Tribute to My Mother-in-Law

I have always thought of May and June as family months. I guess that’s because of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. May has passed, so happy belated Mother’s Day. June is here, and to all you dads, happy Father’s Day.  

I reviewed what I had written over the years about my dad. I realized I had written a lot about him and his influence on my life. For this reason, last month I wrote about my mother and her influence on me. 

However, there is one lady I left out. That lady was my mother-in-law. She has been a strong influence on not only me but many other people. 

Her name was Lucile Dillard. She was born in 1910. She married my father-in-law, Herman Dillard, in 1947. They became Christians around 1960 or 1961. Both were dedicated to the New Testament church and served the Lord in many capacities. 

My father-in-law oversaw the Usher Program at their congregation. He lined up all the men who were going to serve at the Lord’s table each week. He was a long-time deacon at the Christian Church in Forest Park, Georgia, where he and my mother-in-law were members for many years. 

It was in 1963 or 1964 when they left the church in Forest Park to help establish a new congregation in Jonesboro, Georgia. They had committed to stay one year and help the congregation get off the ground. It was a great success, and today Jonesboro is one of the largest congregations in the greater Atlanta area.  

This is just a small background to show you the kind of people they were. My mother-in-law was a big part in all these things. 

Almost everyone who knew my mother-in-law called her “Mama Cile.” Not just her family but anyone who got to know her called her by that name. She was loved by many people in such a way that many in the congregation looked at her as their mother.  

She drew no line; if you needed her help, you had it. If you needed some advice, or if you just needed someone to listen, she was the lady most people went to for comfort and support.  

To those who had stumbled and failed, she was a friend. She helped them in any way she could. She prayed with them and for them. She encouraged them. She told them in her loving way, “You can do this. You are better than what you did.” 

If you were to ask those who knew her to sum up her life in one word, that word would be sweet. Before I ever met her, I had a lady tell me, “She is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet.”  

She worked as a volunteer at the church and as a volunteer in the gift shop at Christian City. Christian City is a home for children and the elderly. 

People who met her seemed to gravitate to her. She was the type of person people wanted to spend time with. She had a warm smile and kind word for everyone. However, if you knew her back story, you would know she was smiling through a broken heart, terrible sadness, and pain. You might even wonder how she could smile after the challenges life threw at her. 

First, she had been married before and had a bad experience with her marriage. Then, after she married my father-in-law, she would face another set of problems that would have destroyed many people. 

My mother-in-law had four children. Really five, since she experienced a stillbirth. She lost one daughter, who was in her 30's at the time, to a rare blood disease. Then a few years later she would lose an adult son and daughter, both to cancer. Then in 1983 she came close to losing her daughter, who is my wife, Suzanne. Yet losing four children didn’t stop her from loving people and helping the hurting, all with a smile on her face. 

She put up with me as her son-in-law. She saw my bad side on several occasions, yet she loved me with a deep love. What was funny was if my wife and I had a little difference of opinion and Mama Cile heard about it, she always took my side.  

She lived to be 97 years old. She packed a lot of living and love in those 97 years. Her memorial service was a testimony to her life. Everyone who spoke was family. My wife sang her mom’s favorite song, “No One But My Lord” (written by our friend and fellow evangelist Bob Ponchot). Suzanne did the eulogy, and our son Matthew and I preached the message, while the oldest children from each family spoke of their loving and caring mother. Her doctor even drove about forty miles to be there with us. 

Speaking of her doctor, I have one last memory to share. My mother-in-law was known for many things, but the one thing that most people were astonished at, especially her doctor, was she could say the alphabet backward. Each time she would see the doctor he would call in his colleagues and nursing staff so they could hear her start with Z and go to A. It was her claim to fame. 

However, we know her real claim to fame is the love she shared, the joy she spread, and the life she lived, each day for our Savior. I was blessed to have Lucile Dillard as my mother-in-law. 

Tony Sullivan is the Evangelist with the Lester Road Christian Church in Fairburn, GA. He is also an Associate Evangelist with the CRA. He can be reached by email: Tonycra@att.net.