![\"Morris](\"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Morris-head-new.jpg\")
<\/a>By\u00a0Hobie Morris<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Praises disappear like fog; written words live forever.<\/p>\n
–Seneca<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The once popular poet Edgar Guest wrote a catchy poem on friendship. It reads like this:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Be a friend.\u00a0 You don\u2019t need money.\u00a0 Just a disposition sunny; just<\/p>\n
the wish to help another get along some way or other.<\/p>\n
Just a kindly hand extended to one who\u2019s unbefriended\u2026<\/p>\n
Be a friend.\u00a0 You don\u2019t need glory.\u00a0 Friendship is a simple story.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
(Brookfield, NY – April 2015) Brookfield\u2019s legendary Kate Whitaker\u2019s recent passing leaves behind a deeply grieving community and an amazing legacy of Christian love.\u00a0 A tiny wisp of a white haired woman whose friendship touched a huge number of people with her compassion, genuine kindness and pure love.\u00a0\u00a0 My beautiful wife Lois and I loved Kate and her late husband Ken.\u00a0 Throughout her life Kate gave her whole being to others, never once accepting the idea she was in any way unique.\u00a0 But to legions she was unique, like the fabled Mother Teresa, Kate was the epitome of modesty and unselfishness, always thinking of others first.<\/p>\n
Kate and her family lived in an old farm house on a dirt road, several bumpy miles from Brookfield.\u00a0 That house is well loved and always profusely garnished with countless beautiful flowers that Kate religiously tended.\u00a0 Kate especially loved flowers and gardening.\u00a0 At this location the Whitakers knew many good times\u00a0 and plenty of hard and struggling ones.<\/p>\n
In recent years a wide variety of physical problems, including Ken\u2019s massive stroke and Kate\u2019s near death experience from rolling firewood logs, sorely tested their resolve.\u00a0 Ken\u2019s passing in 2014 was a crushing blow for Kate and her family, but she somehow persevered and pressed on.\u00a0 During these recent years she was often in very severe pain and burdened with endless concerns that would have defeated a person of less strength and character.\u00a0 Despite all these travails this diminutive lady was one of the most compassionate and giving people we have ever met.\u00a0 She possessed an inner and outer beauty that brightly illuminated her entire being.\u00a0 Her beautiful smile and hugs reflecting a genuine concern for others that was legendary in this rural community.<\/p>\n
The Germans have\u00a0 a wonderful saying that \u201cthe fingers of a housewife do more than a yoke of oxen.\u201d\u00a0 Indeed Kate\u2019s hands never rested, whether it was mixing, baking, preparing meals, cooking, slicing, kneading, cleaning, canning and freezing hundreds if not thousands of containers of garden fruits and vegetables.\u00a0 Nothing made her happier than going down into the dirt floor basement and lugging up a big cardboard box full of glass jars containing the fruits of her herculean kitchen efforts.<\/p>\n
Whenever Kate heard of a community benefit for some needy family or individual, she immediately set in motion her own amazing contribution.\u00a0 Over the years she baked hundreds, if not thousands, of pies, cookies, etc. that usually garnered huge bids because people appreciated her incredible effort and help.\u00a0 In doing so she would always say \u201cthat wasn\u2019t anything.\u201d\u00a0 Just a few days after nearly being killed by those rolling logs she was happily baking up a storm for still another benefit, and she did this with her contagious smile and a happiness to help that made her so unique.<\/p>\n
Regardless of how hard she was working she always met visitors at the door, with a hug and an invitation to come in, sit and visit.\u00a0 \u201cWould you like some coffee?\u201d she always asked\u2014before you had time to sit.\u00a0 Her generosity and hospitality were powerful magnets.\u00a0 Most every day, from sunrise to sunset, and sometimes later, people were driving down the hill and pulling into their driveway.\u00a0 People flocked to this unassuming farm house like bees to a beautiful flower garden.\u00a0 The magnet was, of course, Kate and the greatest gift she gave to all, which was love.\u00a0\u00a0 She had a unique gift to make people happier and the world far better.\u00a0 And all this from a lady under 5 feet tall, who never had a driver\u2019s license, and only rarely left the confines of this old house.\u00a0 Yet she epitomized a Christian persona that would cause many seminarians to recalculate their training.<\/p>\n
The above few words are inadequate to fully describe Kate\u2019s importance and influence in this community and beyond.\u00a0 She loved and was loved with a child\u2019s innocence and purity that my lovely wife and I found so extraordinary in this all too callous and selfish day and age.\u00a0 We are absolutely convinced that glorious reunions have already occurred for Brookfield\u2019s Mother Teresa, including that with the amazing icon she so much unknowingly replicated here in the Brookfield hills.\u00a0 Kate\u2019s new life is indeed heavenly.\u00a0 We can clearly envision her sparkling eyes, radiant smile and those unforgettable hugs of greeting that will continue endlessly in her new home.<\/p>\n
Hobie Morris is a Brookfield resident and simple country man.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Musings of a Simple Country Man By\u00a0Hobie Morris Praises disappear like fog; written words live forever. –Seneca The once popular poet Edgar Guest wrote a catchy poem on friendship. It reads like this: Be a friend.\u00a0 You don\u2019t need money.\u00a0 Just a disposition sunny; just the wish to help another get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}