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At the age of thirteen she watched her mother die as she held her in her arms. Her father and an older brother had gone to get help after her mother’s apparent stroke. Before they had returned this young girl had witnessed the harsh reality of death. A terrifying experience for one so young and inexperienced.
It was Hemingway who said, “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” Dretha Cozette Owen became strong at the broken places. The girl later became a woman who later became my aunt and one of the strongest women I have ever known.
She loved to sing and while still a teenager left home to travel with my dad and another of her older brothers. They called themselves the Gospel Troubadors. They were a young, good looking, musically talented team who all sang and both my dad and uncle preached. (My dad is the one in the picture smiling and holding the guitar). This is the cover of a songbook they published with some of their favorite songs.
I have never known anyone who loved to sing more than my Aunt Dretha! She had a raspy blues sounding voice with a touch of black gospel in it. To me she always sounded a lot like Mahalia Jackson, who is known as “The Queen of Gospel”.
The thing about my aunt though is that she never wanted to just sing for the sake of singing. She wanted to sing to WORSHIP her God. She once told me that it bothered her that so many of the younger people focused more on the sound of their voices than they did on the message of their song. She said, “If they would just forget about themselves and really worship the Lord their singing would make a difference!” And hers always did.
I Cor. 14:15 came alive in her. “I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the understanding also.” If she couldn’t sing with that spirit of worship it wasn’t worth the waste of her vocal chords. And if she couldn’t live experiencing the spirit of God within her I’m certain she wouldn’t have felt life on this earth worthwhile. She truly was 100% devoted to the God about which she sang.
If she couldn’t live experiencing the spirit of God within her I’m certain she wouldn’t have felt life on this earth worthwhile.
Singing can be a form of worship, of celebration, of entertainment or of lament. It can also serve as a means of bringing people together in a feeling of unity and communion. The first recorded song in scripture is when Moses and the Israelites sang to the Lord after their deliverance from the Egyptian army. This is what they sang, “The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” He WAS their song. He was my Aunt Dretha’s song as well.
In all the years I knew her and all the years I observed her life, I only saw one time when she didn’t want to sing. Our large family had gathered, as we often did, in the basement of another aunt and uncle’s home. After the traditional taco feast, we would all sing together, sometimes with musical accompaniment and sometimes without.
But this time Aunt Dretha didn’t join in. A few months before, her beloved Bob, the father of her two beautiful daughters, had been killed in a plane crash. She was heartbroken. As everyone sang she just sat and stared. I remember my dad coaxing her to join in and I vividly remember her saying, “I just can’t.” As my dad continued to encourage her to sing she looked around the room at all of the happily married couples and with sadness in her voice said, “You all just don’t understand.”
At that moment my dad knelt in front of his sister, took her hands in his, looked her in the eyes and said, “Dretha, you can’t let death or the devil steal your song. You’ve got to sing. You’ll be stronger when you do.” And as she continued to stare at him he pleaded, “Come on. Sing this next one with us.” And she did.
Psalm 27:6 says, “Therefore, I will offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea I will sing praise unto the Lord.” I know that for my Aunt Dretha that song on that day was a sacrificial offering. A song of praise when she felt sadness and despair. An offering to God of her best and finest gift. A sacrifice from her heart and her lips. A song of truest love and devotion.
She chose to sing when she didn’t understand. When the hurt wouldn’t go away. When the loneliness was at its most intense. She CHOSE to sing when there was no melody in her heart. And you know what? I believe her healing began that day with that very song. And that with each song she sang her joy and strength increased. Her voice and her spirit were strong the remainder of her days.
She CHOSE to sing when there was no melody in her heart.
My dad was a song writer and wrote dozens of beautiful songs. He and my Aunt Dretha had recorded several long play albums prior to my dad’s death. When I received the news last week that at age 87 my Aunt Dretha had unexpectedly died, my first mental picture was of the two of them singing together again. That thought made my heart smile even in the midst of tears.
All of my growing up years I could hear Mahalia Jackson’s voice coming from the stereo in our living room. She was one of my dad’s favorites. Today in honor of both him and his sister I have been listening to Mahalia sing “Move On Up A Little Higher”.
You have moved on up a little higher Aunt Dretha, but for the years you were here, thank you for CHOOSING to sing! I love you.
Such a beautiful tribute to your aunt. Darla, you have such a rich family history.
