Do they make gold jackets for angels? Because when Randall Cunningham handed her the ball, DeBorah Little did exactly what Floyd Little would’ve done.
She ran with it.
Cunningham, the longtime NFL quarterback with the Eagles, Vikings, Cowboys and Ravens, is currently the senior pastor at Remnant Ministries in Las Vegas. Which also happens to be the house of worship for DeBorah, widow of Floyd Little, The Franchise. The late, legendary Broncos tailback, who’d put a team on his back for nine seasons, passed away on New Year’s Day 2021 at the age of 78 after a battle with cancer.
“He knew what I was going through,” DeBorah said. “And when Floyd was sick (with cancer) and then afterward, (Randall) had shared his own stories because he had a son who’d passed away (as a toddler). And he was a tremendous comfort.”
As it turns out, Cunningham and his wife, Felicity, had been thinking about starting up a ministry at the church for widows, survivors of loss. A few months ago, they decided they’d found the perfect shepherd.
“And Randall called me one day and said, ‘Listen, there’s a need for a widows ministry at Remnant, is that something you would be willing to head up?’” DeBorah said.
“(He said), ‘You’ve done a tremendous job of healing. I know you’re still going through it, DeBorah. But you still show up at church. You’re still in Bible study. You’re still teaching in the youth ministry. You’re the kind of believer that we need.’ So many members of the church had lost people.”
According to CDC data as of Dec. 23, the state of Nevada ranked No. 19 in the country in the rate of COVID-related deaths per 100,000 citizens (221) since Jan. 21, 2020. (Colorado checked in at No. 41, at 174 per 100K.)
Which is the short version of how Little’s Celebration of Life ministry got off the ground. And into the water.
DeBorah recently spearheaded a short cruise on Lake Las Vegas for roughly 30 widows such as herself — a chance to get some fresh air, to love, to learn and to listen.
Some had lost their husbands in the last three months. For others, it had been three years. Or longer.
“It was just a wonderful time,” she said. “So I’ve begun the work of just sitting still and being quiet and saying, ‘OK, Lord, I said, is this really what you would have me to do?’ And I believe the answer is yes.”
***
Next December, she’ll get back to decorations. Maybe even a tree. She’s a year away, emotionally, from putting out a holiday newsletter again.
“Christmas and New Year’s will never be the same,” said DeBorah, who spent the holidays of 2020 watching the strongest man she’d ever known fade away.
“I just loved everything about him. The way he would hold my hands. He would hold it tight. It wasn’t one of those ‘noodle’ hands. We did everything together … you don’t replace that. You do not replace that.
“What I will tell you is that with every fiber of my being, I will be doing everything I can to be keeping the spirit of Floyd alive, his memory alive, his legacy alive. I do not want people to forget him easily.”
This past August, during Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement weekend, DeBorah partnered with LaTresa Doleman and Tara Greene, widows of Hall-of-Fame defenders Chris Doleman and Kevin Greene, to collaborate with the YWCA Canton on a “Women Empowering Women” panel.
Volunteers read to children at the Y. DeBorah bought the kids backpacks. She got the Hall involved.
“It became more than just a lunch. Or a fashion show,” said Little, whose husband had been inducted back in 2010. “We wanted to work. We wanted to do community service.”
She started regular Zoom calls with fellow NFL widows, giving advice she had to learn the hard way. Sharing tips she wished she’d known years earlier.
“Be around other people,” DeBorah said. “Don’t be alone. And if there’s someone with you who is grieving, hug them. They need hugs. They need love.
“Probably the first six or seven months of the year, I didn’t even want to consider a future without Floyd. What I have learned is, to accept the invitations from other people to have lunch, to have coffee.
“You get out of the house, you get some fresh air, get your mind off your problems for an hour, two hours, you get to giggle, you get to laugh. And even if you feel guilty about it, because I did, there’s some joy in there. Even a hint, a mustard seed of joy, is better than none at all.”
***
The Paris junket was one of those seeds. A chance to push the re-set button. To honor Floyd. To pray. To heal.
The Littles had decided a while ago that they had enough stuff, so a few years back they shifted from gifts to travel. Couples trips.
“Floyd visits me everywhere I go and in everything I do,” Little said. “And I heard the spirit of Floyd say, ‘OK, here’s the thing: Whenever you see the number 44, you know that I’m with you.’”
Which, DeBorah explained, is why she was calling from France. She had rented out a one-bedroom apartment in the capital this December, sight-seeing with her cousin Natasha.
“I came here, specifically, to sit still and get quiet, to read The Word of The Lord and listen. To hear what He tells me about what I’m supposed to be doing, His plans for my life in 2022,” she said. “Jeremiah 29:11.”
For I know the plans I have for you … plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
DeBorah recalled getting off a Parisian subway car a few weeks back when she spotted a quiet woman near the platform. As Little passed, the stranger suddenly broke into a rendition of the Etta James classic “At Last.”
Myyyyy love has come along …
It was her wedding song.
“And I get up the steps to go to get on the next train and this music is starting,” DeBorah said. “And I turned around and looked at my cousin and I went, ‘My gosh, Natasha.’”
I found a thrill to press my cheek to …
“I don’t want to feel guilty for feeling joy,” DeBorah said. “I just have to be strong because I haven’t really, fully accepted it yet. But I have to.
“He’s watching over me.”
With that, the voice on the other line choked back tears from half a world away. If you don’t see angels this Christmas weekend, it’s because you’re not looking.
The Link LonkDecember 25, 2021 at 07:00AM
https://www.denverpost.com/2021/12/24/floyd-little-randall-cunningham-denver-broncos-nfl-cancer-covid-19/
Keeler: Broncos icon Floyd Little has been gone for a year. His wife, DeBorah, refused to waste it. “I do not want people to forget him easily.” - The Denver Post
https://news.google.com/search?q=little&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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