Very Sad News About Fred's Daughter, Beth Behanna
Tue., Apr. 4. 2006 12:19am EDT
We have very sad news to report concerning Beth Behanna, our former drummer Fred Behanna's daughter. Beth died Sunday morning, April 2, after a long battle with Hodgkin's Disease. She had just turned 28 on March 21.
The photo on the right was taken a few years ago. Beth is on the left, and her sister, Brandy, is on the right.
Here is a special message from Fred:
Thanks to all of you that gave of your time and money in an effort to help out my daughter Beth, you will never know just how much you've touched our hearts.
It is with great sadness and regret that I inform you that my daughter, Beth Ann Behanna, passed away at 5:55 AM Sunday morning. She fought a valiant fight against a relentless enemy but in the end Beth won and is now in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Many of you never knew her personally, the beautiful long red hair, the thin 5' tall walking beauty that she was. You may never know of her heart of gold and how much she cared about others before herself. On Saturday morning one of her oncologists stopped in the room to see how she was; she was sleeping. The oncologist told me that Beth had more faith, grace, and love than anyone she had ever seen. And, sheepishly said to me, "I hope you don't mind that Beth and your family our on our prayer list at church".
When Beth felt good enough to walk around the hospital halls she was greeted by all the doctors, nurses, technicians, aides, administrative persons, and yes even the janitors. From hall to hall it was "Hi Beth, how you feeling", Hey girl you're sure looking good today, or just a friendly good morning.
On Friday afternoon we received a call at the hospital from the Dean of the University of Pittsburgh Law School informing us that he was coming down to honor Beths acheivements with a special Certificate of Appreciation from the University faculty and staff. They honored her for her committment to excellence and the lasting impression she had made upon all who knew her. The Dean said that she had always been a living testimony of what a true lawyer should be.
Tentatively the arrangements are as follows:
Viewing will be at the Marshall Marra Funeral Home, 216 Chess Street Monongahela, Pa (724) 258-6767 from 7-9 p.m. Monday evening. Tuesdays schedule is visitation from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. Tuesday evening. Funeral services Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. will be held at the Monongahela Free Methodist Church, 401 Second Street, Monongahela, PA 15063.
If anyone is intereseted or feels led to send flowers Beth's request was for pink...anything pink!! Obviously her favorite color!
Lastly, on Friday evening after a small party in the hospital lounge to celebrate her honor from the University of Pittsbugh, Beth had gone back to her room feeling tired. As she was laying in her bed she noticed through a small crack in the curtains on her window that the sky looked a pinkish/gray. She had her sister and myself open the curtain fully and BEHOLD...right in front of her window (actually her window was in the center of it) was a bright double rainbow.
Beth asked us to help her out of the bed so she could get to the window for a better look. She loved it and as we said later that evening God was giving her a message in the promise of the rainbow. Basically the message is that in Him we find our faith, hope, and love and that in the midst of all that can be ugly His rainbow promises a better tomorrow.
God bless all of you.
Fred
Our hearts ache for Fred, and Beth's mother, Joanne, sister, Brandy, and brother, Mark. Beth also had six nieces and nephews (Fred's grandchildren), Grace, Will, Claire, Emily, Summer, and Kyle. Please keep them in your prayers, and thank you for all your past prayers on Beth's behalf. If you wish to send condolences to Fred, you can send them to fred@apologetix.com.
As our long-time readers know, we had often included prayer requests for Beth along with requests for our friend, Amy Bryant, a young woman who had been battling leukemia since 1998. Amy died on March 5, and now Beth is gone less than a month later. It could lead some people to ask why we even pray at all. The simple fact is that the Bible tells us to do so. And many times our prayers for healing are answered. But when they aren't, we take comfort in Bible verses like these:
Isaiah 57:1-2
The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.
1 Corinthians 2:9
However as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" ...
Romans 8:23
And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us -- bodies that will never be sick again and will never die.
(TLB)
1 Corinthians 15:53
For our earthly bodies, the ones we have now that can die, must be transformed into heavenly bodies that cannot perish but will live forever.
(TLB)
2 Corinthians 5:1,4
For we know that when this tent we live in now is taken down-- when we die and leave these bodies-- we will have wonderful new bodies in heaven, homes that will be ours forevermore, made for us by God himself and not by
human hands ...These earthly bodies make us groan and sigh, but we wouldn't like to think of dying and having no bodies at all. We want to slip into our new bodies so that these dying bodies will, as it were, be swallowed up by everlasting life.
(TLB)
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