Joanna

Joanna was my closest sibling in age. She was born April 15, 1928, making her 3-1/2 years older than I. Joanna and I played together a lot on the farm where we lived just outside of Harper, KS. I don't have as many memories of that time as I wish, but I know that we had many happy times together.

After we moved to Arthur, IL in 1938 we both grew up as children do, but sadly I do not remember a whole lot about those years. We lived in town then and developed friendships with our neighbors across the street and at church.

During her freshman year in high school Joanna began to have problems with her left knee, and favored that leg when standing. I don't recall that anything was done at that time to alleviate that achy feeling, but knowing my mother, I would suppose that something was done.

Joanna began her sophomore year at Arthur High School in the fall of 1942. Her complaints of pain in her knee increased to the point where serious attention needed to be given. Eventually she was taken to a large hospital in Decatur where she was diagnosed with a rapidly growing tumor. By the end of the year the tumor was diagnosed as a sarcoma cancer. The suggestion was made by the doctors there to amputate her leg, but that was rejected by my parents as being too radical to consider. This was the only known way to treat this kind of disease.

Joanna was then taken to Bloomington where a doctor from Cook County Hospital in Chicago came occasionally. This doctor said he could treat her if she came to Chicago. So early in 1943 my mother and Joanna went to Chicago where they stayed at the Mennonite Home Mission, later to be called Union Avenue Mennonite Church. The pastor there transported Mom and Joanna to Cook County Hospital five days a week for "x-ray treatments," which of course were ineffective. And so after about two months of this treatment they came back home without any hope of a cure for her ailment.

This was indeed a difficult time for our family, and the beginning of a very painful time for Joanna. As the cancer grew, her knee became totally stiff and unmoveable and the pain increased as time passed. Joanna remained a cheerful person in spite of her pain and the lack of pain medication that would totally relieve her. She was a person with a strong faith in the Lord and believed that somehow, sometime God would heal her. I have copies of letters she wrote to my sister Dorothy during their stay in Chicago and following that reveal those qualities in her.

On September 9, 1943 Joanna went to bed for her afternoon nap, and never awoke. While it was obvious that she would not recover from this illness it was still a shock to our family when she died. I remember that I was away at the neighbors playing when my sister, Bernice, came to tell me of Joanna's death and that I should come home. I felt very sad and thought I should cry but I couldn't. I knew I would miss Joanna a lot even though my relationship with her had been changed since her illness became serious. I knew that her death had brought her suffering to an end and that was spoken about often in the hours and days that followed.

It has now been 66 years since Joanna's death. During that time there was much talk among many people about divine healing. I know that I always wondered why God didn't heal Joanna. The idea that if one was not healed meant that there was "something wrong with you" didn't fly with me, or any in our family. We knew better. Since Joanna's death I continue to have lingering questions about God's healing. Perhaps sometime we'll understand.

I'm grateful for the life of Joanna and her spirit that continues to challenge me. I look forward to meeting her again in Glory. Until that time, I remain

Pilgrim on the way