by Marc and Julie Anderson
mjanderson@theleaven.org
NORTONVILLE — There is only one road that leads from Linda Funk’s home where she has lived since her marriage in 1968 into the town of Nortonville.
And she walks it just about every day.
“It depends, of course,” she hedges.
“Not in the winter if the weather’s bad,” she admits. “If I put on plenty of clothes, I might go.”
The road Funk refers to is the county line road running on the boundary of Atchison and Jefferson counties. It leads directly from her home right into town and right smack up to St. Joseph Church.
She routinely stops in to spend time in adoration before the Eucharist, partly due to the sage advice she once received.
“Whenever you go by a church, stop in and make a visit. And then when you die, God won’t ask, ‘Who is it?’” she said.
Her practice of praying the rosary, Funk said, began in earnest almost immediately after the 9/11 attacks nearly 15 years ago. Then her son Anthony encouraged her to join the Legion of Mary.
“I’ve been with it ever since,” she said.
Her daily prayers begin with the rosary and then go on to include the Memorare, an act of contrition, the guardian angel prayer and others.
By the time she gets done with those, it’s time to move into a conversation with God and all of the angels and saints.
But Funk knows not everybody is ready for all that.
So she advises folks to keep it small at first.
“Start slowly, a little every day,” Funk said. “Pretty soon, it’s constant.”
And then, she said with a laugh, “God says, ‘Oh, it’s her again.’”
