In Loving Memory Of Courtney Mogan Doyle
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Courtney Mogan "Juliette" Doyle
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At Courtney's memorial service, I had the honor of telling Courtney's
friends and family what she meant to me and so many others:
friends and family what she meant to me and so many others:
This past Friday night, we walked in Courtney’s honor at Relay for Life in Alpharetta. Her friends, many of them from drama class, kept vigil beside a beautiful memorial created by a Milton parent who did not know Courtney but who gathered inspiration from Courtney’s life and reached out to comfort others. The drama students stayed up most of the night, singing, laughing, crying, praying, doing improv, holding hands, and telling stories about their friend – about this amazing young woman who had touched their lives. I have one story that I shared with my students that I believe reveals to the world who Courtney is. On the night she left us, I told her how much we love her – her friends, her teachers, all of us. And I told her as well that another young woman, not much older than she, had begun the long journey toward healing by mouthing her own sister’s name for the first time in months. When Courtney heard this news, in spite of her own pain, she smiled beneath her oxygen mask, and her face lit up the room like heaven. I do not have adequate words to thank the Doyles for raising such an incredible human being, with such a boundless capacity to love, nor to thank Colin and Connor for sharing their sister with all of us, even today, in such an unselfish manner.
I could stand here and say that I am Courtney’s teacher, but in so many ways, she has become my teacher over the past year.
Courtney taught me that every day counts. She taught me that even the most timid children can be hysterically funny. She taught me that a broken body can harbor the most glorious of souls. She taught me that even in the depths of pain, it is possible, indeed it is a joy, to pray for others. She taught me that angels walk the earth with us, briefly, to remind us how to live with dignity and faith. We may mourn for ourselves today, but Courtney’s spirit demands of us, compels us to celebrate this life, and to walk forward with God, one hour, one day at a time.
In French class, Courtney’s name was Juliette. So, ma chère Juliette, my dear Juliette, here is Isaiah chapter 40 verses 28-31 just for you.
« Ne le sais-tu donc pas? Ne l'as-tu pas ouï dire? Le Seigneur est le Dieu de l'Eternité, le Créateur des dernières limites du monde; il n'éprouve ni fatigue, ni lassitude: il n'est point de bornes à son intelligence! Il redonne la vigueur au courbaturé et double le courage de celui qui est à bout de forces. Que les adolescents soient las et harassés, que les jeunes gens tombent en défaillance! Ceux qui mettent leur espoir en Dieu acquièrent de nouvelles forces, ils prennent le rapide essor des aigles; ils courent et ne sont pas fatigués, ils vont et ne se lassent point. »
Amen
