Re-connecting to the ” Chapel of Hope Connection”

First Visit to St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope-July 2010

Dear Reader:

The picture above was the most looked at photo in 2015 in my mobile phone’s photo albums…even though the original picture had been the impetus for the creation of the blog post five years earlier.

It is important to remind myself at certain intervals to go back and re-tell / update the story on how this blog post came about…

When a reader pulls the post each day… he/ she can discover the story behind the story’ by simply clicking on The Chapel of Hope Connection –located directly under my name ( About Becky Dingle) in the far right hand column!

I took the time to go back-in 2015- and catch up new readers who hadn’t been there from the start in August 2010. The response was overwhelming!

Besides Beverly Barutio’s story recapturing a lot of hearts in 2015… I began hearing from her children and grandchildren !

Jessica Martin: Beverly was my mamaw, it’s so awesome to see this! It warms my heart and I know she would love it too!

Christina Petersen: Thank you so much for the kind words about our beloved Mamaw and the chapel. It is so wonderful to see how something she was so passionate about has touched so many lives. She truly was the best!

It wasn’t until the following year that I received another message from Beverly’s son… appropriately on Mother’s Day Weekend!

John LaBarbera: Folks, this was/ is the chapel my mother and father built many years ago while she was battling cancer. The kind words shared here make me humbled and appreciative of her… and YOU folks who have written here and in the book kept in the chapel itself. As I read and reflect on her this Mother’s Day, I thank God for her and the kind people who have passed through that door. God bless you all.

I remain so inspired by Beverly’s story that several years ago I wrote a poem in tribute to Beverly and her life-altering chapel.

So until tomorrow…Thank you Father for leading us to the special places along our life’s journey …where we are meant to pause, reflect, re-new and always return.

” Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

About Becky Dingle

I was born a Tarheel but ended up a Sandlapper. My grandparents were cotton farmers in Laurens, South Carolina and it was in my grandmother’s house that my love of storytelling began beside an old Franklin stove. When I graduated from Laurens High School, I attended Erskine College (Due West of what?) and would later get my Masters Degree in Education/Social Studies from Charleston Southern. I am presently an adjunct professor/clinical supervisor at CSU and have also taught at the College of Charleston. For 28 years I taught Social Studies through storytelling. My philosophy matched Rudyard Kipling’s quote: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” Today I still spread this message through workshops and presentations throughout the state. The secret of success in teaching social studies is always in the story. I want to keep learning and being surprised by life…it is the greatest teacher. Like Kermit said, “When you’re green you grow, when you’re ripe you rot.”

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