Vera Windham Guillot-Funeral-10-22-09
Vera Windham Guillot, 85, a longtime resident of Baton Rouge, passed away on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009. She was 85, a homemaker and native of Belah. She was a member of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church and a loving mother and grandmother. Survivors include her son, Michael Guillot and daughter-in-law Ladonna Cameron Guillot; three grandchildren, Meredith, Matthew and Laura Guillot; and two sisters, Annie Bell Price and Virginia Elizabeth Heinemann. Preceded in death by her husband of 56 years, John L. Guillot; parents, Stephen and Fannie Windham; brother, Noah Windham; and two sisters, Gracie Myrtle Powell and Dorothy Chester Windham. Visitation at Greenoaks Funeral Home on Thursday, Oct. 22, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church on Thursday at 1 p.m. Interment in Greenoaks Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Hospice of Baton Rouge.
On her cable TV, Vera was known to watch Mother Angelica's programs on EWTN. On one occasion, Mother Angelica said the following: "Where most men work for degrees after their names, we work for one before our names: 'St.' It's a much more difficult degree to attain. It takes a lifetime, and you don't get your diploma until you're dead."
How do you get to earn this diploma while here on earth? Let's see what Vera did to earn hers, and perhaps that will give us a clue. Vera enjoyed gardening, crocheting, and knitting. She was devoted to her grand children, to her son and daughter-in-law. During Christmas, Vera was well known for distributing tins of cookies for family at Christmas and making her chocolate mousse pie. She enjoyed her exercise classes for seniors at BREC for 25 years. Spiritually, she read and meditated on scripture daily, and she was a committed adorer at Our Lady of Mercy's perpetual adoration chapel. But this all seems ordinary, not extraordinary. She lived what we would call, a 'normal' life.
Perhaps in order to earn the letters 'St.' before our name involves more than what is visible to our eyes. Our Second Reading from the letter of Paul to the Corinthians may give us a clue. St. Paul said,
"If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
Patience, kindness, humility, faith, hope, and long-suffering are invisible things--things that are seen only in the heart of a person. With these you don't win ribbons, honors, or trophies that you can display on the mantles. But these are the virtues for which Vera is recognized for. Those who earned PhD, M.D., D.D.S behind their names certainly can show the world that they are learned, accomplished, and important in this world. But those with the letters, 'St.' before their names do not have fancy name plates on office doors or on desks. Hence this world does not recognize them. Yet, when they arrive at the Pearly Gates with their diploma, they are readily recognized by St. Peter. You can say that at her graduation, she received a degree in 'St.' with emphasis on L.O.V.E.
