In Memory of Our Daughter Audrey
Audrey Leah (Lycklama) Kelsey went home to be with her Lord and Savior on October 17, 2013 after a long battle with cancer. We celebrated her life and homegoing on Saturday, November 2 at 2:00 PM at Grace Church Bellingham. Audrey’s obituary is online. Her daughter put together a beautiful collage of pictures in her memory.
- Our Memories of Audrey
Audrey was the oldest of our five children. She came home from public school in Chatham, NJ one day in 1974 and said to her mom (Gerda) that the teacher told her that we came from monkeys. It was then that I decided that I needed to get serious about being able to defend my faith in the area of science and Creation. As a result I developed a series of lectures and courses over the years on Creation vs. Evolution and related topics.
We (Heinz and Gerda) have traveled extensively overseas since 2004 to give lectures and courses on Creation vs. Evolution and related Apologetics topics. We decided to stay close to home when Audrey was first diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. She told us that she was sorry we chose not go on our overseas missions trips because of her illness. We told her not to be sorry because she is important to us, and God had other plans for us. Since we focused on local rather than overseas ministry during that time, we were able to establish the Apologetics Forum. Audrey had an important role to play in that.
Audrey had home-schooled her children because of her love for the Lord and her concern for what was being taught in the public school system. She understood the importance of Apologetics. Prov. 3:5-6 and Phil. 3:7-11 were among some of her many favorite verses.
- Legacy of Apologetics Forum
On June 20, 2014 we joined Margaret Fishback Powers in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the writing of her poem Footprints In The Sand. I was asked to speak at the luncheon of the Footprints Museum 25th Anniversary in Tillsonburg, Ontario on June 17, 2017. The talk was recorded using these notes. In August 2017 I was asked to write a chapter on the Legacy of Apologetics Forum in a new Footprints Legacy book to be published in early 2018. I did this in Audrey’s memory since she had an important role to play in the founding of the Apologetics Forum in 2013.
We miss Audrey greatly but are comforted by the fact that this is not the end. 1 Cor. 15:50-58. We are now determined to carry on with the Apologetics work with greater zeal because of Audrey.
In Audrey’s Memory,
Heinz and Gerda Lycklama