My mother’s name was never on the marquee. She was never in the front when the spotlight shone. Her passion was to be a pastor’s wife, a mother, a support, a friend, a prayer warrior. Occasionally she taught grade school in a church basement. Those roles seldom required speaking to more than one adult at a time; so her work was done off to the side, quietly.

Because of this, even I underestimated what was being done through her. I treasured her beyond treasure, but I didn’t notice the wide ripples of her quiet influence.

Mom died a few months before Dad’s planned retirement after nearly 35 years in a rural congregation. Given her quiet life, a viewing was set for one Thursday evening.

The whole community showed up. The church building and parking lot were overwhelmed. The line went from the fellowship hall down the stairs and through the first floor, up the back stairs, snaking back down the stairs and through the building again, out onto the sidewalk and into the parking lot. People told us it was like a testimony time, with people passing each other in line and sharing stories about Faith Anne. They weren’t stories about her grand achievements; they were stories about her personal impact on each life.

I have been reminded of that as people talk about Mrs. Floy Smith, who went to be with the Lord on Apr. 7 at age 91. I hear people talking about her personal effect on them and the example she set for them. Though Mrs. Smith certainly did notable things, it was her quiet influence that moved many people.

Her husband, Ken, testified that she was more than his better half: “She was the 60%, and I was the 40%.”

Perhaps there is significance in the fact that Ken and Floy met while participating in Navigators, which puts a focus on one-to-one and small-group discipleship. Their household was a place where the stranger was welcome and the individual was important. When you talked to Ken and Floy, you never got the sense they were looking past you for the next hand to shake.

I won’t suggest that everyone model their lives after Floy Smith and Faith Gordon—though you could scarcely find better examples. But we can all learn from how they sacrificed their lives for one person at a time.