
She wanted to go straight from her home to her eternal home in heaven! After two trips to the ER it became evident to her that she would no longer be able to live independently in her residence alone as she had since her mother died. Valera had lived alone with her mother, Margaret since her father had died more than twenty years ago. When Margaret went home to heaven Valera was content to stay in the same home.
I first met Valera sometime In 1984 when Gary and I were serving at the First Church of God in Shawnee, Kansas and the church had determined that God was leading them to reach out to Olathe and start a new body. Five families were driving into Shawnee from Olathe and were concerned for their neighbors and coworkers who were far from God. Valera Bachman and her mother, Margaret lived in Overland Park and were attending a church in Kansas City Missouri but felt compelled to join the effort because Olathe was closer to them then the First Church of God in Kansas City, Kansas. Valera's father was a pastor and had planted a church in Lawrence, Kansas decades prior. But Valera and Margaret had the experience and the faith in God to know that He could do it.
From the very beginning they were all in! Although Margaret was well into her seventy's and Valera was nearing retirement from teaching in the Shawnee Mission School District, they had hearts to invest their lives, effort and gifts for the Kingdom of God for things that they knew would outlast them. Margaret was an avid prayer warrior and a positive encourager. Valera jumped into to teach the kindergartners.
That first Christmas in 1985 Valera brought me several little gifts, one for each of our children. She said she knew the church was small but she wanted the pastor's children to know that they were special. She had experienced the sacrifice and wanted to be an encouragement and blessing in our lives! When Gary conducted a funeral she told me that her father had always given whatever extra monetary gift he received for funerals to her mother so she could buy a new dress.
Over the years Valera became my personal confidante and prayer warrior. I remember calling her when I was struggling with parenting four little ones under six years old and she said she certainly would pray and that she did. And I know that she had not stopped. She call from time to time to keep up with their current status and most recent needs to pray.
Two weeks ago Wednesday night when Valera left Indian Creek Community Church she waved to me from across the atrium saying that she would call me the next morning. However when a friend took her home that evening she collapsed on the kitchen floor. After an ambulance ride to an unfamiliar hospital Friend, Tracey was waiting when the paramedic hopped out. When Tracey asked if Valera was still unresponsive, he declared, " Not anymore. She was talking in the ambulance! It is a miracle! He said. She was unresponsive! It is a miracle!
We all knew because she had insisted that everyone be aware that she had a DNR or as some term, an A.N.D (Allow Natural Death). She definitely didn't want to go anywhere in between here and heaven. That night in the ER the para returned to Valera's bedside to bring her a consent form to sign because he said that she honestly was not going to be around to sign it!
A few days later she was released to return home. There devoted friend, Tracey kept watch and cared
for Valera in Valera's own home. (Tracey even got to sleep in Margaret's old bedroom. We were so glad when Judy, Valera's beloved sister-in-law came to stay awhile. Judy was only here a little more than a day when she realized that Valera's breathing was again more laborious that she could handle at home so they were headed to the hospital when a kidzAlive! team member stopped by to pick up the material that Valera had been working to complete. Valera had enlisted the help of those who came to visit her to cut out the materials for the children's classes through August!
For the second Wednesday night in a row I missed Alpha and headed to the hospital to be with dear Valera. This time there was no party in the ER. The request was made for no other visitors as breathing was requiring all of Valera's energy and focus. Still she wanted to talk! We stayed until we were satisfied that she was resting well and that if we didn't leave she would get no sleep trying to keep us company.
Thursday night Gary and I went to Shawnee Mission Medical Center to be with Valera before leaving town for the annual International Convention of the Church of God in Indiana (which the Bachman's had attended on numerous occasions) and then spend a week of vacation. I knew that I didn't want to go without seeing her and praying with her. We spent some time and she was struggling for us to understand her because of the oxygen mask that was helping her to breath but she managed anyway.She wanted to again remind us of how very good God had been to her to provide people at just the right time to be there for her. All she could talk about was His goodness!
I hated to leave town when she was so weak. I knew that the plan was to consult the doctors the next day to get their collaborated advice. We were flying all morning, though I was in the air, my heart was back in SMMC with sweet Valera. Mid morning I heard that doctors were going to allow her to get rid of the oxygen mask and work toward getting to go home with hospice and she was jubilant! Tracey told me that Valera had a huge grin on her face and was rejoicing that they were going to honor her wishes not to go to invasive extremes to delay her departure. She told them that she was planning her trip to heaven! She wanted it to be a happy occasion! Of course it is for her! It is those of us who don't get to go with her that are sad! We will certainly miss her presence here!
Valera lived well and finished the race here going far more than the estimated distance that doctors had projected early in her life! My heart is sad as I can't even grasp the reality that the reality is: she is no longer here! The body she spent her days here housed in is dedicated to giving knowledge to medicine that others might benefit. Even in her dying she is thinking of others and giving! There is no doubt in my mind that she is rejoicing running through heaven greeting the host of others who beat her there: there is her father, her mother, one of her brothers, many from Indian Creek: Wayne Stout, Spike Jones, Larry Thomas, Lowell and Wylena Burns, young Bob Shuler, Jeff Williamson, and our own darling daughter--Megan. And then there are the hosts from the Bible who have been her inspiration over the years: Esther, Moses, Joseph, Mary, Paul, James, John, Rehab and the list goes on and on until the ultimate resident, Jesus Christ greets her Himself!
Enter in, dear precious sister Valera, daughter of the King, find that mansion. Our lives have been enriched and the body has been enhanced because of Valera Bachman's living her life in sacrifice for the Kingdom of God! May her legacy of children in the Lord go on and on and on!
Though it is indeed difficult to say good-bye here, it is exuberant to think of Valera forever in heaven whole! HALLELUJAH!!!! Precious to God is the death of His saints! HALLELUJAH!!!!