Trudy A. Yockey — Dec. 19, 1931-Feb. 25, 2022 — chose this poem as her goodbye to the valley that was her home for well over 60 years.
I’d like the memory of me
to be a happy one.
I’d like to leave an afterglow
of smiles when the day is done.
I’d like to leave an echo
whispering softly down the ways,
of happy times, and laughing times
and bright and sunny days.
I’d like the tears of those who grieve
to dry before the sun
of happy memories I leave
behind — when the day is done.
“Afterglow,” by Helen Lowrie Marshall
Trudy asks to be remembered in the beauty of the valley and the laughter in your heart.
