A wonderful person

When I was in third grade there was a woman who would come in sometimes to help out in the class as a volunteer. One day for recess or something we were walking down the hall together out of the classroom. She asked me who my dad was and who my grandparents were. So I told her and she said, tell your dad that you met Afton (Larson) Timpson, I'm a cousin. Now, that's no shock to me. In 1997, ten years later and the year that I graduated high school, I was related to like 1/4 or 1/3 of my hometown. I really like Afton and thought she was such a nice person and made me feel comfortable around her. As an eight-year-old who really wanted to be taken seriously by adults, Afton was wonderful.
Just a year later my family moved out of our small house and into the house where Cindy and Laurel now live. This move put us into the 6th ward, where Afton and her husband, Bert, lived. I was excited that there were people in this ward that I knew because leaving the previous ward was very hard. Immediately Afton made us feel at home. When my mom had surgery a year later, she brought over food. She was a good friend who would always hug us when she saw us. She was kind and loving; nothing changed when I was rebellious in 8th and 9th grade. (I wasn't very rebellious, I'm not good at it.)
Throughout high school and college she always asked how I was doing and what I was up to because she genuinely wanted to know. When I got my mission call in 2000 she was so excited for me. Right before I got back from my mission, she and Bert got a call to Minnesota, which made my mom so excited being a native Minnesotan. The trick was that they entered the MTC the Monday before I came home, so I would miss them by a few days. I was sad, of course. But no worries, since Bert and Afton lived so close they'd been spending their week in the MTC commuting to help with the heavy Senior MTC load. She sneaked out of her house one night to come give me a welcome-home hug, a quiet knock on Sunday night just two days after I came home, even though "she wasn't supposed to." There was Afton who said that she was flying out the next morning but couldn't leave without giving me a hug. We spoke briefly, maybe two minutes. She was so excited for her mission, and "just knew that (I'd) loved (mine)." I was so jealous of them. I wanted to go back out in the field.

Over the last couple of years Afton has had some health trouble, but she remained happy. Of course she was in a lot of pain, but she still had that inner happiness that so many of us search for. She's been one of my great examples of the Savior. I'm going to miss seeing her when I visit the 6th ward. She would make the kinds of comments in Relief Society that instructed, gave insight and made you smile if not laugh out loud. She passed away on Monday only a few days after learning of the cancer that had spread through her body. She was one of the best people I know and I'm going to miss her. But that's why D&C 130:2 makes me happy.