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- Descendents
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Last weekend I read about two women who have made history. One was on the front page of the newspaper and is of the “I am woman hear me roar” school. She is known and admired by many for her intelligence and aggressive pursuit of power. She is tough and politically savvy. She will be entering an international arena to help project the policies of the new Presidential administration. No doubt she will eventually get a sentence or two mention in the history books of the 21st century.
The other woman was referred to in a brief paragraph in the obituary section, stating only the time of the family gathering at the funeral home in a tiny village in the hills of southwestern Pennsylvania. The little lady in the casket was my wife’s mother, who died quietly in her sleep at the age of ninety-four on Thanksgiving Day. She was a warm-hearted and kindly person known for her sense of humor, sturdy work ethic, faithful attendance at the church and love for and dependence upon God. She will not be mentioned in any history books outside of a family genealogy.
My wife’s mother, Irene Cromwell Leapline, was the oldest child in her family and she took the prominent role in raising her five siblings after her father died at the age of 29. In due course, she married a coal miner (yes, I married a coal miner’s daughter), and had ten children. The Depression era was a very difficult time to be raising a large family in a poor rural valley but their faith and hard work sustained them. When she died last week, Grandma Leapline could count not only her ten faithful children (two deceased), but forty-eight grandchildren, seventy -three great-grandchildren, and nine great-great-grandchildren.
Among that number and their spouses are missionaries, preachers, mechanics, schoolteachers, railroad men, computer programmers, soldiers, factory workers, and a host of home-makers. She and her husband Lester who died in 1971, instilled in their children a love for God and the importance of family. They saw themselves as a link in a chain that extends into the future and they instilled Christian values that would withstand the trials and tribulations of life and would be just as sure and true to the generations yet unborn.
It’s hard not to notice the contrast. One is a public figure who grasps at power and prestige like a drowning man to a life preserver, who is admired because she can shoulder her way in a world once deemed to belong only to men. She seeks dominance, perhaps for its own sake. And then there is a modest country woman whose success can be measured in the productive lives of her many descendents and the remembrance by hundreds of her steady and consistent virtue passed on to generations. They were both in the same newspaper. Which one has the real power?
Bill Potter
14 Responses to “Descendents”
Oh wow, this is my favorite thing you’ve ever written–thank you so much, Bill, for extolling true virtue which, indeed, is rewarded by a God Who is watching and not from a distance as is popularly believed. I look forward to meeting this great lady in Heaven someday…
Great article, Mr. Potter. What a tremendous legacy! We are praying for y’all.
Very powerful article on who has the real power. I suspect that Mrs. Leapline’s “power” will continue to be witnessed for generations to come! What a legacy for us to emulate.
They both had power. Just because you will be written about in a history book doesn’t make you automatically bad. Some women don’t seek power for its own sake, hard as that is to believe for some people.
Thank you for this lovely post. I’m sure the Lord is so happy to have Mrs. Leapline, a truly ‘good and faithful servant’, with Him. She is certainly a hero in my eyes and a woman that I seek to emulate. It puts any small challenging circumstances in my life in their proper perspective when I read her story. Thank you again for taking the time to share it.
Yes! I’ve been trying to wrap my head around this idea as I’ve been working on our family tree on Geni.com.
When I started to see the generations of men and women spread out, back to my 13th and 14th great-grandparents in several places, I got tingles as I pondered the verse, “since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
Our life here is so short! All of my family members were once at the stage in life where I am now. What impact will I have on future generations? What will our family’s legacy be? Will we be counted faithful or have spent our lives grasping after things that ultimately don’t matter? It is exciting and gives inspiration to the mundane tasks of daily life to consider your actions within the context of generational impact.
I hope that one day I will be counted as faithful as your wife’s mother was. God bless you and your family.
what a beautiful legacy your mother in law left behind, it must have filled her heart with joy to know so many of her offspring were serving the Lord
I am sorry for your loss. I’m sure that the first woman is known to her family for many other things, just as your mother-in-law was known for her wonderful qualities. I’m disappointed that you seem to think that women need to be either power hungry or the traditional homemaker. I’m sure both women will be remembered for many things, so I think both women have an equal amount of “power.” Again, I’m sorry for your loss.
Yes, Mr. Potter, I love this!
Please accept my condolences on the bittersweet “graduation” of dear Mrs. Leapline. I just know you will all miss her so much. What a happy day it will be when you’re all reunited.
Thank you for introducing us to her so we may honor her, too.
(And Mrs. Morecraft, I appreciate what you mentioned about God not watching merely “from a distance”. He is very near and cares about every detail of our lives!)
Both ladies have doubtless made an impact, each in her own way. To pay tribute to your doubtless-deserving mother-in-law does not require us to denigrate the other woman, about whose family and social influence we may know nothing.
There is more than one way to be a “powerful” woman. Brava to both ladies.
Indeed, B and Ed. Strange how men can be many things, but women must only be homemakers or they’re greedy and grasping.
Still, a lovely tale of two women. Rather reminds me of the song “Something worth leaving Behind”.
As a young wife and mother who comes from a family line riddled with divorce and egalitarianism, I appreciated this short testimony so much. It gives me inspiration and hope for the future.
What a wonderful tribute to Leslie’s Mom. Thanks for sharing it. Truly, there will be many who are “first” who will be “last”, and many who for the most part live their lives under the radar of the corridors of earthly power, yet quietly wield enormous power and strength through a life lived with the more powerful weapons of love and kindness, and truth and virtue … putting to flight the earthly enemies of our souls, which make war against all good things and leave a path of destruction in their wake.
We praise God and give thanks with you all that Leslie’s Mom chose what is best in this world, and leaves you full of heartfelt gratefulness for the legacy that she leaves with you as she enters the gates of heaven and hears her Savior say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. … Enter into the joy of your Master!”
I’m sure she will be sorely missed here on earth, but joyously welcomed into an eternal inheritance that will never more be stained with the sorrows and heartaches of this life.
Many Blessings to the Potter Family!
With Love from the Weathers Family
Unique perspective. My great uncle passed away last spring. He was ninety-two and was one of the lucky few who survived Pearl Harbor. Uncle Ralph was on the USS Arizona. The last time I saw him he told me the story of that very day when the attack happened. I will always remember him and his firsthand account of what happened that day. When my son gets bigger, I will pass down this story to him so that he can keep history alive.
Thanks for your great viewpoint. We are most fortunate to be alive and living in America.