Emily Sweeden Sammons

Last Thursday (September 17th) I took a phone call that shocked and rocked my world. It was Bill Sammons with the news that his wife, Emily, had just passed away.

Emily has been such a good friend to me and helped me make the transition here in Oak Ridge - to call it home. She had been on my visiting teaching list when I first came here and I invited to go to the gym with me. She became my gym buddy and we often attended water classes and worked out together. She eventually became my visiting teaching companion and when I was in town we faithfully went to visit our sisters, without fail. She loved the sweet ladies on our route and was anxious that we get there early in the month so that they wouldn't feel like we weren't just doing our duty, but that we really cared and had their best interests at heart.

I was invited to join the Old Ladies Lunch Bunch (aka The Old Ladies Playgroup) and Emily quickly helped me feel a part of these wonderful sisters, many of whom are a decade or more older than I am, and all are longtime, even lifetime, residents of Oak Ridge. That group has transistioned into a gospel study group and friendships have blossomed because of our time together doing things that support our interests and needs.

Emily is the mother of Tish Valdez, mother-in-law to Julio, and grandmother to Wiley, Mariea, Bella, and Lili - tremendous friends since we moved here, that we love and enjoy. She is also mother to Victor, David, and Matthew, and grandmother to numerous other children that I only know of...but sometimes I feel like I know them because of the things that Emily would share.

Emily was fiercely loyal. She was brash, courageous, fearless, bold.

Her husband said, "She came into this life as a whirlwind and left the same way." That is such a profound description. The hole she leaves is deep and wide. I'm so grateful for the knowledge I have of the plan of salvation and the resurrection. Truly, I feel about her passing as I do about my Mom and Dad - she has just gone into the next room and while I can't see her, I KNOW that she's there...waiting, working, loving, teaching, supporting on that side of the door AND on this side too.

Emily - I hope and trust that you have the answers to your concerns and can rejoice in the love of the savior now. Until we meet again....