Chan West and Story Telling

“Jesus invites us into a story that is bigger than ourselves, bigger than our culture, bigger even than our imaginations, and yet we get to tell that story with the scandalous particularity of our particular moment and place in time. We are storytelling creatures because we are fashioned in the image of a storytelling God. May we never neglect the gift of that. May we never lose our love for telling the tale.”–Rachel Held Evans in Inspired (Nelson Books Nashville), p. 164.

Chan West died on Sunday, August 1, at age 91. There is not a person who met her who will not miss her or want to tell you Chan stories. She was a faithful member of Holy Spirit Episcopal Church in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Before the 8 am service, you would meet her in the kitchen fixing refreshments, putting out the altar flowers, setting the altar, reading the lectionary readings, or praying the prayers of the people. She was almost always barefooted before the service.

If you took time to talk to her, you heard stories of her life in the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, where as a child during World War II, she met German spies who came onshore. Or you heard about times she encountered alligators or about turtles she saved. She was an original turtle person looking for signs of new nests to care for before the baby turtles hatched, helping them migrate back to the sea. Or you might have heard about the Christian Service Center, where she served others for so many years. Or you might have been on one of her tours of the Refuge. Perhaps you were with her when she stopped a church service to rescue a dying dog dropped off at the church during difficult times.

These are all beautiful ministries, but I think I will most remember someone we always wanted to be with on our visits to Holy Spirit. She had a unique ability for anyone just to feel so comfortable in her presence. Maybe it was because she was so comfortable herself, as well. I don’t know what it was. Others may have a better idea. I think that living so close for all your life to the land and loving it makes you alive and comfortable in your own skin and in touch with God’s presence so revealed in the world around you. Maybe it is daily knowing the cycle of life and love and seeing its beauty even in difficult times.

Others describe her as a no-nonsense person. Some say her passion for life was contagious. All remember her generosity of time for the earth and for whomever she met. She is the kind of person you think will never die because she is so alive. Well, of course, she has not died. She will live in the hearts of each of us until we met her again and undoubtedly will then be able to hear more of her stories.

Joanna Seibert joannaseibert.com