Gay Cleverly: The Healing Art

Gay Cleverly loves to paint. But because she has cerebral palsy, Sister Cleverly can paint only by holding the brush between her teeth.

Still, Gay paints as often as she can. She recently donated one of her landscape paintings to help raise money for a charity. She thinks of her artistic talents, as well as her other talents, as gifts from the Lord—gifts given her to share with others.

Besides her painting, Gay faithfully keeps a journal and has a fervent missionary zeal. With a rather limited income, she has managed to send out seventy-three copies of the Book of Mormon.

Those who know Gay know that, though she may have severe physical limitations, her compassion for the conditions of other people is strong and well-developed. Last Christmas, she wanted to do something for someone she thought might be “worse off” than she was. A young family in difficulty was identified, and from Gay’s meager funds, she bought gifts for the baby girl. In the spring, when Gay found out that the child had died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, she pledged ten dollars for ten years to the SIDS foundation for research.

Of all the service Gay gives, however, none is as near to her heart as serving in the temple, which she does at every opportunity. “If I could,” she says, “I would spend all day every day there.”

As she struggles to serve in the temple, her love of what she is doing is evident to those around her. They feel her intense yearning for eternity when she will be whole in body and able to sing, run, dance, and play. Gay Cleverly believes that our physical limitations are only temporary, and she lives by that belief.—Lenore L. Schow, Murray, Utah

Photo by Ann Florence