Karen Malone

My name is Juston Davidson and I want to thank you for being here as we lay Karen Sue Malone’s body to rest as friends and family..

Obituary.

Karen Sue (Catts) Malone of Irving, Texas, passed from this life on November 29, 2024, at Mercy Hospital in Joplin, Missouri. Karen was born September 17, 1943, in Mount

Vernon, Missouri, to Clarence Herman Catts and Cordelia Gertrude (Kraft) Catts.

After graduating from Mount Vernon High School in 1961, Karen moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia, where she worked as a secretary and met her first husband Bill Wood. They were married October 19, 1963, at First Baptist Church in Mount Vernon. During the Vietnam conflict, Karen worked as an executive secretary for Air America in Washington, DC, while Bill served as an Aerospace Ground Equipment Technician for Air Force One. During Bill’s Air Force career, Karen had the experience of living in Spain and Thailand. Later, Karen worked for the Corp of Engineers at Wright Patterson Lake near Texarkana, Texas, and Canyon Lake near San Antonio, before working for the Insurance Department of the US Department of Agriculture in Dallas, where she retired after 30 years in Civil Service. While working at Canyon Lake, Karen earned an Associate Degree in General Business from San Antonio College and met her second husband Don Malone. They were married July 5, 1991, in Coffeyville, Kansas.

Karen accepted Jesus Christ at the age of 10 at First Baptist Church in Mount Vernon. She had a role in the establishment of Western Heritage Baptist Church in Irving, Texas, as a charter member, for which she received a plaque of recognition. Karen was a qualified hospice volunteer. Karen enjoyed traveling, going on tours, and cruises with her sister Ann, visiting her brother Bill and family when they lived in England, and visiting her nephew William and family when they were stationed in Italy. Karen loved her family and was generous with family and friends when help was needed. Karen will be greatly missed by her family and friends.

Karen was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Cordelia Ann (Catts) Jones, and both her husbands.

She is survived by her brother Clarence William Lee Catts and wife Annette of Waynesville, Missouri, her sister Joyce Elaine Catts of Mount Vernon, Missouri, her nephews Joe Lloyd Jones and wife Laura of Coffeyville, Kansas, William Morrison Catts and wife Amy of Papillion, Nebraska, and Robert Michael Catts and wife Camila of North Richland Hills, Texas, and her niece Angela Lou (Jones) Rotola of Tulsa, Oklahoma, as well as great and great-great nieces and nephews.

Prayer

In times of grief and struggle in our lives, Christians have often turned to the familiar words of Psalm 23, the meditations of King David as he considered the tender way in which God loved him and showed him continued grace and mercy. Despite the realities that David felt from those who claimed to be for God in his life, he saw the tender love of God as he describes in his psalm..

Psalm 23 (ESV)

A Psalm of David.

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

A shepherd was all that stood between sheep and the predators at the door. David knew this all too well in his life. He fled from Saul, his own children turned against him, sending him fleeing for his own life. In the midst of all of these troubles David reminds himself and us that God’s love is like that of a loving shepherd. He brings his sheep by still and green pastures and still waters so they can eat and drink in peace and safety. When enemies and trials come, and they do come for the faithful and the wayward alike, They can find themselves without fear because God makes a meal in their presence, showing they don’t have power. And for those who call them their shepherd, the reality is that they will be found in his goodness and mercy all the days they serve him, dwelling in his house forever. This verse is amazing and gives us comfort, but its crown if found in the New Testament in the gospel of John, in Jesus Christ.

John 10:11–18 (ESV)

11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,

15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.

18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

Jesus shows us that not only can we have peace because God has us in our lives and forever afterward, but that he is the kind of shepherd that lays down his life because he loves his sheep. He knows them, he loves them, he hears them, and he cares for them at his own expense.

This is the hope held out for us at Calvary. Jesus love was demonstrated there as he spent his own life to buy our pardon. The bible tells us that any man or woman, no matter how dark the stain of their sins or failures can find hope and forgiveness if they will but repent of their sin, put their full faith and trust in Jesus life, death, burial, and resurrection, and choose to follow him with their life. This is the hope that Karen had. Its the hope of all beleivers. That because of Jesus Christ, death doesn’t win. It’s not good bye, its simply see you later. We celebrate today that while Karen’s body has finished her race, her life doesn’t end her but simply begins its next chapter.

Pray.