Cuma Gale Flowers' Obituary
Cuma Gale Flowers (Bearden) arrived at her eternal destination on September 3, 2019 following 95 years of life, lost, and love. She was the last of ten children by John and Daisy Compton. Born in Branson Missouri on May 29, 1924, she came, with her twin boys to Sacramento in 1959 in order to work through the winter (as she had in the past, since the winters in the Ozarks were too harsh). While in Sacramento, she and her boys were hit head on by a drunk driver. She struggled to recover; nearly loosing an arm and leg. She never returned to Missouri, except to visit.
Though she was able to keep her arm and leg, she continued to struggle with pain throughout her life. Struggling, she was able to work full time and always had a second job or found ways to supplement her nurses’ aid income. She worked as a nurses’ aid until obtaining her LPN in 1972. Never was she idle. She would work at nights and go to the tomato fields each morning, with her boys, to pick tomatoes until noon each day. She would go to orchards and glean fruit to bring home and can. She would go to the chicken farms and buy old hens for a dollar and her and the boys would “clean” them and sell them for two dollars. She would always seem to find a way to make extra money and meet the demands of purchasing a home and life on minimum wage.
When she was no longer able to work or get out, she remained busy by sending cards of every occasion to family and church members. No one asked her to do that. She found a new “calling” and ministry; being faithful to the end. The day she died, cards were delivered with words of thanksgiving and appreciation.
Though she had much reason to complain, she was thankful. She considered herself blessed to have so many who would volunteer to sit with her in the hours she was without health care. She was blessed to have great women who took care of her needs in the last years of her life. She was always excited to get visits from the church and from family members. She kept in touch of distant family though the internet.
Cuma was preceded in death by her first two boys. George Jr. died shorty after birth early in her marriage. John Sr. in February, 2002, her parents and all of her 9 siblings. She leaves behind her “twins”, Roy Bearden of Bonne Terre, Missouri and Robert (Bob) Bearden of Seattle, Washington, their wives, Debbie and Anita Bearden, Penny Dollar-Bearden, (John’s widow), her “adopted daughter”, Sharon Holerman of Charmichael, California, four living grandchildren, six great grandchilden, numerous neices and nephews, great and great great neices and grandchildren, a multitude of friends and church family members whom loved her and she loved.
Over a span of 9 decades, she touched many; enhancing all. She will be deeply missed. She leaves a legacy of care, love, and generosity. Her calls and cards are now silenced but, not her memory. She is well deserving of a rest, and now, has found it in the arms of her Savior, Jesus; surrounded by family and friends whom she has missed and grieved for many years. She is surrounded by love and begins the short wait for the rest of us to join her.
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