A Glimpse of Heaven

By Beatrice Dees Fredricks

A Glimpse of Heaven is a collection of inspirational poems written over eighty years in response to the blessings, challenges, and observations of one amazing woman as she walked daily with her Lord. These poems are inspiring, insightful, and thought-provoking. The reader will be transported to the early years of the twentieth century in rural Kentucky and experience the growing faith of one child of God from early childhood until she is ready to journey to her eternal home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Sep 6, 2017
• ISBN: 9781512799255

Beatrice Dees Fredricks

Beatrice Dees was born on January 21, 1906, in Laurel County, Kentucky. She was the first of eight children born to John Franklin and Lydia Lucas Dees. Early in her childhood, she decided she wanted to be a schoolteacher. To accomplish that goal, she attended Annville Institute in Annville, Kentucky, and Sue Bennett College in London, Kentucky. Her first assignment was in a Laurel County one-room school when she was eighteen years old. Throughout her life she loved poetry and recorded her most inner thoughts and feelings in verse. Her unfailing faith in God comes through clearly in all her writing. She married Henry Arthur Fredricks on December 2, 1933. One son and four daughters were born to this union. Except for brief periods in early adulthood, she lived her entire life in the state of Kentucky. She had a lifelong love for the state, and many of her poems are about the beauty of the Kentucky landscape. Beatrice retired formally from teaching in 1971 and returned to her home in Pittsburg, Kentucky. There she was active in the Pittsburg Christian Church, where she taught adult Sunday school. She was loved and respected by all who knew her. She lost her long battle with cancer on Sunday, July 10, 1988, concluding an exemplary journey on earth and commencing a glorious eternity with the Lord.

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Copyright © 2017 Beatrice Dees Fredricks.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-9924-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-9925-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017912747

WestBow Press rev. date: 08/28/2017

Contents

Chapter 1

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Poet’s Prayer

A Poet’s Prayer

Chapter 2

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Beatrice as a Child

Large and Small

Today and Long Ago

A Letter to the Violet Corner of Farm Home Magazine

My Ring

The Fire of Lincoln Hall

Chapter 3

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Childhood Memories

Memories

Dreams and Life

Chapter 4

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Kentucky Beautiful

Kentucky

The Days of Long Ago

The Beautiful Rose

Springtime in Kentucky

My Old Home

Chapter 5

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Faith in God

A Glimpse of Heaven

Perception

The Old Songs

Our Sins

Pittsburg Christian Church

The Pittsburg Christian Church

The Bible

God in the Schools

On Abortion

Inadequacies

Face Life

Ambition

The Tongue

Chapter 6

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Love of Family

My Son

My Daughters

Barbara

Tommy

My David

Little Robbie

Eric

My Fairy Princess

Motherhood v. Grandmotherhood

In Memory of Dave Carter—World War I

Chapter 7

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Remembering Friends

Mrs. Herron’s Flowers

When Friends Part

Chapter 8

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Seasonal

Summer

Autumn Reveries

Mistletoe

Christmas

Chapter 9

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Welcoming Another New Year

1983

1984

1985

1986

My Prayer for 1987

Chapter 10

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On Being Blind

My Blindness

Pictures

Chapter 11

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On Going Home

On My 76th Birthday

My 77th Birthday

In loving memory of our mother

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1906–1988

So many memories flood our hearts as we remember Mother. It would take volumes to record them all. But this book is not about us. Rather it is the story of her life as only she could tell it. She chose to reveal herself through her beautiful poems. And so by reading them, the reader can see the wonderful way she envisioned her life path at an early age and followed it for more than eighty-two years faithfully, lovingly, and with her eyes always focused on her eternal destination. Her life was a perfect picture of the success in the midst of adversity that is achieved when we truly choose to allow God to direct our path. She chose to teach. She taught first by example and then through stories, poems, and songs. Her descendants for generations to come are blessed by her teaching. Only eternity will tell how many lives were blessed, enriched, and pointed toward earthly success and ultimately heaven by her many years in the public schools of Kentucky and her eighty-two years in the broader arena of life.

—Doris Fredricks Bridges

Preface

From the time we were little children, our mother read to