A funny, energetic, passionate, loving, artistic, and beautifully blunt force of nature was celebrated in a Memorial this past weekend when family, friends, and community came together for Paulette Fogle. After battling through an intense fight with cancer, Paulette moved on to work her creative and candid magic up with all the other strong personalities like my own mom's, and all the strong women that have gone before her.
She lives on as a shining beacon of that driving passion in her husband Doug, who is the yin to her yang if there ever was one, and two of the nicest boys that you could meet in Hayden and Evan. Men who will be so much the better for the rest of their lives, because of the energetic artists painbrush that their wife and mom used on who they are. I have gotten to know Evan the most as he and Trevor are close, but these are three "good guys", that were strongly impacted by the force of a strong woman.
The service was simple and personal, and one of those where the pastor, the family, and the community could all relate to the woman up on the screen, in the picture frame, on the table, and in the words and emotion that came through from each speaker. They all spoke of how passionate Paulette was with everything that she encountered in life. Her fierce love of her husband and protection for her boys, to her outspoken nature on many a subject, her determination to wage the war against cancer, her connection with her faith and how that helped her, and her funny way of channeling all those forces, and the appreciation she had for coloring outside the lines in the pursuit of all of them.
She was an artist that loved to express herself whether it was in art, photo, playing with her new iMac, or loving music. The moment where it hit me the most about what kind of an impact this woman had upon others around her, was after the service and the lunch reception as we were going to leave Calvary. Natalie was still talking to a few friends, and I strolled back over into the church expecting to see nobody in there. I turn the corner to see Evan quietly playing a guitar that was left up on stage and smiling. His mom was just a few feet away even though it seemed like she was so far away. With music, Evan will be playing her song for a very long time.
Paulette - it was cool to know you. Say hi to my mom. God only knows how intense that coversation will be.