Laurie Heath Studio: Wonderfully Made

One year ago today I did a portrait session with this beautiful family. We were celebrating Terry's victory over lymphoma and his return to teaching math at Alvin High School.


Nine months later we celebrated Terry in a different way...

(Thanks for the photo, Mark Davenport.)

... and boy was it a celebration! We started with a memorial service that Terry would have been very proud of (since he had told us exactly what to do and we followed his instructions to the letter). Then we all proceeded directly to a fundraiser organized by Teri Lynn's Angleton Central Elementary School co-workers and hosted by The Ice House. People came from all over the place to show their support for this beloved family.

Nathan created his own fundraiser by picking up bottlecaps and selling them to eager customers, while Rachel hung out with a friend near the baked goodies.

Fried catfish plates flew out of the door and into customers' watering mouths.

And then the auction got underway and everyone joined in the fun.

One bidder's pockets were so deep, he brought more than one person in the crowd to tears.

And the bidder got what he really wanted out of that deal -- a hug and huge smiles from Teri Lynn.

It was a day of wildly mixed emotions, a day our community poured love onto broken hearts, a day I'll never forget. Thank you, Terry, for being the sort of guy everyone rallied around, on your good days as well as all the others. Thank you for being my friend.

O death, where is thy sting?

O grave, where is thy victory?

1 Corinthians 15:55 KJV