GREAT GRANDMA RUTH

The Voice of Downriver
Family gathers to mark 100th birthday
By Paula Evans Neuman - Published: Wednesday, June 30, 2010



Ruth Lloyd McCartney was joined by many family members to celebrate her 100th birthday at Belle Fountain Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Riverview recently.

The eighth of Joseph and Margaret Lloyd’s nine children, she was born on June 22, 1910, in West Virginia.

Her mother died when she was 7, and her father had to move away to find work, so the five youngest children in the family moved in with their grandparents, George and Mildred Griffin, who had a farm.

“Most of her childhood memories came during this time with Grandpap and Grandma Griffin,” said Ruth’s son, Richard McCartney.

Her grandfather was a lawyer, and she remembers him as “a cantankerous sort.”

“When Grandpap would do something which didn’t sit well with Grandma, she would say, ‘Law me, that old man,’ McCartney’s son said. “That phrase stayed with Ruth her entire life.”

She also tells of stopping to visit her mother’s tombstone on a hill on the way to the one-room schoolhouse she attended.

Ruth and her older sister, Mary, moved to Ohio when they were a little older. Ruth went to “beauty school” there, and the two sisters moved to Detroit in the late 1920s.

Ruth married William McCartney, and they had a daughter, Jeannine, and two sons, Tom and Bill. The family moved to Riverview in 1945, and it was there that Richard was born.


“In addition to raising her children, Ruth spent some time working as a waitress at Corrigan’s Café and Blossom Bar in Wyandotte,” Richard said.

Ruth and her husband attended many Riverview High School sporting events when their children were in school there, and helped form the Riverview Booster Club.

Ruth and William retired to Florida and lived there through the 1970s and early 1980s. During that time, Ruth worked in a high school cafeteria.

Her husband died in 1986, and Ruth moved back to the Downriver area.

“An avid bingo player through the years, she could be found playing as many as 12 to 15 cards at a time while in her upper 90s,” her son said.

She has 16 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren.

Coming from Colorado, Texas, Illinois, Ohio and across Michigan, most of them were in attendance during her 100th birthday celebration.

God’s Greatest Gift by Marc McCartney 1994

It was a rainy and humid Sunday night in Waco as two Baylor freshmen, Marc and Blair, discussed what the preacher had talked about that morning. The preacher told of the awesome gifts that God has for everyone. They each the same thing on their mind that night. Marc told Blair about the greatest gift that God had ever given him…..

Growing up as a McCartney you learn one thing quick, Jesus Christ is Lord! As a kid I can remember going to hear all kinds of different Christian singer and speakers, and reading the Bible together as a family every single night. I was taught at a very young age that Jesus is Lord, and there is no compromising that fact. However, the greatest teaching came in my relationship with my parents. First of all, my mother is amazing! All of my close friends would tell you that she is the heart and soul of our family and they are right. She’s like an offensive linemen, never getting the credit that she deserves. My Mom has taught me many things, but the greatest lessons come by the way that she lives her life. Some words that come to mind about my Mom are humorous, loyal, and compassionate. My Mon’s humor has always shined through, whether it’s the sill way that she can make us all laugh or the kid in her that will let her seven year old son go to Taco Bell for his Fist Communion breakfast (by the way Mom, Taco Bell is still my favorite). Her loyalty has always been an inspiration to me. I can remember the time when she scolded and grounded my brothers because they didn’t go to one of my soccer games. She got her point across, because some of my greatest memories growing up have been to have Mike at my junior high football games, or Tom driving all the way to Pueblo to watch me in the State Championship. She also displayed her loyalty in the way that she stuck by my Dad no matter what was going on. I’ll never forget waiting for Dad after his football games. I think my favorite part of the games was to see Mom and Dad hug afterwards. My Mom is definitely compassionate. I’ll always remember the cake she made me when I didn’t make the little league all-star team, and how the whole family came out to my last game and told me that “I was their little all-star”.

My Dad is the greatest Christian man that I know. If the Bible was written today there is no doubt in my mind that there would be a book called, “Coach Mac”, I can remember going to two-a-days to watch my Dad’s to watch my Dad’s team practice and walking to lunch with him after practice. People would always want to walk with us, and when they did my Dad would never fail to share the Gospel with them. There are certain images that I have of my Dad that will always be with me. I remember his prayer list and how he would read it even when he was driving. I remember waking up each morning to the sight of my Dad in the living room reading the Bible. I also cannot recall a day in my life that Dad didn’t tell Mom how beautiful she looked, his example has taught me to bring Robin to splendor. I remember Halloween morning 1992, when we were about to play Nebraska in Lincoln for the Big Eight Championship and a shot at the National Title. Tom and Kristy and I were there for the game and instead of getting ready for one of the most important games of his life, he called a family meeting. He told Tom and I that the McCartney men needed to do a better job at showing Mom and Kristy how valuable they were to us. I was an incredible moment as we began to hug on and cry with each other. You see our Dad taught us long ago that it was okay to cry.

