Published in the Summer 2006 AA-EVP NewsJournal
In May, 2005, Melissa Bailey’s father, David “Skip” Walton, was diagnosed with stomach cancer. He was forty-nine years old. The picture of Skip at the left was taken the day he found out about the cancer. Skip is holding his finger up showing that he is number one.
Melissa wrote, “My father took it as something that was supposed to happen. He was willing to fight this sickness and be a testament to God’s healing power. You see my father grew up in the church and my grandfather was a preacher, but after some years my father had turned away from his spirituality. I had always been taught by my father that prayer was the key to all even if you’re going through the toughest things in life. Obviously the turning point for prayer in my life was finding out that my father had stomach cancer.”
Skip was told that he had only six months to live and once Melissa learned about the cancer, she along with her husband, decided to move back home to help her mother and be with her father during his last days on this plane. The move back was a blessing for Melissa, as she was not only able to help with her father’s care but was able to talk to him in a way that she felt that she couldn’t do before he became sick.
A few weeks before her father’s death the family had a falling out and Melissa and her husband needed to get away. Melissa spoke with her father and asked him to do one thing if she was unable to see him again. She asked her father to visit her in her dreams and let her know that he was all right after he crossed over.
The day before Skip passed (February 23, 2006), Melissa received a phone call from her mother asking her to come home. Skip had told Coco, Melissa’s mother, that he had a dream about God and that he had been told: “Be prepared because tomorrow you are coming home.” Melissa said that, no one in the family believed this. Melissa wrote, “I told my mother that I would not be coming home as of yet, that I would not want to be there seeing my father take his last breaths. I felt that something was holding me where I was and if it was my father’s time, then I would not want to be hit with the images of seeing my father dying. The day passed with my thinking of my father, whom I love so much. I received a call from the house at around 8:00 PM and was told that my father had been asking to speak with me. He told me he loves me and I told him that it’s okay for him to go. I knew my father was in pain and that he wanted my approval to move forward. My father had been told that he had only months to live and yet he held on until he knew things were all right with our family.”
Melissa spoke to her mother next, and was told that everyone was there; her brothers, sisters, aunt and her mother’s brother. The family was waiting for her father’s brother and the pastor to come. Melissa told everyone that she loved them and then hung up the phone. It was now 9:30 PM and she was in turmoil whether she should go home or not. “My husband asked me if I wanted to leave right then but I told him that I didn’t want to leave New York yet.” At 10:00 PM she told her husband that she was ready to go home. The two decided to lay down for a few hours before driving to Virginia to be with her father. She wrote, “I truly had a hard time going to sleep. I finally quieted my thoughts and prayed to God to just keep my father in his safe hands.”
While dreaming, Melissa found herself in a room and felt that she was floating. People were holding hands in a half circle and one person was kneeling. “All of a sudden I knew that I was actually standing, looking at this. … I saw a light opening up like a flower in bloom, in the corner of the room. The colors from this light were so white and bright it was beautiful to look at. I noticed that I was standing behind two people at the foot of the bed. Without looking at their faces, I know they were my father’s parents. All of a sudden I heard my grandmother say, ‘David it’s time to go,’ and then I saw the most amazing thing; I will never forget it. I saw my father rise in spirit out of his old body. He looked like his old self; healthy. He looked at himself in amazement as if astonished that he was no longer sick. He was glowing bright gold and began walking with my grandparents toward the light. He turned and said goodbye to the people praying around him. He then looked at me and said, ‘I am sorry that I will not be here with you.’ He then said, ‘Good-bye,’ smiled and continued walking toward the light. The light closed shut and I saw smoke and woke up. The pastor called within minutes, saying, ‘Your father has gone home with the Father.’ I was overwhelmed, I saw him enter the light. My father had passed and I was really there with him.”
Melissa feels that God answered her prayer and allowed her to see Skip’s transition to the light. She became interested in EVP days after his crossing. She recorded with her mother, sister and niece, Kalaya. They started calling his name as David Walton, Skip and Poppy. Melissa shared the recording with us and you can hear her niece say, “Hi Poppy.” Immediately you hear Skip say, “Hi Kalaya.” Melissa wrote that she “can’t believe he is talking to us so soon. I feel that he is the one pulling me to try and communicate with him.”
