What Agnes Mellecker prayed for she usually received.
I met Agnes Mellecker in the late 70’s and quickly discovered what an amazing woman she was. This little 5’ nothing woman could do anything she set her mind to. When I first met her she was already in her late 70’s and living alone. At Christmas every year she would fly to California to see family and stay for a month. She made this trip well into her 90’s. Nothing seemed to scare her.
She volunteered at a local nursing home and would go everyday and help feed those that couldn’t feed themselves. She had certain ones that she fed 2 meals a day to give the nurses time to do other jobs. She would also do errands for these patients and read to them and help them write letters.
When Agnes was in her 80’s and 90’s she had several women that she would shop for or would drive them so they could do their own shopping and then would help them with anything they wanted or needed done around the house. She told me she loved helping the old people that had no one to help them. I would ask her how old they were, and the majority of the time she was older than they were. But she was young at heart and had the energy of a 50 year old.
Agnes had the most magical hands; she could sew, and do beautiful embroidery, and loved to make little scrubbies out of netting, you know the ones you scrub pots and pans with. She also made the most wonderful angel food cakes, and she would surprise me with one and say to me,” I just had the feeling that you could use one of these today.” I usually had something coming up that weekend that I could have used a cake for, but I was never very good about sharing her wonderful angel food cakes.
But the most miraculous thing was her ability to completely rid you of a stiff neck. Once she put her hands on you it was going to go away. When she arrived at the salon she could tell the minute she walked in that I had a stiff neck. She always told me to sit down before we started on her hair and she would work the stiff muscles in my neck for about 5 minutes. She would then tell me it would be okay.
My neck would still be hurting when she was finished with me, but by the time she was dry and ready to be combed, it was feeling normal and the pain was gone. When my friend in Arkansas came back to visit she always stopped first at Agnes’s house to get a neck and back rub before she did anything else.
Agnes had more faith than any person I have ever met in my life, including some ministers I have known. She had an unfailing belief that if she prayed for something it was going to happen and I became a believer in her prayers also.
If there was something that you were worried about or something that you really needed to happen in your life you asked Agnes to pray for it. And it usually came about or resolved itself.
She went to the church every Monday morning at 7:00 and spent an hour on her knees praying. She had a list of people that she prayed for every Monday……. and in the middle of the night if she couldn’t sleep she would pray. She would even pray to the patron saint of animals if something was wrong with your companion.
Agnes fell in love with Miss Lady (our first cocker) the minute she met her and every year when Holy Cross held the” bless the animals” day she always wanted me to take Miss Lady, but I was working and could never go. So Agnes bought Lady a St Francis medal and had the Priest bless it. Miss Lady wore it the rest of her life because Agnes wanted to be sure she was protected.
When I had surgery I always told Agnes when the surgery was to begin and about the amount of time that they told me it would take. I knew when I went into the surgical room that she would be on her knees at the church and she would stay there until the surgery was over. I knew that everything was going to go okay as long as Agnes was on duty at the church.
I believe that Agnes had a direct line to God and that anything she asked for she usually received. Everyone that knew her felt the same and would always ask her to pray for them. She would even pray for a total stranger if you gave her the name and what the problem was, and it always helped them too.
When Miss Lady became ill in August with congestive heart failure, at the age of 13, we were told that we would be lucky to have her with us at Christmas. When I told Agnes what the vet had told us, she said we will just see about that. She told us that as long as we thought she was happy and wanted to stay around she would ask St Francis to help her and keep her here with us.
A year and a month later I knew that Miss Lady was tired and ready to go. I told Agnes on a Thursday that she was ready and she could ask St. Francis to help her leave. She said she would ask for that very thing that night when she prayed for her list of people.
The very next evening, on Friday, Miss Lady passed away very peacefully at home. I called Agnes the next morning and told her about it and she said she had asked St Francis to take her. She knew before I called that it had happened.
From that day on I always told her I firmly believed that what she prayed for she received. I told her that I suspected God got so tired of her being in his face that he would tell the saint to give her whatever she asked for.
So now that Agnes has passed away at the age of 97 (almost 98) I have a feeling that she will become a guardian angel for someone, and even though God took her home it will not keep her from being in His face.
She will just be closer and able to bug him more for anything she thinks those she is guarding may need. I sure hope I am one of the lucky few that she chooses to be in God’s face for. To contact Sandy: [email protected]