Forget Me Not

Claude and Tressie Pedigo Waller

These people are my grandparents.  God-fearing people who came from humble beginnings and raised a fine family in southern Illinois. There is an old saying “As long as you are remembered, you continue to live.”  This is my tribute to them and to those that came before them who made my existence possible.

Appropriately, the flowers in the header are Forget-Me-Nots.

Claude WALLER, son of Thomas B. WALLER and Mary Elizabeth HEARD was born on March 14, 1899 in Flannigan Township in Hamilton County, Illinois, USA. He died on July 16, 1994 in Herrin, Williamson County, Illinois, USA.

Tressie E PEDIGO was born to Samuel Wilford PEDIGO and Mahala Ann HILL on May 03, 1901 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, USA. She died on Mar 21, 1975 in Herrin, Williamson, Illinois, USA.

They were married on December 16, 1922 in Herrin, Williamson County, Illinois.

Devoutly religious, they were members of the Jesus Only Pentecostal Church in Herrin, Illinois. I remember this little church quite vividly with the mural of souls flying to heaven to meet the Lord at the front of the church, and the pastor with a large personality, Brother Charles Finney.  The memories of Sunday mornings in the pew sitting beside my grandmother is a precious memory for me. If I close my eyes and listen with  my heart, I can still hear her singing “When We All Get to Heaven” and “Lily of the Valley.” I can envision my aunt “Nannie” and her friend Sue standing at the front of the church and singing “Wait a Little Longer, Please Jesus.” I am so very thankful for the heritage of faith that was at the heart of both my grandmother and grandfather.

Today, my grandparents rest side by side at Herrin City Cemetery waiting for that blessed day of resurrection.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

¹³ Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. ¹⁴ For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵ According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.

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