She is legally blind but sees better than we do. Here’s the scoop.
In 2014, we wanted to take Mike & Kathryn Hixson to Cuba with us. They were serving Graham Church in Laingsburg, Michigan. Planning the trip required a couple of person-to-person meetings, and Mike invited me to preach at Graham.
After the service we were invited to go to their home for Sunday noon dinner. Kathryn kept her vison problems so well hidden that we did not know how serious her disability was until she tried to pour some gravy into a gravy boat that was already on the table. Without knowing it, she was dumping it on the white table cloth, missing the gravy boat. Her daughter laughed at her. And, she indeed joined in the laughter.
It would have been easy for Kathryn to be upset about being laughed at. The logic is not hard to follow: After I taught Sunday school for children and their parents, some of whom do not appreciate it, I am working to provide a nice roast-beef dinner for the guest speaker and you laugh at me about something that I can’t help. And then there is the cleaning up of this oily gravy out of my good tablecloth!
Instead, she laughed too. I was amazed.
The Hixsons explained that her vision is like looking through a 3-inch long straw. She has some vision through that small window. Her peripheral vision is dark such that she was unaware of the gravy going on the table.
In that first picture (above), notice how Kathryn is crouching down to get her face the same height as the girl? That’s Kathryn, getting near people in a humble way wherever they are.
Fast forward to our time in Cuba. They were wonderful because of their transparent honesty and humility. She shared how their marriage hit the rocks some years before. Mike loved coffee, so Kathryn determined to make him gourmet coffee. He started tarrying after lunch for a few more minutes. Their relationship was warming and healing. A few minutes turned into greater closeness and a few lunches out. Their lives changed, and then they came to Graham.
In Cuba, Kathryn played jacks with the kids (previous page). How does a mostly blind person find a ball in the air, sweep up one, two, or more jacks, and then find the ball in flight before it lands on the table again? It is tough to do for a fully sighted person. Kathryn did it, with the kids being none the wiser.
With limited Spanglish, she held court with some of the young people (right).
Fast forward to July 28, 2022. Mike & Kathryn’s daughter lost a ten-year fight with brain cancer. Abby was 30 years old when she was promoted into God’s presence.
Move ahead a few months to October 29, 2022. Mike died suddenly.
All of which was very difficult, but now comes the even more amazing part. In February, 2024, I called Kathryn. She answered quickly even though it was 7:00 A.M. out in Arizona (I thought she was still in Michigan). She explained what happened after Mike was promoted.
Their oldest son lived with Kathryn for a year after Mike died. He had been living abroad but returned to care for his Mom. He had been unwilling to speak the name of Jesus Christ when he returned from Thailand.
Of this, Kathryn said, “Mike and I had been wondering what it would take to draw Luke to the Lord Jesus Christ. I found out—it took the death of his Dad to bring him around. Now Luke is the chaplain of the Shiawassee County Jail. Their other son is still a work in progress. He is honest enough to admit that he stepped away from God, not the other way around.
Mike, every bit the equal of Kathryn, is seen in the picture at left (standing in the back, in a dark green Michigan State University tee shirt). He was with a group of Cuban church planters who function in the shadow of the American Guantanamo Bay naval facility in Cuba. They are planting churches.
Today, Kathryn attends three Bible studies. She admits life can have serious problems, but she has been pushed to write, of which she said, “I want to write about my life in a way that people see God.” And she continues to laugh at herself. “A person has to keep seeing the humor in things. Laugh and tease and relax. You don’t have to be good at something to do it.” That’s a Kathrynism. She says, “If we are willing, we can see blessings.”
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