She used to say that we were so much alike it was scary! We both loved clothes and shoes, we both gave birth to two girls and one boy, we both love the Lord, and we both loved to sing more than anything. We were like sisters and we treated each other like sisters – lots of love and understanding.

Duane and I met Sandy and Jim Thompson at church. We were all attending the same class. We clicked right from the start. Sandy was a great decorator and a great organizer. I loved planning things with her because we thought so much alike. We asked her to sing with us and she agreed to be part of our trio, which was Celebration of Praise at that time. She had so much talent! She could always find a harmonizing part, even though Duane took her part a lot of times. She could play the piano beautifully and she had the smoothest touch. No one would ever know that she could not read music. She would ask Duane “how many gears” a certain song was in.

We traveled together, the four of us, and went to Branson a few times, went to the Bahamas, and we went to Bartlesville, Oklahoma three years in a row for Sandy’s home church Homecoming. We provided the music at each homecoming celebration. It was wonderful and we loved it! We would be together every week or so to sing, eat, and play games. We played card games, dominoes, and other fun games. Most the time we spent together we were laughing at Jim. He kept us all in stitches! Duane would do most of the driving on our trips, which he doesn’t mind, and he thinks he could drive just fine without my help.

After being injured from a fall, she began to have multiple physical problems. We tried to keep going for a while, but she finally had to drop out of the trio. Over several years, she went through so much more pain and suffering than any of us can imagine. I would try to keep in touch with her, but it was hard because she would be very depressed and sometimes did not return my calls. We didn’t see each other for a couple of years, which I hated, but I kept calling and leaving messages every so often. She would usually at some point call me back or send me an email and say we needed to get together soon. I just kept praying and believing that would happen, and it did.

In October 2005, Duane and I were going to a Talley Trio Concert in Indianapolis. I called Sandy that afternoon and invited her and Jim to go. When we got to the church, it was almost full and when we found our seats, I looked up and there were Sandy and Jim coming in the door. The ushers brought in extra chairs, so Sandy was able to sit next to me. The concert was fantastic and the presence of the Lord filled that place. The Talley’s began to sing “The Healer” and Duane came up and put his hands on Sandy’s shoulders and began to pray. It was a wonderful evening.

Later, she told us that the Lord really had touched her that night.

A few weeks later she called asked if Duane and I would sing with her and Jim at their church in December. We, of course, said we would be happy to do that. We started getting together for practices throughout November. She was feeling so much better. We had Sandy back again!! Praise the Lord! We got together at least every other weekend at our house or theirs and, once again, the routine was to sing, eat, and play games, just like it had been when we first met.

One weekend in February 2006, the trio was scheduled to do a concert for a Valentines Day Banquet in North Salem, Indiana. Marla Gatlin, who sings with our trio (By Grace) now had to go into the hospital due to an emergency and was not going to be able to sing with us. We called Sandy and asked her to fill in and she quickly agreed to do so.  We got together for several practices and she was doing wonderfully. She would take the music home and within a few days, she had it memorized and ready to go. The concert went very well and Sandy loved doing it. After that weekend, we asked Sandy if she would be willing to be a back-up for the trio in the event that Marla was ever unable to sing for a concert in the future. Sandy, once again after checking with Jim, said she would be happy to do that. Since Marla also has many physical problems that took a great deal of stress off Duane and me to know that we would have someone to fill in, if and when necessary. The Lord had answered our prayers!

Then came Saturday, March 4, 2006.  Around noon, we received a call from Sandy’s son-in-law (Brian Correll) who told us that Sandy was in the hospital and had suffered a stroke. We went to the hospital that afternoon and found her awake and talking. Her memory was fine and she was still planning to sing on Sunday. However, she did not have use of her left side at that time. We went back to see her on Sunday and she was still the same. She was complaining of a headache and she was exhausted. We tried to get her to go to sleep. Jim asked her if she wanted him to sing to her and she said “No, but I want Sandy to.” I asked her what she wanted me to sing and she said “Peace Speaker.” So, I tried my best and we sang the song. Then she started singing with us and wanted to sing choruses, which we did for several minutes. When I would forget a word, she would fill it in and when I would stop and try to think of another chorus, she would start one. We had a wonderful time just singing and praising the Lord. When we left the hospital on Sunday I told her I would be back on Monday afternoon and she said okay.

Monday morning at 7:30 a.m. Sandy’s daughter, Sheli called and said that Sandy had taken a turn for the worse and the doctors gave her no hope. They wanted to put her on a ventilator; however, Jim and his girls knew she would not want to live that way. We got to the hospital as quickly as possible (around 9:30 a.m.) and by 10:30 a.m. Sandy had gone home to be with the Lord. It was so hard to let her go because I wanted my best friend here with me. I wanted to sing with her, take trips with her, laugh with her and cry with her. But I was crying for myself because I would miss her so much. I know she is happy and healthy now, and she is singing in that heavenly choir waiting for all of us to join her. She is holding her precious little boy (Chad), whom she had been longing for over many years of heartache since his death at age 5. Jim, Sheli and Brian, Keli and Jay, and the grandchildren will miss her terribly, but they know she is with Jesus and none of us would bring her back from Him. Her parents, who lived with Sandy and Jim, will miss her greatly but they too will see her again in heaven. Sandy had made an impact on so many lives – family and friends who loved her, strangers who heard her beautiful voice in song, all who came in contact with her. I think of her every day and each time I receive an email that I want to forward on, I go to send it to Sandy, but she is not there. She will always be in my heart and I thank God for sending Sandy into my life for the time she was here to be a wonderful, true Christian friend – a special friend that some people never find in their whole lifetime. Sandy Thompson was my “bestest friend.”

A few weeks before Sandy’s death, I gave her a song to learn – “Going Home Forever.” I had fallen in love with this song the first time I heard Connie Hopper sing it. Within a week of giving it to her, Sandy had it memorized and even sang it as a solo in her home church a couple of weeks before she died. Neither of us had any idea what that song would mean to us when we first heard it. The trio sang that song at Sandy’s memorial service and I know she was “glad she finally made it home!”

With love to Sandy, Jim, Sheli, Keli and their entire family, I will always remember Sandy Thompson as my best friend and sister in Christ. I will hold dear the memories of all the fun times we shared and look forward to seeing her inside the gates of heaven one of these days.

Sandy Heil

 March 2006