Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

My mother was Episcopalian like her mother. Jim said that "Mamma" had joined the church when she was 16 after her mother passed away. The Episcopal Church was one of the few churches who had missionaries in Indian Territory at that time.

The Episcopal church served Mamma well, helping her through the deaths of her three older children. She also credited the prayers of the Episcopal priest and congregation with the recovery of her daughter, Kaliteyo, who almost died from a bad case of pneumonia in 1923.

In the mid '20's, when the Episcopal Church could no longer afford to send a priest to Pauls Valley, Mamma took her children to the nearest parish which was in Sulfur, Oklahoma, 30 miles away, riding with neighbors. When the church reestablished a parish in Pauls Valley 25 years later, Mamma became one of its charter members.

In 1941 when my parents were married, my father became an Episcopalian, and during my childhood most of our family life centered around the church. Jim was a member of the altar guild, and she helped to organize many church projects. My father was elected to the vestry and I was an acolyte.

After I graduated from college and left home, my parents continued to be active in the church and after my father died in 2000, Jim continued to attend services as long as she was able.

One evening, during the last days of Jim's life, she said to me: Mamma taught us to kneel down by the side of our bed and say a little prayer before we went to sleep. I said it for Kaliteyo when she died."

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
And if I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

I also said the prayer for Jim when she died.