Our dear friend Christi Hockel-Davenport went home to the Lord on April 25.
We were blessed to have Christi as one of our speakers at the 2022 Walk for Life West Coast. Her moving testimony about the value and dignity of all human life touched the hearts, souls, and minds of all in attendance and beyond. Doug Mainwaring, who covered the Walk for LifeSiteNews, wrote:
“Perhaps the most powerful message of the day came in the testimony of Christi Hockel, a woman with Down syndrome.
“The first thing you ought to know about me is that I am an exception,” began Hockel.
“How many times have you heard people say, ‘I don’t approve of abortion except in cases of rape, incest,” said Hockel, who then pointed a finger at herself, adding, “and birth defects.”
“Those people think I am a birth defect, a baby who’s simply eliminated because I have Down syndrome. Which means I have an extra copy of chromosome number 21 in my cells. That makes me one of those exceptions they are talking about.”
“But it also has made my whole life exceptional,” declared Hockel to the applause and cheers of the crowd.
“And my exceptional life has been full and fulfilling. I have graduated high school, taught drama in a junior college, passed my driving test on the first try, and served on the board of a National Down Syndrome Congress.”
“I am an employee. I have helped teachers and kids in a Texas school for ten years. I have been a hospital volunteer. I am a fellow of a university,” said Hockel, a Fellow of the Townsend Institute of Irvine’s Concordia University.
“And best of all, I have been a loving wife. I fell in love. I got married in the Church and moved 1,200 miles away from my home in California to Dallas where I have lived happily for almost 12 years with my handsome husband in our own home,” she recounted.
“Right now I am learning how to live my life as a widow,” said Hockel, whose husband died suddenly last May. “Even for exceptional people, not everything in life is easy. But I am still glad that my mother did not hesitate to choose life.”
“I know that not all people who have Down syndrome will be able to accomplish what I have done. Some of my best friends who have Down syndrome are unable to talk, so I am here to speak for all people,” she explained.
The American College of OBGYNs decided that every pregnant mother should be tested to find out if their unborn child has Down syndrome. We know that most mothers [who] find out that their unborn baby has Down syndrome don’t give their baby a chance. They think I am a tragedy that they don’t want to face. But people who have Down syndrome are really good at love. This is especially true for my friends who can’t speak.
I hope you will remember this about me: I may not be as smart as some people, but I know that being smart isn’t always what makes people happy. And what makes people happy is loving and being loved.
And when it comes to loving, people who have Down syndrome are truly exceptional. We are badly needed in this world.
“So far, all unborn exceptions like me, let’s walk! Walk for us! Let’s claim our right to life!” urged Hockel, “and defend our exceptional love.”
May all of us learn from Christi what it is to be a human being, made in the image of our loving Creator. Our love and prayers go to Christi’s family and her innumerable friends and admirers.