Thursday, February 15, 2018

Exponential Living: Fran Penrod and the Impact of One Life

The time had come. Paula and I had plans and needed someone to take care of our newborn, our firstborn (Nate). This would be the very first time he would be out of our site and care. (Maybe it was a date??? More likely an activity with our church youth group.) The big question: Who would we entrust with our baby, our firstborn?

Then we had our second kid, a little girl (Niki) and again it was time to leave her with someone for the first time. Who do we trust to take care of Niki? And then a few years later we moved to Chicago and needed someone to live with us, someone to help take care of Niki, now four years old, and Nate after he got out of school. Who could we trust to be with our kids almost more than we would be with them?

For a parent, one of the biggest decisions you make early on is who do we trust and who do we want hanging out and influencing our kids during the most impressionable time of their lives?

Although these decisions were of utmost importance with long lasting ramifications, they were easy decisions for Paula & I. Why? Because we were friends with Fran and Larry Penrod. It was like we were their kids and it was like their kids were our kids. We were privy to inside information. We knew how much Fran and Larry loved Jesus, loved each other and loved their kids. We had the inside scoop on how their kids loved and respected their parents.

So it was a no brainer! Who else would we have picked to watch our first born for the first time than Fran Penrod – this women full of grit and compassion, who lived every day with a twinkle of mischief in her eye. We absolutely knew no harm would come to our son. We knew he would be loved as much if not more than we loved him. And that twinkle of mischief in her eye . . . You had to know Fran to understand that you just didn’t take life to seriously!


And who better to be the first one to take care of Niki when we had to leave her for the first time than Fran’s daughter Karen. If you can’t get the matriarch, than you go with the firstborn of the matriarch – a “chip off the ole’ block”. 

And then came our move to Chicago and the need for someone to live with us, help us transition, and help us raise our kids, ages four and five. You guessed it! We headed straight to the Penrods and were gifted beyond measure to have Nona live with us in Chicago for a year – loving our kids as her own, giving them a solid rock to lean on during that big change, helping instill solid values in Nate and Niki, and teaching them through example a love for life & adventure with an attitude that never takes life more serious than we should, all learned from her amazing mother, Fran Penrod.

I guess Jesus decided Fran had influenced enough people on this earth because she left us for heaven this past Saturday night. It isn’t just our family that is the recipient of Fran’s influence. There’s a thick book filled with these stories. Paula & I are just thankful that the Clark’s were one of the lucky ones to have our story in that book! And our blessing carried through right to the end.

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We chose to celebrate Christmas and our 40th Anniversary by going back to Kankakee First Church of the Nazarene where we met and got our start. (I’ll just mention here that Larry Penrod sang at our wedding! And Brian . . . if there was a 3rd kid in our family, you were on deck!) After church, who was waiting to greet us and give us a big hug with that mischievous smile? Yep, Fran Penrod. (I was surprised, and now I’m disappointed I didn’t get one last solid arm punch that she usually would throw my way.)


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It will never be the same when we go back to K3 First Nazarene now that Fran’s gone. It just won’t! That’s the difference maker Fran was. And the Clarks??? We owe a forever debt of gratitude to Fran Penrod for both her direct and indirect influence on our family. Thank you Fran! We love you! Thank you for being an instrument of the Shalom of Christ in our family and so many others. Now, you are living the eternal Shalom that awaits the faithful followers of Jesus Christ. And I know you are up to some type of mischief . . .
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