One thing about my Mom and Dad is that they are a great team. When we lost to Miami in 1993 we were all devastated and I was particularly upset. However, instead of feeling sorry for ourselves my parents called some of their friends over and we praised Jesus together for hours. It was a moving time when I was able to tell my Mom and Dad how much I love them, but words could never describe my feelings for them.

Hey Blair, everyone knows that the greatest gift that God ever gave us was his son. He gave me something different though, he gave me Jesus through my Mom and Dad. I don’t know why God decided to bless me so much with the parents that he gave me, but I honestly feel like the luckiest, most loved person in the world” After Blair told Marc about his parents the two knelt down together to praise God. Marc prayed and thanked his savior for the greatest gift of all, his Mom and Dad.

http://www.faithpluslife.blogspot.com/

“Parents are the pride of their children” by Kristy McCartney 1994

“Parents are the pride of their children”
Proverbs 17:6

Mom and Dad, you are worthy of honor and praise for the love, commitment, and selflessness you have shown me. I am thankful you were married, had me, and stayed together through all the hard times. Your love and commitment to each other has enriched my life and the lives of my children. I thank you for giving your lives to Christ and sharing His love with me. For this I am eternally grateful. As a family we have had many good times. These are some of the memories I cherish:

FCA camps, bowl games, vacations in Florida at the McCartney’s trailer, help with science projects, extra gifts at Christmas time, visiting Grandma and Grandpa Mac, Mom sponge painting the walls, Dad making us clean the garage, doing yard work, hugging and loving me when I didn’t make cheerleader, playing telephone, Mom making our Halloween costume (and dressing up too), how special you made our birthdays, visiting Dad at practice, playing pin ball at Dad’s office, all those Girl Scout meetings, getting lost at camp, our trip to the mountains with Mom’s family, fighting in the car on road trips, Dad threatening to pull the car over, the millions of football, basketball, and baseball games, beating Notre Dame (twice!), reading the Bible before bed. There are so many memories we have made. Thank you for all of them.

Mom, as you look back on your life, it might not have gone the way you had planned. But I want you to know you have raised a daughter who thinks the world of you. l You are so beautiful to me. You are elegant, graceful, and classy (it shows in everything you do). You are supportive, loving, kind, generous, forgiving, patient, funny, and incredibly talented. I am in awe of your writing abilities. You have been through so much pain in your life, yet, you find a way to be positive and forgiving. I admire that and long to be like you. You are a role model for me as a Christian woman and mother. You have sacrificed so many things for me. I appreciate each and every one of those sacrifices with all of my heart. You have been my best friend through many tough times, never judging me, only loving and accepting me. I trust you with my deepest thoughts, fears, and joys. I am so proud that you are my Mother. I thank you, I honor you and I love you Mom.

Dad, I don’t think you realize how much I admire and respect you. When I have trouble with something and need help, I think of you. You have so much wisdom. You speak with such passion and conviction and you live that way too. Your discipline has not gone unnoticed. You had an impact on me. You are someone I look up to and strive to be like in many ways. You are a man of God, and I am proud to call you my Father. You have no idea what joy and excitement it brings me to hear you speak. At Promise Keepers ’94, I was so excited to hear you speak I could hardly contain myself. I search the radio for your speeches. For all of the speeches I have been to, from Buff Belles to Phoenix ’90, I am so proud of you. You instilled in all of us the need for God in our lives, the importance of Church every Sunday, and reading the Word daily. I am thankful for those vital truths you have given me.
Father, I thank you, I honor you and I love you Dad.

I love you Mom and Dad
Kristy

Footprints to Follow by Tom McCartney 1994

Two sets of footprints represent the good times. One set of footprints represents the tough times. The Lord says where there is one set of footprints; those are the times that I carried you. Mom and Dad, thank you for the footprints that you have left, the Lord has blessed the two of you and your children follow in your footprints.

Dad, you raised our family to seek the Lord. Thank you for all those nights we turned off The television and you read from the Bible. Thank you for all those mornings you prayed over each of us, and thank you for never missing church on Sunday, and always including us to say the Rosary with you in the car.

Mom, your treasure on earth was your family. The Lord blessed you with many talents:
Playing the piano, playing the guitar, teaching, singing and writing. However, the gift you choose as a career, was loving your family. Thank you For the sacrifices you have made to be with your Family and the footprints that you have left.

