In December 2009
we lost one of our Great Lakes family members to
cancer. This special blend of coffee is in honor
of her. Over the years, her husband Greg has been
one of our coffee roasters, their son Aaron a barista
and you'll still be welcomed by their daughter Jenna
at the Sturgis location - hopefully, we'll convince
their other daughter Robin to carry on with the
family tradition.
One of Chris' passions was Forgotten Children's
Ministries of Honduras. It was a very special relationship
that has seen the original 'boy's farm' grow from
8 homeless boys to currently over 50 including the
start of a 'girl's farm' last year. Forgotten Children's
Ministries rescues homeless children off the streets
of their capital city Tegucigalpa, Honduras and
takes them to a farm 45 miles outside of the city
where they are cared for and loved and taught many
different skills. Along with Chris' husband Greg;
we have created a special blend using Honduran coffee
to help support the Forgotten Children's Ministry.
Great Lakes will be donating $1 from every purchased
bag of Chris' Blend to carry on where she left off.
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Chris Purlee was married to our cousin Greg, she lost
a battle with cancer that began in 2002 but her story
goes back much further than that, and is not yet finished.
My first recollection of Chris was when I was 7 yrs. old
… some girl that my cousin Greg went to school with gave
him a gift, a wonderful record from the seventies, 'Short
People Have No Reason To Live', apparently, my cousin
who is older than me and was taller at the time, wasn't
so tall. I remember listening to the record but I also
remember that he complained a lot about it too. Many years
later I learned that this 'girl' was Chris. After I was
married and returned to my hometown she taught my wife
how to can vegetables for which I will ever be thankful.
And perhaps most importantly to my wife and me, seeing
her and Greg with their wonderful children convinced us
that having children of our own wouldn't be so bad after
all. Now we have three. I owe Greg, Chris, Aaron, Jenna
and Robbie a big thank you, Chris will never be forgotten
and we will make certain that her work continues, especially
her passion and desire to share the love of Jesus with
all that she could. - Paul Smith
My wife Chris hated being late. It was an early morning
in December, the 5th to be exact, that she was as on
time as ever with an appointment we didn't want her
to keep. Keeping this appointment left her with mixed
feelings; she felt sad because she knew that she'd be
leaving us for a while but within the same heart was
happiness because she knew also that when she saw us
again, it would be for eternity. So it was on that early
December morning, that we spoke a heart-breaking farewell
and Chris was reunited with her heavenly Father. The
best thing about this appointment was that she was made
new again; no more radiation, no more chemo, not even
the brain tumor.
It's been over a year now but the pain of not having
my sweet Chris around is almost more than I can bear.
It's hard for me to write this without a sense of sorrow
swelling up inside me and coming out in the shape of
tears. But when I think about my wonderful wife, I feel
an overwhelming sense of pride and joy as well, for
I know that her legacy lives on in so many marvelous
ways.
She was diagnosed with cancer shortly after her first
mission trip to Honduras; a trip that changed her life,
as well as ours.
She never let cancer slow her down and she never once
felt sorry for herself, as so many of us would. It's
understandable I suppose, she was just extraordinarily
unusual. She didn't question why, or even think about
blaming God. If there's one thing that I know, it's
that anyone who knew her would say how amazingly selfless
she was. God placed in her heart a love for her family
and friends, and a passion for Honduras missions that
would burn bright for all to see. She never lost sight
of what God wanted her to do. Her mission in life was
to be the best wife, best mother, best teacher and best
friend there ever was. If there is any among us who
could say that they've fulfilled their life mission,
it was her; and if there is any among us who would say
that they didn't even come close...that was also her.
God and family were her highest priorities. Chris never
fussed about herself; instead, she was always looking
for ways to bless others; even though she was fighting
a disease that would ultimately take her life. We all
experienced this mission first-hand. She would make
sunshine baskets and deliver them anonymously to people
who were struggling with their own sickness or personal
heartache. These baskets consisted of about twenty small,
wrapped packages that had a bible verse taped to everyone.
The packages were meant to be unwrapped, one at a time,
every day. Altogether, she sent out about a dozen sunshine
baskets; some to people whom she didn't even personally
know. These blessing were meant to bring encouragement
to someone who needed it, and I believed that mission
too, was well accomplished.
This all took place while we were busy going back and
forth to Duke Hospital in North Carolina every six weeks
for her treatments. Amidst all of this, Chris found
the time to venture five more trips to Honduras. Her
love for the homeless boys there grew and grew, just
as the ministry did. Our whole family got to experience
this wonderful ministry of hers personally.
Five years after her first surgery, they discovered
that her tumor was growing again. Another surgery was
performed, followed by more radiation and chemo. More
heartache sprung up as we found out that this had failed
to stop the growth of the tumor. She was given only
a few months to live. Little did we know, we would actually
have another two years with our beautiful Chris. She
struggled to communicate as the tumor raged on. I know
she thought that she would never be able to see the
boys in Honduras again, but like she always said, "God
is good."
In August of 2009, Chris returned to Honduras with our
two daughters. As soon as she got home, she turned right
around and began making plans to go again. She crocheted
rugs for her far away friends and began collecting things
to take back.
That October, she was sitting on our front steps talking
on the phone with a friend when she fell. I ran out,
and as I lay with her on the side walk, she told me
she was ready to be done. My heart broke over her; I
held her and wept as never before. She was flown to
Ft. Wayne, IN where it was discovered that there was
bleeding in the brain, nothing could be done. We returned
home to spend our final days with her. The first morning
we were back, she and I held each other and just cried.
Soon enough, she began to list the things she wanted
to accomplish before she left.
She had been in the process of making a sunshine basket
at the time and of course, she insisted that it be finished
and delivered. Next we put together a duffel bag full
of items she wished to go to Honduras for the boys and
her friends. On Chris' last trip there, the boys had
been playing marbles nonstop, so we set about the house
finding what marbles we had, which wasn't much. But
over the next few weeks, we experienced an outpouring
of friends and family and, miraculously, the marble
collection grew. I made a promise to her that I would
deliver these things to Honduras personally.
On December 12th, we had a memorial for Chris and over
600 people showed up; the support was overwhelming.
We directed memorial donations to Forgotten Children's
Ministries of Honduras. In June of this year, Aaron,
Jenna, Robin and I will all be returning to complete
this journey. Chris' legacy lives on in so many ways
and your support of this special blend of coffee, "Chris'
blend" will continue the work that she was so passionate
about. It's hard for me to try and write about someone
so perfect with only faulty words at my disposal, but
for everyone's sake, I've tried my hardest.
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