More about angels

I was so grateful to get all the angel stories readers sent in.

The stories were touching and heartfelt.

We could not get them all in print, so we thought we would place some of them online here on the blog. For those wondering about all the talk of angels, in my Dec. 5 column, I asked readers to send me their stories of angels. 

Read on for more readers’ stories. Also, feel free to leave your own stories of angels in the comment section below this post.

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Marilyn Vavra Pape, Edmond: Friends think of me first as a traveler, but also as someone who loves all living things. A senior citizen, I believe I’ve had four angel experiences, each involving travel, that could have lead to serious injury or even death. Following is my favorite angel story. In 1966, I was a few days “out” from having a chemo treatment, but offered to take some items to my daughter before she and her family left town. On the way, I saw a turtle on the road and stopped to pick it up. Unable to quite reach it, I moved the car closer. However, I’d taken my foot off the brake before realizing I was on a steep hill. The car quickly went downhill with one of my legs outside the door and one in. I had just a second to decide what to do — stay inside or jump out. Choosing the former, the car careened to the other side of the road into a deep ditch with trees everywhere. It stopped exactly between two large trees. The car, my dog in the backseat, the turtle and I were just fine! The driver of a car coming from the opposite direction saw the incident and stopped to call my daughter on her cell phone. Another driver who had a heavy rope began trying to pull the car from the ditch. Soon my daughter’s family arrived. The first comment I heard was from my three year old grandson: “Grandma, you’re supposed to stay on the road!” Many years earlier in high school, my first love called me angel. Later at the University of Oklahoma, the sorority I was in had an angel as its symbol. I now think of these things as an umbrella around the four frightening travel experiences, and truly believe I have an “angel on my shoulder.”

Anne Thomas, Oklahoma City: Two angels changed my life in 1986 when my life was like the song verse: deep dark depression, excessive misery. Six years earlier, I was a happy single mom with a beautiful 12-year-old daughter, a civil service job and owned my own home. Then an exciting stranger crossed my path and began to woo me. I realize now that my diamond rings were what drew his attention. My boss, a doctor, warned me that this man was a sociopath and gave me a book that explained they were con artists with no conscience and psychiatrists agreed there was no cure. I closed the book and decided, “I’ll fix him,” so I married him. Horror filled those days as I watched everything I’d worked for disappear and my daughter move out. He wouldn’t go away even after a divorce. But in 1986, he was sentenced to prison for felony check charges and he was gone. I had no home, job, car, money or jewelry. I signed up with a temp agency where I was sent with two girls to the office of Cleta Deatherage Mitchell for Lt. Governor to work for three days. On the third day as we filed out the door, angel No. 1 appeared. Pam Fleischaker, campaign press secretary, pointed across the room and yelled, “Hold that girl!” She was pointing at me. Angel No. 2 was Cleta who took me with her to a law firm and trained me as her legal assistant. Now I have a wonderful life and fabulous husband. Thanks to my angels, my career is glittered with glamorous positions. I have scheduled candidates for governor, U.S. Congress and U.S. Senate, worked with two Speakers of the House and a Supreme Court chief justice. I have traveled the country working with my husband. My daughter is a successful business owner and my grandson is a handsome, happy man. My song has changed from a dirge to a chorus of “Zippity do da, what a wonderful day.” I know angels do exist!

Joy Jeffus, Oklahoma City: I have had many angels sent to me throughout my 77 years. But recently, I had three special angels on duty. I was at Epworth Villa in rehab for two strokes I suffered in July. First my therapist noticed my legs were badly swollen and very red. The day nurse called EMSA and I was rushed to the hospital emergency room. There, they did some tests and realized I only had cellulitis but no blood clots, thank goodness. They returned me to Epworth Villa. Later that night one of the most caring and loving aides decided to help out another aide in doing bed checks. When she came to my bed, she noticed I was not breathing. My oxygen level had dropped. They called EMSA again and Olivia, the aide, sat with me, begging me to talk to her until EMSA came. The first angel was Olivia. The second was an EMSA driver whose name I do not know. Olivia was the angel sent to keep me breathing and the EMSA driver was an angel who gave me a second chance at life. He reminded me that I had a choice, and thankfully I had enough conscious memory of how well my daughter Dianne, another angel, had taken care of me since the strokes that I wanted to continue the journey this time. Rehab is going well and many people are working hard to help me overcome the ravages of the strokes. I’m home now and slowly still making progress with the help of many people. I should also mention the therapist Morgan, who reported the swelling and redness in my legs and feet. All the therapists at Epworth are to be commended for their good works. They are all angels in my book.

Julia Rattail, Luther: We live a few miles north of Luther on Waterloo Road, so it is out in the country and we have all kinds of wild animals around our house. My granddaughter and I got home one day and as we drove down the driveway, she screamed and pointed to a wild bobcat behind my house. She was about 15 years old at the time and she was in a panic. I stopped the car, got out and started walking toward the bobcat. I know that sounds crazy, but I have always asked God to put his angels around me and they have saved me many times so I had no fear of this bobcat. I walked right up to it. It stood and looked at me and I told it to go away and play in the woods and not come back. It looked at me for a minute then sighed and walked off to the woods and we haven’t seen it since. My granddaughter asked how I did that and I told her that I didn’t — God had His angels do it. She said “Amen, Grandma. Thank God you were kept safe by His angels.”