Good friend CB shared a story about this lovely lady a couple of weeks ago, and she’s been making me smile ever since. This is the luminous La Verne Ford Wimberly. Like the rest of us, the Tulsa resident’s social gatherings moved online a little over a year ago. In La Verne’s case, it was her weekly church services. But while the rest of us adopted “business casual” from the waist up and yoga pants from the waist down, this 82-year-old retired educator continued to dress for church. And after each virtual Sunday service at Metropolitan Baptist Church, La Verne has been posting a selfie on Facebook.

“In the 20 years I’ve been going to church there, I’ve always had my little routine that I learned from my mother as a girl. I’d pick out a nice outfit and hat and lay it out the night before, so that I could be prepared and look presentable.”

When church services moved online, Wimberly wasn’t about to stop her habit of dressing for services.

”I thought, ‘Oh, my goodness, I can’t sit here looking slouchy in my robe.’ I didn’t want to sit around alone and feel sorry for myself, so I decided, ‘You know what? I’m going to dress up anyway.’ For years, everyone had known to look for me in the last row, section two, dressed to the nines. People always looked forward to seeing what I was wearing. So when I posted [my first post-church] photo, everyone told me it boosted their spirits.”

You can read the whole interview with the inspiring La Verne Ford Wimberly on the The Washington Post website.