Mom and Dad, thank you for modeling to your family the key to living, which is giving. Mom, I remember when I was a teenager and you asked me if I was going to Marc’s baseball game, and I said “no”. You told me how you had brought Marc to all of my games and how much it would mean to him if I came to his game. Mom, thank you for going to my games and thank you for teaching me, by example, how to give to others. Dad, I recall times when family members and you were in a disagreement. Before too long, I always remember seeing you go first to the family member and ask for their forgiveness. Dad, forgiving and giving equals living and you and mom make a great team.

John 4:38 “I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

Mom and Dad you are leaving a legacy behind you. Thank you for building our home on a strong foundation. I thought about separate tributes for each of you, but the two of you have never been separate. I love you both and I ask for your forgiveness. Mom you once told me that I didn’t have a clue and you were right. I have taken my loved ones for granted. Why do we take our loved ones for granted? I believe it is because the two of you have always been there for me and both of you have been servants to me. Forgive me, because I have not been a servant back to you. Mom, I have always wanted to marry someone like you and the Lord has blessed me. Dad, I have always wanted to be just like you.

Thank you for your footprints.
I love you both,
Thomas Chase.

A TRIBUTE to Mom and Dad by Mike McCartney 1994

Mom and Dad, my life is richer because you have given so much to me. Together, you have taught me love, honor, respect, responsibility, devotion discipline, ethics, morals and commitment. I’ve learned from your words and I’ve learned from your actions. You provided a safe and Godly environment to grow up in. There are so many great memories that I have of growing up. I want to share them here with you so that you will always know my appreciation for you.

Mom, you are the most tender, loving person I know. You make everyone feel so comfortable, never judging anyone. Your caring nature is obvious to anyone who knows you, not to mention your devotion to our family. I love you and hold you in the highest regard.

Mom, the most special times I’ve shared with you have been our 3 driving trips, especially the one to North Carolina. Yes it was the longest, yet it also gave us the most timed to talk, It was such a great honor to hear of your past, your dreams, your struggles, and your love for Dad and the family. At the conclusion of the drive to Kansas, saying good-bye was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.

As I reminisce about growing up, so many moments come to mind. I want to thank you for attending every Little League baseball and basketball game, even when they started in the early hours. Thanks for believing that every injury was legitimate, despite 16 broken fingers. Your tenderness and affection when I was sick and the way you, rubbed my stomach and special memories. You taught me how to drive a stick shift. You demonstrated the importance of tithing by giving me a dollar for church when I was young. Two other memories truly stand out and are of such significance to me. Your devotion to Dad, and knowing that Jenni was the one from the onset, welcoming and loving her into our family.

Dad, you are a man of tremendous integrity, principle and character. I admire the work ethic and discipline in your life. Everything you ever get involved in seems to be great or turn great. You have so many talents and are unquestionably the greatest source for me to turn to for advice. You taught me how to be gracious in defeat and humble in victory. (You had much more practice at humbleness) I am grateful that I always knew of your great love and affection for Mom and you children. I love and respect you very much.

Dad, Saturday’s when you were a basketball coach were very special days. We would start out at the donut shop before practice. Shooting hoops and being around the players were great times. I still remember you trying to teach me what double dribble meant. Following practice, we would often head to Miller’s Bar for the best burgers in town. I also remember state playoff games at the Silverdome, watching Mark “The Bird” Fidrych pitch, and chapel services at Tiger Stadium. Lunch at the Michigan training table, sideline passes, making sure I got into the locker room after the Rose Bowl win, and all of your stirring pre-game talks (I’ll never forget the 15 rounds at Oklahoma) are great memories. I loved being a “coaches’ kid”, even if it meant getting booed in the sixth grade upon returning from the Rose Bowl. Thanks for the sex talk driving to Indiana, I remember marveling at your words as we constructed the best poem for Tommy Hearns.

Mom and Dad, you have added so much to my life, yet the greatest gift you have given to me was showing me the door to eternal life. Dad, thanks for leading the family in daily devotions and teaching us about the love of Christ. Mom, thanks for your example of servant hood. I thank you both for praying over me and illustrating God’s love daily. I have learned so much from each of you and strive to be more like you. Dad, you’re my example of being a Godly man at home and at work. And Mom, if I could be as selfless as you, I would truly be fortunate, as well as those around me. I have been blessed beyond measure and owe it to the two of you. Mom and Dad, I love honor and thank you.
Mike

In Honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

Paper written by

Derek McCartney 07

Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin. His grandfather began the family's long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931; his father has served from then until the present, and from 1960 until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor. Martin Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia, graduating from high school at the age of fifteen; he received the B. A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a distinguished Negro institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather had been graduated. After three years of theological study at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania where he was elected president of a predominantly white senior class, he was awarded the B.D. in 1951. With a fellowship won at Crozer, he enrolled in graduate studies at Boston University, completing his residence for the doctorate in 1953 and receiving the degree in 1955. In Boston he met and married Coretta Scott, a young woman of uncommon intellectual and artistic attainments. Two sons and two daughters were born into the family.

