Remembering Anita
The call came to the members of the chapter and it hit us all like a bolt of lightening. Our dear sister, Anita Grant, was being rushed to a hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Her health had taken a turn for the worse, and we all needed to be in prayer. It was a call no one ever wanted to receive, but one we all feared was a possibility. Now, right before Christmas, the holiday cheer was cloaked with sadness. “Fight, Anita, fight,” was the silent command we spoke to her in our minds. “God, help her, and give us strength,” was our prayer.
Anita was a fighter, and it was a title she wore proudly. She had beaten cancer three times during her 54 years on this earth. About 18 months previously, she came to a chapter meeting of Alpha Omicron Omega and told us the cancer had returned. She was under the care of the Cancer Centers of America in Chicago and traveled there monthly for her treatments. She was pleased with the holistic care the center offered incorporating mind, body, spirit and science. She was learning to live with cancer. It was a part of her life and she was determined to co-exist with this disease. She explained that she was more than a survivor. She was a fighter. She was doing this thing under her own terms and cancer did not define her. She defined her cancer, and was fighting it with the arrogance and swag of Muhammad Ali, with the endurance and grit of George Forman, with style of Sugar Ray Leonard and with the hard-knuckle, street-boldness of Mike Tyson. She was a fighter, she was not going to bend under the weight of a diagnosis, and she was going to stand on the promises of God to never leave nor forsake her.
Even when we saw her in October at the last West Virginia Cluster that she would attend, you would not have known that she was as sick as she was. She was easily winded and it took a lot out of her to drive to the event from her home in Athens, Ohio. But she put on her colors, her shield, and her smile and came to represent the chapter that she loved. The sorority meant just that much to her. It always had since she was initiated in 2002. “I expect that it will get better,” she told one sister. But it didn’t. The mass in her chest grew larger and would not respond to the prescribed treatments. On December 21, 2015, Anita breathed her last breath. We celebrated Anita at one of two services in Columbus, OH, on December 30, 2015. It was there that members of her circle heard from one another. What an impact she had. She was a mentor to a young woman who adopted her as a second mom. She would calm her fears when the stress of being a young aspiring doctor weighed too heavily. Without scorn or scowl, she would get her point across effectively and poignantly. Simple, kind and direct words were the only correction needed. Her friends were there as well. They shared how they became her dear confidants as they drove to church and other destinations using the road to share their hurts, their pains, their successes and their secrets. How wonderfully and eloquently they spoke of her. How we all wished we could have been seated next to them on some of those trips.
And her dear niece, Ashley, who grew exponentially in the few days that her precious Auntie was admitted one last time to the hospital. All that she could say was thank you. The emotions choking her words and clouding her thoughts as she stood by Anita in her final rest. All the years of advice, guidance, love and support that were invested in her spoke volumes on that day, because Ashley possessed the poise and grit and strength that Anita would have expected. She was the refined woman who handled the occasion exquisitely. How it blessed us to witness this.
This is not a farewell to our Love. It is a testament that each of us, the women of Alpha Omicron Omega, is better because Anita has become a part of us. We served beside her, laughed out loud often with her, grew through her, and now shed a tear at times because of her. We are all crushed but stronger as a chapter bound by the struggle of having someone taken way too soon. So, we remember Anita, and we thank God that He gave her to us, if only for a little while.
With Sisterly Love,
The Ladies of Alpha Omicron Omega Chapter,
Metro-Charleston, WV
Anita was a fighter, and it was a title she wore proudly. She had beaten cancer three times during her 54 years on this earth. About 18 months previously, she came to a chapter meeting of Alpha Omicron Omega and told us the cancer had returned. She was under the care of the Cancer Centers of America in Chicago and traveled there monthly for her treatments. She was pleased with the holistic care the center offered incorporating mind, body, spirit and science. She was learning to live with cancer. It was a part of her life and she was determined to co-exist with this disease. She explained that she was more than a survivor. She was a fighter. She was doing this thing under her own terms and cancer did not define her. She defined her cancer, and was fighting it with the arrogance and swag of Muhammad Ali, with the endurance and grit of George Forman, with style of Sugar Ray Leonard and with the hard-knuckle, street-boldness of Mike Tyson. She was a fighter, she was not going to bend under the weight of a diagnosis, and she was going to stand on the promises of God to never leave nor forsake her.
Even when we saw her in October at the last West Virginia Cluster that she would attend, you would not have known that she was as sick as she was. She was easily winded and it took a lot out of her to drive to the event from her home in Athens, Ohio. But she put on her colors, her shield, and her smile and came to represent the chapter that she loved. The sorority meant just that much to her. It always had since she was initiated in 2002. “I expect that it will get better,” she told one sister. But it didn’t. The mass in her chest grew larger and would not respond to the prescribed treatments. On December 21, 2015, Anita breathed her last breath. We celebrated Anita at one of two services in Columbus, OH, on December 30, 2015. It was there that members of her circle heard from one another. What an impact she had. She was a mentor to a young woman who adopted her as a second mom. She would calm her fears when the stress of being a young aspiring doctor weighed too heavily. Without scorn or scowl, she would get her point across effectively and poignantly. Simple, kind and direct words were the only correction needed. Her friends were there as well. They shared how they became her dear confidants as they drove to church and other destinations using the road to share their hurts, their pains, their successes and their secrets. How wonderfully and eloquently they spoke of her. How we all wished we could have been seated next to them on some of those trips.
And her dear niece, Ashley, who grew exponentially in the few days that her precious Auntie was admitted one last time to the hospital. All that she could say was thank you. The emotions choking her words and clouding her thoughts as she stood by Anita in her final rest. All the years of advice, guidance, love and support that were invested in her spoke volumes on that day, because Ashley possessed the poise and grit and strength that Anita would have expected. She was the refined woman who handled the occasion exquisitely. How it blessed us to witness this.
This is not a farewell to our Love. It is a testament that each of us, the women of Alpha Omicron Omega, is better because Anita has become a part of us. We served beside her, laughed out loud often with her, grew through her, and now shed a tear at times because of her. We are all crushed but stronger as a chapter bound by the struggle of having someone taken way too soon. So, we remember Anita, and we thank God that He gave her to us, if only for a little while.
With Sisterly Love,
The Ladies of Alpha Omicron Omega Chapter,
Metro-Charleston, WV