McKeithen, Zona Milburn (Mrs. J.P.)
12/17/1989
| Zona Milburn McKeithen was born August 14,1913 in Tehuacana, Texas. Zona joined the heavenly choir December 17, 1989. She married J. P. McKeithen September 1, 1936. He was a student, preparing for the ministry. J.P. is a retired member of the Louisiana Conference with over fifty years in the ministry. Zona was wholly dedicated to her husband and his work and their two children, Elaine Croft and Pierce McKeithen, and gave unlimited support to her family, to the Church and to her Lord. Zona taught school for several years in Louisiana. Her contribution to the teaching profession could be compared to the words from Job 4:3-4, “Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened weak hands. Your words have upheld him who was stumbling.” I have been told that there are many young people who testify to the high principles and qualities of character that Zona instilled in them during their formative years. As well as her teaching, Zona enjoyed using her training and talent in good music. When she sang, “I Know That My Redeemer Liveth,” it was obvious that she knew the Redeemer. She sang from the soul and with her heart. Zona taught us how to live and how to die. In her long illness, she did not lose hope. She prayed for healing but when it did not come, she did not lose faith. The miraculous healings of some receive our shiniest merit badges, leaving those unhealed Christians feeling as if God has passed them by, but Zona knew that faith is a daily, dependent trust in God’s love and power in spite of results, and I am sure that she has received her merit badge. Someone has said that there are three types of music in the great symphony of life: The Reveille, with its shrill notes demanding that we pay attention to the joys and demands offered in the Christian life, the Hallelujah Chorus, that makes us want to stand and sing praises to God, and there is the Great Finale, the final music, that makes death a Victory March when one has lived a dedicated, unselfish, compassionate life as Zona did. Her lamp of faith shined so brightly that even death could not put it out. |
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| Source: Journal Louisiana Conference, 1990; p. 228……………..By J. Walter Browers | |
