Saturday morning I received a call from Suzette Remondet that her sister, Paulette, had died. I was excited about the news that had been expected for a few days. No, not because her suffering on earth was over but because she was ready and anxious to enter eternity.

Paulette was 58 years old and was married at 20, a beautiful young lady ready to experience the joys of marriage. On the couple’s return trip from their honeymoon, a terrible accident with an 18-wheeler in Slidell seriously injured Paulette, and she was paralyzed (a quadriplegic) for the past 38 years.

The couple was eventually divorced, but with the help, love and encouragement of her siblings and friends, she lived 38 years bound to bed and a wheelchair.

No one recalls how many trips to the hospital, with extended stays, she experienced. She spent the last three-and-a-half months in East Jefferson Hospital, in and out of the intensive care unit, only able to survive with a respirator but managed to smile and communicate with her family and visitors.

I’ve known Paulette all of her life. Her mother died at age 44, leaving 14 children. Her dad passed away three years later.

The family, a close-knit group, helped each other, as some of the older siblings raised the younger children. In my opinion, Paulette was used by God as the glue that kept the family together.

Many people would not have survived as long as she did without a desire to live life to the fullest, regardless of the circumstances. In the 38 years she spent paralyzed, she lived a life of accepting her fate and encouraging others. Not once did she complain that she got a raw deal.

She was a forgiving, loving and happy person who lived life more in a wheelchair than most people do with perfectly healthy bodies.

Paulette was a winner in life and, without a doubt, will spend eternity in Heaven with Jesus, where she will be free from everything, including her wheelchair.

If you have any questions or comments, please write to Get High on Life, P.O. Drawer U, Reserve, LA 70084, call (985) 652-8477, or e-mail: hkeller@comcast.net.