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Yes Helena, I am blessed beyond words. My spiritual heritage is something I treasure.
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Darla Haas! so beautifully said. Sis Dretha was one of a kind. I am so glad that her and Bro. Bob were my Pastors growing up. Then I had the privilege of Ronnie & Sandy being my Pastors till I got married. The Utter, Owen, and Harrison Families will always be a part of my heart. Love reading your blogs.
Patsy Huckabey Christ
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Patsy, thank you for your lovely comments about our families. They each have left beautiful spiritual legacies and I am fortunate to have been a recipient of that. Thanks so much for your encouragement on my blog as well. I enjoy writing the way my Aunt Dretha enjoyed singing. We each have our own gifts and talents don’t we? God bless you Patsy.
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What a Beautiful Story of such a Beautiful Lady…Sis.Dretha was an Awesome Woman Of God. And yes her singing was so annointed. I started attending Wyandotte Tabernacle right after Bro. Bob’s passing so i never met him.I did have the privilage of having Ronnie and Sandy as my pastor’s. I too love the Utter, Owen’s and Harrison Familes..They were a big part of my life growing up.
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Kathy won’t it be so great when we will all have eternity to get to know one another better? I never feel like I have enough time to meet all the people I’d Like to meet or to visit with the ones I already know. So heaven for me will be unlimited time to do just that. Imagine all of that and JESUS TOO!
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Tears, tears, tears, but what you wrote and the legacy she has left so many with…. well it just filled me. I’m going thru a terrible tragedy today that just got a little easier and I’m again filled with a vivid desire to just PRAISE HIM right here right now! Thank you for sharing sister!
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Gayla, I wish you weren’t facing such a huge trial but am so proud of you for choosing praise as your response. Praise is a major offensive weapon in our warfare and the joy of the Lord truly IS our strength! I have every confidence you will come through this battle with victory in Jesus. Thank you for posting your comment today. Keep me informed on how you are doing. And keep on choosing to praise!
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Thanks for your tribute to a most precious lady.
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Diane we were discussing you and your family at the funeral. They played an album of my dad and Dretha singing and your sister Greta and Geraldine Corzine we’re singing backup. Those were the good old days but I’m also thankful for THESE good days and all I see God doing now! The spiritual legacy lives on.
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Darla, this touched me on so many levels. My family always sang. I thought everyone took hymnals on vacation. Daddy had a rich bass, and mother a beautiful alto. Daddy would joke and say he sang “by letter” – “I just open my mouth and let her fly.”
My earliest memories are of music; my mother said I sang before I talked.
Like you, I am so grateful for the musical heritage and wealth of Christian music they shared throughout their lives. They sang in the church choir, sang in a quartet, sang when we camped, sang at their nursing home ministry, and most of all, sang at home.
The hardest singing I ever did was the night before my mother died. I was sitting up in the hospital with her. She was unconscious, but agitated. As long as I sang, she would become quiet. I must have sung for three hours, hymn after hymn. Such a sweet time with just the Lord, my mother, and me.
Your aunt sounds like a lovely lady. I would like to have known her.
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Connie, I can so relate to the importance of music in your family’s life. When we took road trips we never listened to the radio. We sang. There was always music in my house. Either someone playing the piano, music from the stereo or someone just breaking out with a song and the other family members chiming in with harmony parts. That’s a great way to grow up!
We also sang to my dad as he was dying. About a dozen family members were gathered. We sang the songs he loved and the ones he had written. I wrote a poem about it later and called the music our last gift to him, an old friend to accompany him on his journey.
I love how music can move, inspire and comfort us. I, like you, am thankful it has been an important part of my heritage.
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A great tribute to a great lady. She was very strong emotionally but when she called me on December the 19, 1969, the day that she was sure something had happened to the plane that carried her husband and 2 others, I saw a very frightened lady that I had never seen in the years that I had known her. She recovered and it was apparent she was leaning heavily on the Lord. We all have heavy things to deal with in life that will either break us or make us soldier up and face the harsh realities of life. She was a great soldier for the Lord with many battle scars. We all are better for knowing her!
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Yes Joe she was an inspiration to everyone who knew her and definitely one of the strongest “soldiers” I have known. Thank you for commenting and honoring her the way you did.
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Such a beautiful living example of how to choose joy even when we don’t feel it.
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It’s definitely harder at some times than at others to choose joy but it’s always the better option!
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