Tribute to Marcy . . . | Eastern North Carolina Now

    One of our Clarkston High School cheerleaders has left us due to a severe stroke and God's healing powers. . . We all grieve her loss / have fond memories of her smile and good cheer / her daughter puts it this way:

    "Words cannot begin to describe the immense devastation, emptiness, pain & disbelief I am experiencing. The fact that my Mother, Marcy Wiersch Johnson, my very best friend & my sole inspiration was tragically taken from us suddenly last night is too overwhelming to comprehend. Mom was the bright light who affected SO MANY in such a rich way, many will never now have the good fortune of experiencing this uniqueness. I can't give enough THANKS for all that she was, all that she did for us (& countless others in her 40+ years of Nursing) & the remarkable legacy she now leaves behind. I must applaud the amazing journey she led from being the oldest sibling of five outstanding children (Cindy Wiersch Empson, Jodie Wiersch Costello, Linda Segebrecht & Charles Wiersch Jr.) to her phenomenal parents (Charles & Mary Jane Mary Jane Levernier Wiersch) to the completion of her life's work (Intensive Care Nursing) to single-handedly raising three incredible children as a single-parent.

    Thank you so much, Mommy, for always being my rock...Heaven is so lucky to have this one-of-a-kind angel join its ranks. Please watch over us now, as we continue to live each day for you, in your prestigious honor!

    May your stunning aura continue to emanate forever...RIP (5/5/15) to the most beautiful woman I will ever know!"

    I was the kind of kid in high school who "worshiped more from afar;" too fearful to ask a special girl out because I just knew she would go with the football player rather than me! I bet she would have had enough compassion on the lop-jawed kid to overlook what was, for me, a great deformity! It took jaw surgery in college to make my face more normal, folks!

    She was cute and bouncy with a chuckle that was infectious. She ended up in San Francisco and spent her life in nursing. We lost touch over the years until Facebook came along. By then she had a son who was in Law Enforcement. She was always saying how proud she was of his contribution to their community. In typical fashion, she praised others before herself. I don't think she failed to love a single person!

    Her daughter wrote the above tribute at 4 a.m. I awoke (after going to bed early) at about the same time. We are both thinking of Marcy. I think she must be on 3rd shift today! It takes a special person to go to work in the middle of the night and quietly check patients without disturbing their sleep any more than necessary to be sure all is well in the night.

    Here is her Facebook page:

    I always made it a point in any funeral to give a time for "personal remarks." It is important to remember the good things and any clever or funny stories about the one we are honoring. She was "going on 70" and today we think that is too young to die.

    It is NEVER too young to be "HEALED FROM ABOVE." When a mind and personality are suddenly overcome by a Cerebral Hemorrhage, God always knows best. Those things have run in the Scarborough family---and the aftermath is always tragic.

    My Grandmother Scarborough had one and dragged around our house for years. The floors became bare of varnish with the dragging. Her foot and arm no longer functioned in a normal fashion. She could smile and talk --- and that was a blessing. Many who have had one just lay there and waste away in misery. I had my stroke at age 50. By the Grace of God, it was ischemic and cells surrounding the blood-deprived part of my brain took over and I was spared "the drag."

    Too many of us see Death as the greatest enemy.

    Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, famous for her book "On Death and Dying," began her journey into understanding death as a hospital chaplain. I have done such work. I was with many church members as the end came. I can assure you, in the majority of cases, death was a dear friend. It relieves a women suffering from breast cancer along with awful surgery and radiation from the intentional killing of good cells along with the bad. Sometimes the body is still here struggling to live, but the spirit has already gone to a better place. There is NO pain in death, itself!

    Dr. Kubler-Ross quickly concluded --- "No one can minister and help a dying person until they accept their own mortality." They chatter and yammer without comfort because they are trying to do and say anything not to admit "I will die." Meanwhile, all the dying patient wants is someone to talk with and understand them. I am sure Marcy was such a person. You cannot get the accolades she has and is receiving without a heart that cares for patients more than defending you own fears over "the end."

    Let me assure you yammering words streaming from cold, dry, fearful lips are not needed before or after death. In Seminary we called it "The Ministry of Presence."

    Your faith is sensed even after people can no longer speak. They know if you are at peace --- or floundering in a suck-pool of fear. All the platitudes mean nothing when loved ones gather around the bed of one about to go to their Home Above.

    Now that we Baby-Boomers are reaching 70, death is present more each day. Friends and loved ones leave us far more often than ever before. Some of my friends are saying, "All I did was attend funerals last week."

    That is OK, folks---to stay here and suffer when you can't die, is far worse than going on to Glory. To stand there in fear and trembling only means you don't have the kind of faith we all call upon as we bid farewell to our dear friend, Marcy . . .