In 1954, Martin Luther King accepted the pastoral of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Always a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race, King was, by this time, a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the leading organization of its kind in the nation. He was ready, then, early in December, 1955, to accept the leadership of the first great Negro nonviolent demonstration of contemporary times in the United States, the bus boycott described by Gunnar Jahn in his presentation speech in honor of the laureate. The boycott lasted 382 days. On December 21, 1956, after the Supreme Court of the United States had declared unconstitutional the laws requiring segregation on buses, Negroes and whites rode the buses as equals. During these days of boycott, King was arrested, his home was bombed, he was subjected to personal abuse, but at the same time he emerged as a Negro leader of the first rank.

In 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. The ideals for this organization he took from Christianity; its operational techniques from Gandhi. In the eleven-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles. In these years, he led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience. and inspiring his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", a manifesto of the Negro revolution; he planned the drives in Alabama for the registration of Negroes as voters; he directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "l Have a Dream", he conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson; he was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times; he was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.

At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.



Devotional from Our Daily Bread
http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb.shtml

In late January 1956, during the tense days of the Montgomery Boycott, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. could not sleep. A threatening phone call had terrified him. So he prayed, “I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But Lord, I must confess that I’m weak now, I’m faltering. I’m losing my courage. Now, I am afraid. . . . The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they too will falter. I am at the end of my powers. . . . I can’t face it alone.”
Dr. King later wrote, “At that moment I experienced the presence of the Divine as I never experienced Him before. It seemed as though I could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice saying, ‘Stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth; and God will be at your side forever.’ Almost at once my fears began to go. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything.”
The rest is history. Dr. King wanted to see people of all colors free of the damage done by racism and prejudice.
If we face opposition when we’re trying to do what’s right, we too must cry out to the Lord. He alone is our “rock of refuge, a fortress of defense” (Ps. 31:2). He is our reliable source of strength and protection. —David C. Egner

The Wait is Part of the Ride

July 18, 2007

Don’t you just love it when something so simple in life becomes a profound truth lesson from God? I had such an epiphany while reading our youngest son’s Faith Plus Life blog. God blessed Coach Wonderful and I with four exceptional children all of whom write well. They are each creative, talented and lovers of the Lord. Oh, you can’t tell I’m the mother …. really … it’s all true! Marc just graduated from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California and enjoyed a mini vacation afterwards at Disney with his family. That’s where he discovered an incredible truth lesson from God in the midst of the ordinary. I let his own words describe the encounter.

The Wait is a part of the Ride!
By Marc McCartney
http://www.faithpluslife.blogspot.com/

One of the things that struck me visiting Disney was discovering that the wait was a part of the ride. Disney does an amazing job at creating an experience. They think of everything. They even call their employees Cast Members and it seems like most of them take on a “role” as they do their job. But what really got me this time was the waiting in line. Every ride had some sort of programming involved in the actual waiting area. For the Indiana Jones ride you walk through this amazing cavern underground to get to the ride. All along the way seeing different inscriptions or pieces of bamboo or jewels that take you to another place. In the Haunted Mansion you walk into a room to listen to a spooky recording. Then the room begins to stretch and spin and you begin to wonder if everything is going to be okay. In the Tower of Terror they take you back in the recesses of the hotel and stop in front of a furnace. This furnace helps to create a look that feels almost like a dungeon, all to get you into the right frame of mind before you ever step foot on the ride. They do all of this just to maximize your experience on the actual ride.

That got me thinking about my faith in Christ. The “rides” for me might be a chance to speak to a group about God. Or an opportunity to lead a mission trip. Or the planning and execution of one of our events that we do. My problem is that I don’t always treat the wait as a part of the ride. That’s a shame. I need to be more alert to the fact that every aspect of our lives is a part of the ride. God is never at rest. Life is always in motion. Even the moments that appear like waiting are opportunities to use our faith. I need to think more like the people who design the rides at Disney. I need to realize that the wait is a part of the ride. http://www.faithpluslife.blogspot.com/

A pearl to string: "All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth." (Colossians :6b NLT) I find it thrilling to continually discover God’s truths in my everyday life experiences. Growing and learning the things that are important to my Father. Thanks Marc for giving me a new perspective on lines.

Count it joy to wait on the Lord.
It’s part of the ride, Wheeeeeeeeeeeee ………… Love ya,
Lyndi