GIRARD, Audrey Inez

The Verde Independent, Cottonwood, AZ Tuesday, November 02, 2010 Audrey Inez Girard (1932-2010) Audrey Inez Girard went home to be with Jesus, her Lord and Savior, on Friday, October 29. She was born in Brookings, SD, on January 5, 1932, one of nine children born to Ezra and Inez Gisselbeck. She grew up quickly on the family farm near Watertown, SD, where at an early age she took over many of the household chores. She met her late husband of 55 years, Bob, while they were both attending Miltonvale Wesleyan College, and they married in 1952. They spent their lives making beautiful music together. Together they enjoyed many years of fruitful ministry pastoring several churches across North America, and publishing books and Christian educational material. Audrey was also a graduate of Grand Canyon University --after many years of tenaciously pursuing her degree at colleges wherever they lived-- and had a long and effective career influencing future generations as an educator, counselor, and mentor. Throughout everything music was a golden stream flowing out in singing, playing, writing, and leading. Audrey’s life was marked by equal parts joy and pain, which gave her an innate wisdom and insight that she shared with all who were fortunate enough to be around her. To list her accomplishments would be in opposition to the way she lived her life, giving all the glory, honor and praise to the One she loved most, Jesus Christ. To be sure, the one accolade she desired in all the world, she now has heard. “Well done my good and faithful servant. Enter your rest.” She is survived by her three children, Christine Poehls and her husband, Vern, of Chandler, AZ, Bobby Girard and his wife, Meg, of Spokane, WA, and Charity Worden and her husband, Scott, of Lake Montezuma, AZ, along with 14 grandchildren, 5 great grandchildren, and innumerable others that she gathered under her wing and drew into the fold of Christ along the way. She leaves behind a huge hole in our hearts, and will be missed beyond reckoning. We love you, Mom. Information provided by survivors.