One of our longtime friends and partners in mission died in June. Karleen Dewey, age 86, died in Westminster, Colorado peacefully in the arms of her beloved husband Fred and other family members.

Karleen’s life mission was to care for children of the world. Along with Fred, in 1987 she co-founded Embrace Mercy (originally Mercy Ministries) so that hundreds of others could join the work of helping children from hard places thrive—notably in Denver, the Philippines, and Romania.

In the early 1990’s, Karleen and her team opened The Mothering Center of Colorado in an old house on Marion Street that Mile High Ministries renovated. Later, Project Loving Arms trained teams from urban Denver to build long-term relationships with orphaned children in Romania.

Karleen shaped the culture of our community with her passion for gospel mission in places of great suffering, and with her eye for vulnerable children and young moms. More of Karleen’s lasting legacy at Mile High Ministries is found in the ongoing work of her son and daughter-in-law, Scott and Melanie Dewey, who have been an integral part of Mile High Ministries since those early days on Marion Street many years ago.

Karleen and I had something else in common: a love for the music of Willie Nelson! This spring I had the opportunity to play a dozen or so Willie songs for Karleen and Fred and for many of the residents of the senior center where they lived. Karleen’s face was filled with joy, and she and Fred held one another’s gaze as I sang; “In the twilight glow I see her blue eyes crying in the rain; someday when we meet up yonder, we’ll stroll hand in hand again.…”

The same week that Karleen died, our staff was using this paraphrase of Matthew 10:40-42 to guide our prayers: “We are intimately linked in this harvest work…. This is a large work I’ve called you into, but don’t be overwhelmed by it. It’s best to start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice. You won’t lose out on a thing.”

Karleen’s life in mission was both large and small, in the best of each way. Her work spanned the globe and drew in many other people, both to give and to receive. Yet she never lost the quality of smallness and intimacy—an international movement and “a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty.” Those who received her “small” acts of kindness received Jesus who sent her. Truly she has not lost her reward!

Memorial Gifts can be made to Embrace Mercy, online at  www.embracemercy.org or PO Box 583, Evergreen CO 80437.

-Jeff Johnsen, Executive Director/CEO