Mt. Olive Seniors by Dixie Kuykendall

The North Jefferson News



Mother Teresa told this story in an address at the National Prayer Breakfast in 1994: “One evening we went out and we picked up four people from the street. One of them was in a most terrible condition. I told the sisters, ‘You take care of the other three; I will take care of the one who looks the worst.’ So I did for her all that my love could do. I put her in bed and there was such a beautiful smile on her face. She took hold of my hand as she said two words only: ‘Thank you.’ Then she died.

I could not help but examine my conscience before her, ‘What would I say if I were in her place?’ My answer was very simple. I would have tried to draw a little attention to myself. I would have said, ‘I am hungry, I am dying, I am in pain or something.’ But she gave me much more — she gave me her grateful love. And she died with a smile on her face. Gratitude brings a smile and becomes a gift.”

As I remembered this story, I thought of one of the special seniors at Mt. Olive Senior Center and the gifts she must have stored away from many years of caring for others.

For 25 years, Jeri McLendon owned and operated the Olive Home Assisted Living Center in Mt. Olive. Her love and compassion for others was a daily ritual.

Although she considered it a ministry and never a job, she was committed and dedicated to her residents in everything that she did. She remembers times when she slept on the floor beside the bed of a sick resident, fed the ones who could not feed themselves and held the ones that needed holding. And, like Mother Teresa, she has held some tenderly as they died in her arms.

Visitors would tell her that they had never been in a facility where the residents were so satisfied and content. I just know that for 25 years, those many residents loved Jeri and were grateful to her.

So, if gratitude brings a smile and becomes a gift, Jeri is certainly gifted and I guess that’s why she always has a wonderful smile.

The world would be a better place if we had more like her.