Some lives are remembered not only for what they accomplished, but for the spirit in which they were lived.
Naomi Koerwitz Dassow’s life was marked by a quiet but courageous faith in Jesus Christ, a deep compassion for people, and a willingness to go wherever the Lord called her. Her story includes nursing, marriage, family, illness, ministry, grief, service, and hope. Yet the truest thread running through every chapter is this: God was faithfully at work.
Naomi’s life was never about drawing attention to herself. She would want her story to point beyond her—to Jesus Christ, the One who gave her faith, sustained her through suffering, and welcomed her home.
A Calling Shaped by Compassion
Long before Naomi became Naomi Dassow, she was a young nurse with a desire to serve people in need.
Her journey took her from Wisconsin to the hills and hollers of Buckhorn, Kentucky. In a rural Appalachian community where medical care was often difficult to reach, Naomi traveled by Jeep to visit mothers, children, and families living in isolated places. She worked alongside nurse-midwife Lucille LeBeau, whose friendship and example became an important part of Naomi’s story.
Those years in Buckhorn were more than an early nursing assignment. They helped reveal the heart God had placed within her. Nursing was not simply Naomi’s profession. It was one of the ways she loved her neighbor.
She carried that same compassionate spirit into later work in public health, community care, church ministry, missions, and service to people facing hardship. Wherever there was a need, Naomi had a way of seeing the person behind it.
You can read more about this important chapter in From Buckhorn to the World and Naomi and Lucille: A Shared Life in the Providence of God.
A Story of God’s Providence
Looking back, it is difficult to see Naomi’s story as a series of accidents or coincidences.
God was preparing her through her family, faith, education, friendships, nursing experiences, places of service, joys, disappointments, and even through the suffering that would later become part of her life. He was also preparing Richard on a very different path.
Naomi and Richard came from different backgrounds, had different personalities and experiences, and traveled separate roads for many years. Yet in God’s timing, their paths crossed in 1978. They were married on April 21, 1979, and God gave them 45 years together.
Their marriage was built on a shared faith in Jesus. It was strengthened through ordinary life, adoption and family, church relationships, hospitality, ministry, travel, challenges, joys, and seasons that neither of them could have anticipated.
Their story is beautifully pictured in When Two Snowflakes Became One. Two snowflakes do not become identical when they join. Each remains uniquely formed, yet together they become part of something larger. In a similar way, Naomi and Richard remained distinct people, but God joined their lives into one shared testimony of faith, love, and service.
Faithfulness Through Suffering
Before Naomi and Richard married, Naomi told him that she had polycystic kidney disease. Neither of them could fully see what the years ahead would hold.
As her illness progressed, dialysis and medical decisions became part of their shared life. Yet they did not see themselves merely as patient and caregiver. They were Care Partners—walking through the burdens, appointments, prayers, decisions, and uncertainties together.
Their marriage was not defined by illness. It was revealed through faithfulness in the midst of illness.
Naomi showed courage, joy, and trust in Christ through difficult seasons. Richard stayed beside her as husband, companion, advocate, and Care Partner. Their life together became a reminder that love is often expressed not only in great words, but in daily presence, patience, prayer, sacrifice, and faithfulness.
Naomi: A Testament of God’s Providential Timing reflects on that sacred journey of marriage, suffering, and hope.
A Legacy of Service
Naomi’s influence reached far beyond one place or one ministry.
Her life included nursing, public health, Eastbrook Church, Alliance Bible Church, the Red Cross, The Salvation Army, jail ministry, missions, prayer, encouragement, hospitality, and compassionate care for people in crisis. She understood that every person mattered to God.
She did not need recognition in order to serve. She simply wanted to be useful to the Lord.
Her legacy also lives on through her family, friends, fellow workers, people she encouraged, and those who received practical help or spiritual care because she was willing to say yes to God’s call.
Naomi Koerwitz Dassow’s Journey of Faith and Service gathers many of these chapters together and reminds us that a faithful life can continue to bear fruit long after a person has gone home to the Lord.
Grief, Memory, and Eternal Hope
Naomi entered the presence of Jesus on November 8, 2024.
Her physical absence is deeply felt. Grief is not a sign that faith has failed. It is the honest expression of love and loss. Jesus Himself wept.
Yet Christ Followers do not grieve without hope.
Naomi is not merely a memory. She is with Christ—whole, healed, known, and loved by the Savior she trusted. The promise of Jesus remains firm:
“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.”
—John 11:25
Naomi’s influence continues in the faith, compassion, ministry, generosity, writing, and service that remain part of the life she shared with Richard. Her story is still being told because God’s work through a faithful life does not simply end.
As A Story Still Being Written: Naomi and Me reminds us, the story is not over. God continues to use the love, lessons, faith, and calling formed through a shared life.
May Christ Become More
Naomi’s story is a beautiful one. But Naomi herself would want the final message to be about Jesus.
He knew her before she was born. He called her, guided her, strengthened her, used her gifts, carried her through suffering, and received her into eternal life.
Her life encourages us to ask:
Where has God placed me to serve?
Whom has He placed in my path to love and encourage?
What experiences—joyful or painful—might He be using to shape my calling?
Naomi Dassow’s legacy is one of faith, compassion, providence, and service. It is a legacy that continues to bear fruit.
And above all, it is a testimony to the grace of Jesus Christ.
“We love because He first loved us.”
—1 John 4:19
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