to spend the time with you. Because she loved people
and being with them and talking with them.
I'm so glad Lori was able to have enough Love and Hope in her life, and that came from Ray, her
husband. He gave her the love that she needed so much and the hope and knowledge to know that God
is real and that someday when her life on this earth was over, she would get to see God. Ray picked up
where Dave and I left off and completed her and completed her belief in a loving God. Lori was never
afraid to die, she just hated to leave all of us.
And money wasn't real important to Lori. She used it to buy gifts for people to make them happy and
light up their life. If someone needed help, Lori was willing to give it. And she helped a lot of different
people. She liked to fix her house up so that it became her home for Ray and the kids. And she loved
her little town of Blissfield, and all the traditions that went with it. She was trying to put down roots and
found her place. She got to know and love people there and they loved Lori and I'm so very thankful to
God that He put Lori together with Ray and took care of her for me.
I thank God that He gave me 26 years with Lori. I only wish that I could have had more, but I'll give her
back to God because I know that He can look after her better than me and that I will see her again
someday.
