My mother-in-law passed away last week. Her death wasn’t unexpected. At 76, she had lived a long life and a good life. Still, the finality of it was difficult to swallow.

On Friday, the family met with the pastor to talk about Saturday’s funeral service.

My wife Becky, her brothers and sister and my father-in-law did most of the talking. They remembered stories about their mother from their childhood. They remembered caring for her over the past couple months as her health really began to fail. I didn’t speak, choosing instead to listen to all those stories, some of which I already knew, others which were new to me.

As I listened, one thing stood out to me. Mrs. Howbert — I never could call her by her first name, Elaine — was like the center of a wheel.

She was the center of her family’s attention. When her children needed something, it was Mrs. Howbert they called. Her sisters and her brother Dan were regular visitors. Mrs. Howbert was the sibling they all turned to.

She was the center of the neighborhood. In their rural community in Southside Virginia, she was the person who seemed to know what was going on. She knew this not because she worked the phones, but because people felt comfortable talking to her.

She was the center of her husband’s world. For the past few years, as Mrs. Howbert’s health slowly declined. Mr. Howbert made her his top priority. As she lay in her deathbed for the past few months, Mr. Howbert had to be pushed and prodded to leave her bedside long enough to run to town.

On my last visit to their home before she died, Mrs. Howbert lay sleeping in the bed. Mr. Howbert sat on an uncomfortable-looking stool, paying little attention to others in the room. He just looked at his wife and wiped the hair from her face.

The thought occurred to me then that I should hope to be as dutiful as he was. For Mr. Howbert, his wife was the center of his wheel.

The Howbert family wheel is now without its center. When the center of any wheel becomes distorted, or dies, the wheel wobbles.

The Howbert family wheel is pretty wobbly these days.

It misses its center.

***** On a more cheery note, you have a couple opportunities this week to help worthy causes, both of which I’m unabashedly involved in.

The Wendell Rotary Club is sponsoring a golf tournament Friday at Wendell Country Club. Registration for a four-person team is only $220. That’s pretty cheap for area golf tournaments.

The event starts at 1 p.m. Friday. Since Father’s Day is on a Sunday and you don’t really get a day off, you should treat yourself to a Friday afternoon on the golf course with your friends.

Call Sam Laughery at 366-6251 if you’d like to play. There’s still room for your team.

Sunday — yes, Father’s Day — is the deadline for buying tickets to the Wakefield Central Baptist plate sale, which will be June 26 from 4-7 p.m.

Money raised from the event will help send a team of 10 from the church to Budapest, Hungary where they will run a week-long vacation Bible school. Call the church office at 269-9512 to purchase your $6 ticket.

I’ve been promised the food is good and you’ll have a chance to visit with friends and neighbors.