Linda Carol Hood Warren Funeral
Notes
Transcript
Linda Carol Hood Warren
Born: 12/4/1942
Passed: 1/27/2025
Celebration of Life: 02/02/2025 First Baptist Church of Gray
Husband: L.C. Warren III - Married 63 years
Children: Vic (Melissa) Warren, Dusty (Stacy) Warren, Tia (Brad) Litke
Grandchildren: Rachael (Brandon) Hauboldt, Kaleb (Shelby) Litke, Jennifer Warren, Haleigh Warren, Scarlett Warren and Kendall Warren
Great-Grandchild: Lawrence Litke
Order of Service:
Prelude: Kim Hice
Welcome, Scripture, Prayer: Randy Darnell
Hymn - “What a Friend” - George Sheffield and congregation
Poem - Kendall Warren
Memories: L. C. Warren
Memories - Dusty Warren
Memories - Vic Warren
Memories - Rachael Hauboldt
Song: Love Me - George Sheffield
Eulogy - Randy Darnell
Closing Prayer
Dismissal and Postlude
Prelude: Kim Hice
I would like to welcome you to the Celebration of Life of Mrs. Linda Carol Hood Warren.
Those of us who have a little age, do you remember being young?
Do ya’ll remember the song, “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart?”
“Where?”
“Down in my heart, where? Down in my heart”
“I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart?”
“Where?”
“Down in my heart to stay.”
The song got a little dressed up as I got to be a teenager.
“I’ve got the peace that passes understanding down in my heart.”
And then there was this verse:
“I’ve got the wonderful love of my blessed redeemer way down in the depths of my heart.”
Any of ya’ll do that?
As I sat down to think about Ms. Carol, that’s the song that came to my mind.
Carol had joy.
Carol had peace.
And Carol had the wonderful love of her blessed redeemer way down in the depths of her heart.
If you ever even bumped up against her, you knew that right off.
We are so glad you are here today to remember Carol and to remember the Jesus that set Ms. Carol free.
We have no desire to have anyone leave here in teary eyed sadness.
Carol didn’t leave that way - neither should we.
The verse the family gave me that was her verse was Philippians 4:8.
I want to add verse 9 to it: Hear now the Word of the Lord Philippians 4:8-9
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
This is the Word of the Lord - thanks be to God.
Let us pray:
Dear Father,
What words can we use to thank you effectively?
The words Praise and Glorify and Give Thanks have been said billions of times
And Lord, they are said so much because they don’t quite capture what we want to say.
There are no words to describe an ocean sunrise
Or a mountain sunset.
There are no words to describe hearing the first cries of a baby
Or to lay to rest a blessed saint who had Jesus written all over her.
Father,
Bless you for giving us an example of Christian living like you did in Carol.
Thank you for her years, her family and for the love she gave and received from L.C.
Lord, help us to hear you today
And dear Holy Spirit, if there is someone here today who thinks Christians are a right sorry lot
Please open their eyes and let them see Jesus.
We want them to have the joy, joy, joy, joy too.
In Jesus’ name, Amen
Hymn - “What a Friend” - George Sheffield and congregation
Poem - Kendall Warren
Memories: L. C. Warren
Memories: Dusty Warren
Memories: Vic Warren
Memories: Rachael Hauboldt
Song: Love Me - George Sheffield
So when the kids were younger, Ms. Carol somehow came into possession of a mannequin.
You know, the things department stores used to display clothes on until we all started shopping at Amazon.
Now I believe this mannequin was female, which doesn’t matter right now but it will in a moment.
Carol loved to throw parties.
She’d get the kids and their friends and church people all to come over to her house
And she’d decorate and she always, always had some unusual kind of game.
Everybody loved coming to Carol’s parties.
So at this particular party, Carol took that mannequin - let’s call it Bobbie
And she placed Bobbie sitting on the side of the bath tub, but inside the bath tub.
Sitting against the wall with it’s feet in the tub.
She dressed Bobbie.
Got Bobbie comfortable.
And then closed the shower curtain so you couldn’t see Bobbie.
Unless you sat down on the toilet.
So get the picture in your mind.
You’ve come to take care of business.
You’ve exposed all of the necessary apparatus
You sit down on the commode and you get this funny feeling
So you look to your left
And there’s Bobbie - staring straight at you with her lifeless eyes.
Needless to say, there were terrifying noises that came from that bathroom that night.
And while that’s great enough, she wasn’t finished with Bobbie.
Seems the superintendent of schools lived nearby.
Carol took her children and Bobbie and went to the superintendent’s house under cover of darkness.
Carol laid Bobbie - undressed - on the top step of the superintendent’s stoop
Then she rang the bell and ran.
Carol, WITH HER CHILDREN, hid in the bushes
As the superintendent’s wife answered the door.
Now think with me here - exactly how do you think this woman reacted when she saw a lifeless, fully unclothed woman lying on her doorstep?
The commotion summoned her husband who quickly realized they had been pranked.
No one ever found out who the culprits were
I suspect there would have been a multitude of blue haired church ladies
And nattily dressed old church men with too tight ties that would have been traumatized had they known that one of their Sunday School teachers
Was teaching her children the mechanics of the best prank ever on a superintendent.
And yet, I can’t help but believe that the angels in heaven were calling each other over
And saying, “Watch this! Carol’s at it again.”
See, when Carol met Jesus at the Rock Baptist Church in Conyers - well, Jesus set Carol free.
It seems Ms. Carol understood from the beginning what Paul meant in Galatians when he said
Galatians 5:1 “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
Jesus set Carol free to live a life for Him that would literally change the lives of many people.
Atlanta wasn’t Atlanta when Carol and LC were growing up.
The skyline we all see today didn’t exist
And Atlanta had not reached out to swallow the suburbs yet.
LC was driving a tractor down the road to his girlfriend’s house so he could plow her daddy’s garden
When a car slowed beside him and the girl leaned out the window to ask him if he could come and plow her daddy’s garden.
He declined but gave her the name of someone who could help.
He went on about his business but Carol could not get back to hers.
One look at Mr. L.C.’s baby blues and she was smitten.
Later on Crawford Long’s nursing school had a dance and somehow they both ended up at it.
Divine Providence I would say.
They’ve been together ever since.
It took Mr. L.C. three tries - he got a ring and asked her three times
He’s such a romantic, the first or second time was at the Putt-Putt golf course.
But the third time was the charm.
Why did she hesitate?
She wondered if she could be a good enough wife.
The song you heard was almost autobiographic
Carol’s mom had already picked out Carol’s husband
And it wasn’t Lovick Warren.
But Carol had her mind made up so they married in 1961
They vowed they would be together until “death do us part”
And they did - good job Mr. L.C.
Good job.
Carol and LC raised their children in the church.
She taught in preschool when they were that age.
Moved up to children to teach when they were there.
Moved up to students when they were there.
Throwing at least 3 big parties every year and decorating everything to the max.
She loved decorating for the seasons
Especially Christmas - when she would take out her collection of 500 snow men
And spread them around the house.
Mr. LC threw Carol little curve when he felt called into the ministry at 45 years old.
But his ministry was different.
God didn’t call him to full time or even to be a bi-vocational style preacher.
Mr. LC was called to be a support preacher.
Anytime any church needed a preacher to fill in for their pastor
They called Mr. LC.
And he wouldn’t let them pay him.
He believed that the Lord had given him the means to take care of his family
And he wasn’t supposed to take pay for preaching.
So he never did.
He preached down at Elam for Gary Thomas when Gary was there
And he led prayer meeting for them in recent years.
There were times over the years when L.C. preached
That Carol would sing - one of her favorites to sing was “There’s a Sweet, Sweet Spirit in this place.”
Remember the words?
“There’s a sweet, sweet spirit in this place
And I know that it’s the presence of the Lord
There are sweet expressions on each face
And I know they feel the presence of the Lord.”
Some how I’m not surprised that would be among her favorites.
I mean think about what Paul said, “Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
If you’ve got your mind focused on those things, you aren’t looking for anything else.
Carol wanted to see the best
And because she did, well, she often did.
Carol worked as a parapro for children with disabilities.
A number of the kids she and the teachers she supported were able to do things that the experts said they would never do.
I believe that was because of the heart that Jesus gave to her.
Tia described Carol as the wind beneath her wings.
She said she supported her hopes and dreams 100%
Even when the hopes and dreams were crazy hopes and dreams.
Melissa told me that Carol never accepted her as an in law.
She was a daughter - never anything less.
Carol gave birth to 4 children but 1 passed very early on.
Then she adopted 3 children - we would call them her in-laws
But that wasn’t Carol’s style.
Carol had 3 boys and 3 girls
And one very adoring husband.
Physically life was hard for Carol.
She tried to die 8 times - she failed 7 of those.
I was there for one of those.
She was in the hospital and when I got there they had called the family in.
One of her sons explained to me what was going on.
We all talked in hushed tones - you know how you do.
When everyone started arriving, I prayed and left them to be together.
Tia told me that a little while later it was like a light switch.
This woman who the doctors said would not last the night
Popped up like a jack in the box and exclaimed, “I’m back!”
And she was for another season.
Just a very few weeks ago though, Carol got tired.
She had to have transfusions and ended up in the hospital more and more times.
They talked about hospice and then talked to hospice
And when she found out she’d be able to eat all of the sweets she wanted to she said,
“Sign me up!”
She wanted to make one more trip to Savannah before she went home to be with Jesus.
Seems when she was young, a very good friend and she would sit by the Savannah River by the statue of the waving girl
And they’d watch the ships coming and going.
She couldn’t walk that far
But they were able to get to her most important place, River Street Sweets.
They bought a pound of fudge, then they went across the parking lot and sat next to the river.
Carol, Tia and all the grand-girls.
Carol opened that one pound box of fudge
Pulled out a piece and lifted it to the heavens and reverently exclaimed, “Fudge.”
That’s important because see
Last week Carol’s body was finally giving up.
Mr. L.C., bless his heart, had finally released Carol to Jesus.
I know it broke his heart but he loved her too much to try to keep her from going home.
She had sent L.C. away to go to a school reunion.
Tia was with her and Carol was struggling.
Tia asked her if she saw the angels and she said yes.
And then, as she breathed her last breath, Carol said, “Fudge”
And the angel carried her away.
There are so many stories to tell.
So many things that are important.
Ask Tia about the woman at Big Lots.
But what I think is most important is that Carol understood what it meant to be free in Jesus.
She lived and loved and laughed
She cared for the weak and didn’t seem to kow-tow to the strong.
She simply loved Jesus so much, that she had to let that joy escape from her body.
And that’s what I want you to see.
Jesus has gotten such a bum rap.
If I’ve heard it once I’ve heard it a million times.
There’s all of the rules
You can’t have any fun
Christians walk around like they’ve drank a gallon of prune juice and aren’t allowed to go to the bathroom.
And I get it
So many have acted that way.
But you never saw Jesus act that way, did you?
Everything Jesus ever said was true - he never lied.
Jesus was honorable in all of his dealings.
Jesus was just - he judged people fairly.
Jesus was pure - he treated women with incredible respect.
Jesus was lovely in that - you loved to sit in his presence and listen to him speak.
Jesus was commendable
Who else do you know died so that you would never have to?
Jesus was excellent.
There never was, nor will there ever be anyone like him ever again.
And here’s the deal
If you spend your life following him
All of those things we just said Jesus was, we’ll you do them too
Not because you’re working so hard to be good and right and all that
But simply because Jesus sets you free to live
Live like Carol.
Carol didn’t live like she lived just because evolution dealt her a good deck.
Carol lived like she did because she had the “Joy, joy, joy, joy down in her heart.”
Tell me if this applies:
Jeremiah 15:16 “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.”
Carol found the Lords words and she consumed them, mind, body and soul.
God’s word brought her joy
It filled her heart with delight
And she danced through life because she was called by the name of the Lord, God of hosts.
Carol was a “Christian” and she loved every minute of it.
My prayer today is that each of us could find the joy of Jesus in our hearts like Carol Warren did.
Would you pray with me?
Holy Father, We commend into thy hands of mercy the soul of this our sister departed, Carol.
And her remains we commit to the earth, beseeching your infinite goodness, to give us grace to live in your fear and love and to die in your favor
So that when the judgement shall come which you have committed to your well-beloved son,
Both this our sister, and we, may be found acceptable in your sight
And that we receive that blessing, which your well-beloved son shall then pronounce to all that love and fear you, saying
Come you blessed children of my Father: Receive the kingdom prepared for you before the beginning of the world.
Grant this merciful father for the honor of Jesus Christ, our only Savior, Mediator, our Advocate and our Friend.
[Ephesians 3:20-21 NASB] 20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
