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Mother was never tempted by the need for status or acquiring things. She was surprised to be told that the things she enjoyed collecting grew to be valuable—like the primitive antiques she had bought because they were less expensive to furnish the old log house she had built out of salvage. Old things always appealed to her and made her feel at home.

She was a collector of books, though she never understood why people collect books just to decorate a room—her books were her friends. Her markings, marginal comments, and notations show where she read. Her bedside was crowded with books from the latest bestseller to something on China to biographies, and always nearby, her beloved Bible. Her reading reflected her interests and needs. When someone once told her he felt guilty if he started one book before finishing the first, she told him she did not. "After all," she said, "you don't finish all the pickles before you open the olives."

She also collected quotations. There were few situations where she could not come up with a choice quotation from someone she had read. Her favorites were John Trapp (a 16th-century biblical scholar), C. S. Lewis, and George MacDonald. One of her favorite quotations was, "No one is useless; they can always serve as a bad example." When asked if she and my father ever argued, she said, "When two people agree on everything, one of them is unnecessary." These quotations were a window to her attitude and perspective on life.

Mother sprinkled all her conversations with humor and understanding. Consequently, they were never dull—though sometimes outlandish, due to her marvelous sense of the ridiculous. She didn't take herself so seriously that she could not laugh at herself.

Life was not easy for Mother. However, I would not say that I ever saw Mother display anger or doubt. With five children to rear, a home to run, bills to pay, not enough money to meet the demands, expectations to act and dress appropriately although she was never trained for her position, and a husband who was married to his ministry and often preoccupied, she maintained her perspective. How did she do it? Early on she made Christ her center.

Mother felt deeply and had strong opinions on most things. She was always a private person, and because of her position did not have the privilege of "spouting off." Instead, she wrote. And the world is richer for it. Her suffering was the seed for thoughtful poetry, personal accounts of my father's worldwide ministry, humorous insights, and always a record of her pilgrimage with the Lord. Some of her writing has been published. Some will remain just hers—expressions of her emotions to her best friend the Lord Jesus. Early on she made Christ her confidant.

Mother had a tender and yielded heart. Her happiness and fulfillment did not depend on circumstances. She was the woman she was because early in her life, she had made Christ her home, her purpose, her center, and her confidant.

Ruth Graham is author of In Every Pew Sits a Broken Heart (Zondervan) as well as Legacy of Love, Things I Learned from My Mother (Zondervan) and founder of Ruth Graham and Friends.

Copyright © 2007 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Ruth Graham's sister, Anne Graham Lotz, also wrote about their mother's legacy.

Christianity Today published an original and an RNS obituary for Ruth Graham on June 14, 2007.

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has a memorial site for Ruth. The press release above is from A. Larry Ross and Associates, Billy's longtime personal publicist and spokesman, has photos, video, and more information.

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August (Web-only) 2007, Vol. 51