The Secret of Life
The secret of Christmas is the secret of life — that Christ can be born inside of you and change you from the inside out. In growing up in my church, I always thought Jesus was the great example — the best evolution could produce — and that we were supposed to be like Him. So I tried to be like Him and always failed. Then, in late teens, I learned the secret.
Christ was not born 2000 years ago just to be our example, but to help us with our lives. “Maybe, just maybe, this is true,” I thought. So I asked Him — if He was alive to help me with my life. He did. I am still the same failing person. But as I ask Him each day the alive Christ is and has been faithful to me all these years. Don’t miss the secret of life. (Mimi Fulcher).
Planning for the Inevitable
Close to a year ago my wife of 64 years and myself — at her urging — sat down and did what we had been postponing long enough. We wrote out the plans we wanted to be followed on the occasion of each of us leaving this world for the life beyond. Though the nature of that life beyond is an option graciously placed in each mortal’s hands by a loving Creator God, the barefaced fact of leaving this world is an option given to no one. So, Mimi wrote out what she wanted read at her funeral — a succinct statement expressing what she felt was most important to share of her 83 years among us. That statement is the paragraph above and her wish was granted. It was read by one of our granddaughters at the celebration of Mimi’s life.
At Peace
On Monday, January 23, 2023, Maryann “Mimi” Volpitto Fulcher, at peace and surrounded by her loving family, went to be with her Savior, Lord, and Friend. She was born on July 4, 1939, in Augusta, Georgia as the first of three children born to Mary Elizabeth Stevens and Dr. Perry P. Volpitto. She was born two years after Perry became founder and Chief of Anesthesiology at the Medical College of Georgia. Just below is more information from Mimi’s obituary that may be of interest beyond the mention of our three grown children, our nine grandchildren, our two great grandchildren, and our dog.
From Mom to Schoolmarm to Bank Manager to Making a Book on Marriage
In Ft. Lauderdale, where Sim was an associate pastor, Mimi taught in an elementary school. Later, when they moved to Louisville, Kentucky, she became branch manager for PNC Bank — a position she held for 20 years. Still later, in Honolulu, Hawaii, Mimi and Sim taught classes on marriage at First Presbyterian Church where Sim served as an associate pastor for 15 years. Consequently, Mimi co-authored with Sim in writing Door to a Lasting Marriage, a book published in 2019 documenting their trials and triumphs in hopes that many marriages would be helped and encouraged. Upon retirement in 2015 and the move back to Augusta, Georgia, after 60 years away, Mimi enjoyed reconnecting with her childhood girlfriends who have remained loyal to one another through the years. Her most important job has been to be a good mom. Her most abundant joy has been to discover a truly good retail sale. Her greatest delight has been that of giving to others. And the hero of her life has been the God who made and loved her and gave his Son that she might know Him and be with Him forever. Young Life has been instrumental in Mimi’s life. She not only came to know God through Young Life but through its ministry is where Mimi and Sim met.
The Secret and The Early Years
In her mom’s keepsakes unearthed in Mimi’s mementos is a letter Mimi wrote as a teenager just hours before or after she “sat on a rock” at Young Life’s Frontier Ranch in Colorado and for the first time prayed the prayer to which she refers in her statement above. She had discovered the secret of life. Fact is, there is no secret. It’s news so good it’s ignored. Why? Because it seems too good to be true. The goal of Young Life — funded by churches — has been to present to teenagers with clarity the age-old story the Bible tells that is always surprisingly contemporary. Here are Mimi’s words to her parents on Friday, August 5, 1955.
Never in my life have I ever been so glad I went somewhere. I am having more fun here than I ever have had in my life and I feel so much closer to God… You can’t imagine how wonderful it is up here. I have learned so many things about God that I’ve never even thought of before, and the people here are wonderful Christian people. And the talks they give… are just great. You can learn so much from them. And instead of dreading them you look forward to them. In my group discussions, we are all trying to find out what our purpose in life is.
The celebration of Mimi’s life was on Saturday, January 28, at 11 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church, Augusta, Georgia. The YouTube link of the service is: https://youtube.com/live/At7nVWadKi8
