From Mitzi Sherron

Dylan,

I knew your mom as a believer. Her life as a Christian was marked by her joy that she carried with her everywhere. I know that this joy was given to her by our great, merciful God showing her kindness. Her life was also marked by selfless service to the body of Christ, the church. She served me in several ways over the three years I knew her.

One of my favorite memories was last year about this time. I was engaged to be married to Jake and your mom offered to help me address the invitations to our wedding. She had pretty cursive writing and so I invited her over to my apartment and we sat and talked for several hours addressing one envelope after another and stuffing the invitations. We laughed and joked and talked about my preparations for marriage and the life of a certain Mr. Dylan Watt.

While we were working our way towards carpal tunnel syndrome, you and Jake left to hang out for a little while. Your birthday had just passed and so Jake took you to Toys R Us to pick out a birthday present. I don’t remember what you came back with but Jake called it a “poof ball” and we think it was a stuffed animal. Anyway, you guys stayed in the store playing with and inspecting toys until they announced over the PA that the store would be closing. You came back so excited saying it was “the best night ever” and your mom talked about your excitement for weeks! She always loved it when you enjoyed hanging out with the men in the church.

A couple months later, you both traveled to Claremont, NC to attend our wedding. You were going to hand out the programs at the ceremony.

Before we were ever engaged, I remember your mom reciting to me a conversation that you and she had. I don’t recall how it started, but you said, “Mom, Jake’s not ever going to get married!”. Your mom said “Dylan, I think that Jake and Mitzi might get married”. And you told her, “Well, if they do, I’m going to be in that wedding!” And so, you were.

At the rehearsal dinner, your mom and you sat at a table with my mentor and friend, Christy Trouille, and her family. They hadn’t met before but Christy told me later that she loved your mom and enjoyed talking with her about you and Marcee (Christy’s daughter). Marcee was just a year younger than you. Christy and your mom kept in touch via email and Facebook ever since. Your mom could meet someone and almost immediately find something she had in common with them or something interesting about them to engage in conversation about. She was quite a networker!

Perhaps one of the greatest ways your mom has served me, is by teaching me how to coupon. She would talk about how much money she would save on groceries and invite us over for steaks when she got them on sale. When we got married we were close to broke and so I asked her to teach me this great craft. She showed me how she would cut, fold, and organize her coupons into baseball card sleeves. She told me which newspapers to buy to get the most coupons. She took me to Harris Teeter and taught me the tricks of the trade as we went sale item by sale item matching coupons to sales. She even had the “master of coupons”, a lady with a couponing blog, come to Greenville and host classes. I would call your mom when I had some great shopping experiences and tell her how much I saved. She would be more excited than I was!

Dylan, your mom, Tonya, was a humble lady who loved the Lord! She wanted you to grow up with a knowledge of the Bible and she prayed that God would give you a heart that loved and desired Him. This was the greatest wish she could have for you.

I pray that you will take your sweet memories of your mom and store them up in your heart, that you praise God for the gift he gave you in your mom and that you would meet with her again in the presence of Christ!

With love,
Mitzi Sherron



Our Wedding: