Christopher McCarthy (Celebration of life) 6/21/25

Opening:

On behalf of Karen and all the family, thank you for being here today to celebrate the life of Christopher Allen McCartny.

Prayer

Obituary reading (Matthew) - see attached

Song

Eulogy:

I did not have the opportunity to get to know Chris before he passed away, but after talking to family, previous co-workers and friends I feel I have gotten a sense of who he was.

He was a brother to Carrie and to Chase. Chase passed at 21, but when growing up the three of them were known as the “wild Indians.” I will tell more about that in a few minutes.

While Chris had always had some challenges to overcome from agoraphobia and other issues, it did not hinder him at all. When growing up he was a natural leader. He was very athletic and everyone wanted Chris on their team. Chris had some rough challenges growing up but his bond with his sister and brother helped hold them all together. Chris always thought of himself as the black-sheep of the family, but he was not, even if he though he was.

Carrie told a story about the “wild Indians,” loved to go on adventures in the underground tunnels where they would go and go, and go, then pop their heads up to see how far they had gotten and where they were. Well, this did land them in trouble a time or two, but it was a different time then than today and those adventures were more normal than today.

When they the “wild Indians,” would get in trouble they had their spots that they were put in, within the living room and told to stay put. Well, Chris one day had a laundry basket of socks next to him and lets say there were socks a plenty all around as well as laughs, until mom got home, but the punishment was worth the reward, the laughs they had in the sock fight.

Chris and Carrie would come to Iowa, to their grandparents farm for the summers and in his typical manner always looking for fun and an adventure wanted to get a baby pig and play with it, well the momma did not want them to have anything to do with it. Chris found a way to get the baby out, but then the baby got away in a corn field and Carrie and Chris were running trying to catch this baby. Momma Hog, well, she was not happen and she got out charging at them to get to her baby. I was told that no person nor animal were harmed in this adventure, but there was trouble to be found.

A summer game that Chris made up when he and Carrie were in Iowa was called “ditch it.” It was pretty simple, they were on a farm and would go riding their bikes on country roads and if they saw a car would yell “ditch it,” and would have to jump off bike, hide bike and self until the car passed and they were safe again. I heard a rumor that sometimes they yelled it when no car was coming, just to practice and to laugh.

Words that Carrie used to describe her brother were Adventurous, kind, gentle, he had a good heart, a natural leader, even with all his issues, people still wanted to be around him and wanted him to lead.

As a young person Chris got a job working for Sue at the donut shop, most of the people who were working there were young and had some rough backgrounds, but Sue invested in them to teach the trade of baking. Chris was very dedicated, he paid attention to details, including a new employee named Karen who was just out of high school. I will reserve more about them later. Sue could only speak highly of Chris for she knew everything he faced and yet he was an overcomer . She too expressed his natural leadership abilities.

Chris loved Elvis, Karen said a room in their house was like an Elvis shrine, not really a shrine, but I think you can get the point. So how about another Elvis song before we move on to LWK (life with Karen).

Song

Choices, life is full of choices, some may say there are godly appointments. Well Chris met Karen in 1981 when she came to training program at the Donut Shop just out of high school. She was taken back, breathless at his good looks and had an instant crush on him. While Karen self-admitted to having all sorts of issues back then, Chris always befriended her, talked with her, sat with her and convinced her to move in with him in 1983 much to the dismay of her parents. She dreamt of marrying him, but was not sure it was going to happen, yet it did in 1997 and they were married until his departure back in April. Now, as for the marriage proposal the understanding I have is that his mom was very ill, ready to pass and her desire was for him to be married and to see him married, so Chris asked, she said yes and they were married shortly thereafter.

Their marriage started off at Disneyland and the marriage could be described as an “E” Ticket ride, a roller coaster ride, but always side by side together through it all.

Karen struggled with not being able to give Chris children, but Chris did not, he stood by her side and their animals were their family. Chris was Karen’s “Tigger” for he was a ball of energy, hyperactive, could not sit still and always had music going, can you guess what artist? Right Elvis! He was Tigger, she was “cuddles” they loved to cuddle together through all the years.

The following story I can share for I am sure the statute of limitations has passed. There was a story when they were dating of Chris having a bad night with his step-father and had to get out of house. He got ahold of Karen and they went for a walk. They ended up at a baseball field in the dug out all night and carved initials, oh wait, Chris didn’t have a knife with him, so there was no defacing any property in this story, it was told only for dramatic purposes.

Chris loved to make her laugh, to make her smile, sometimes with embarrassing things, but only when it was the two of them. He would never do anything in public to embarrass her. Chris could have a temper, but learned to control it so not to take it out on Karen and for that she was grateful.

Anyone know the song, “little run away,” by Bon Jovi, well that was Karen. She would run away to Chris much to her parents Shi grin, one time there was something every embarrassing to Karen, her mom found her diary and ready all the details of their relationship. Chris did not make a big deal about it all. He wishes he could have been a fly on the wall when her mom confronted her about the diary entries and all the sorrid details in it.

When they lived in Alpine CA, one day they were walking down the street “singing do wa diddy diddy come diddy do,” no not really the singing part, but a group of guys came by and were making fun of Karen and Chris was not going to have any part of that and he stood up for Karen. She felt safe, secure and never had anyone stand up for her and protect her like Chris did. Chis love the underdogs, the disenfranchised people. He loved to help people and did that at the Donut Shop and then when moved to Fort Dodge at Life Works. He had a serious heart for rescuing kids from abusive homes since he had been through that, so hanging out and working at LifeWorks, where he met Rocky went hand in hand with his heart to help people.

Chris had a different outlook on life than many, he had a godly look at things without being religious. He was unjudgmental of people, he left all judgment to God.

Just one more story: Chris was a very nice person, almost unbelievable. He made Karen feel special all the time, alone or in public he always made her know and feel she was the only one for him. There was a night before they got married for in a small bedroom 15 of their friends crammed in this small space. Karen was feeling overwhelmed by it and wanted to be alone with her, so he turned off the music and kicked everyone out except Karen. That is how important she, his wife to be, his friend was to him and they were always best friends to one another.

When they moved to Fort Dodge from the great metropolis of Harcourt they got involved at LifeWorks, Rocky helped Chris get a job at Raspberry Patch bakery, but that did not work out to swift, the owner did not like how much knowledge and application Chris had.

The Message

If Chris were here today he would affirm what we can read in the bible there is a time and place for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:3–8) “3 A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up. 4 A time to weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance. 5 A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing. 6 A time to search and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep and a time to throw away. 7 A time to tear apart and a time to sew together; A time to be silent and a time to speak. 8 A time to love and a time to hate; A time for war and a time for peace.”

He would want you to be reminded of Romans 8:28 “28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

It may not feel good at the moment as you grieve his loss, but we can hold that promise that Chris holds dear now: (Revelation 21:4) “4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.””

God knows Chris’ heart his very being and without a doubt He would want you to get right with God, to get right with Jesus before it is too late.

This reminds me of another passage I would like to share John 14:1–6 “1 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. 4 “And you know the way where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

Just one more passage and we will draw this to a close

John 3:15–19 “15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.”

Do you need to respond to the gospel, please do not hesitate, see me after service and we can further discuss this.

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Prayer