That’s what makes Gracie Mae Beam’s story a rare one.

Years before talk of a new millennium took hold, the longtime Kannapolis resident took on the monumental task of copying the Bible by hand.

She died April 23 and her obituary appeared in the April 25 Post. Except for one sentence, her obit read like many of the others that show up in the paper every day. But that one line on the form from Whitley’s Funeral Home in Kannapolis jumped out: She was known for copying the Bible in longhand.