Cathy Smith Funeral
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Cathy Ann Byrd Smith “Kaki”
Born: July 18, 1951
Passed: June 8, 2026
Celebration of Life Service: Thursday, June 11, 2026
Interment: Cremation
Husband: Randy Smith
Children: Jennifer (Travis) Nunn
Grandchildren: Ariel Nunn (Deceased), Haley (Thomas) Kent
Great Grandchildren: One on the way
Sisters: Julie Knighton and Kim Byrd
Order of Service:
Song - “Take Me to the King” - Tamela Mann (recording)
Welcome, Scripture and Prayer - Randy Darnell
Song - “Come As You Are” - Crowder (recording)
Eulogy - Randy Darnell
Remarks and Song - “Beulahland” - Dr. Don Long
Prayer - Randy Darnell
Eulogy:
Song - “Take Me to the King” - Tamela Mann (recording)
Welcome, Scripture and Prayer - Randy Darnell
Welcome to the memorial service for Mrs. Cathy Ann Byrd Smith.
I am sure that it would have made Cathy very happy to see each of you today.
And, as we all know, if she was here, she’d be walking the entire room speaking to every one of us.
It was very kind of you to take time out of your day today to pay your respects to Cathy and her family.
Your love and prayers certainly bring comfort to them in this very difficult moment.
Please continue to pray for Randy, Jennifer and the entire family in the days to come.
To me, one of the greatest gifts someone can leave behind when they are called home is a marked up Bible.
From the underlines and the notes, you can tell a lot about what went on in someone’s heart and mind.
Cathy left us that treasure - and she was pretty clear in one spot in particular.
Beside Psalm 121, Cathy wrote, “want to be read when I die.”
That’s pretty clear.
So, hear now the Word of the Lord that Cathy wanted to share with us - Psalm 121
A Song of Ascents.
I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God.
On Monday morning, at about 6:30, Cathy got to see these verses come true.
The Lord sent His angel to Cathy and to gathered home for this time and forevermore.
Let us pray:
Our dear Heavenly Father,
Ever since Adam and Eve sinned, our lives have been filled with hardship.
We get in such messes
Some things happen to us
And we happen to some things
And because of your unmerited grace, you have allowed us to call out to you for help.
It doesn’t matter if we are a small child
Or if we are an elderly lady afflicted with pancreatic cancer
It doesn’t matter
You welcome the cries of all of your children.
And you deliver us all.
Lord, thank you for keeping Cathy in your hand.
Father, this family is not a stranger to grief,
Please comfort them as you have comforted them before.
Once again show them your strength and mercy and grace.
Once again, wipe the tears from their eyes so they can see You more clearly.
And Lord, thank you for taking Cathy gently home.
That was a blessing.
We ask these things in Jesus’ name, our Savior and our Lord, Amen.
Song - “Come As You Are” - Crowder (recording)
It was a typical summertime Wednesday morning in Macon, Georgia.
You know it was hot and steamy - air conditioning was just coming into it’s own so not every place had air conditioning.
Shirley Byrd was in labor and at some point on Wednesday, June 18, 1951, she delivered her first child.
A baby girl that she and Dewitt named Cathy Ann.
Cathy had another verse she wanted us to read - it’s a “famous” verse if you will. Jeremiah 29:11 says:
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
That verse has been told to a million high school graduates by proud parents over the years.
When our children are born, we don’t have the slightest desire to see them suffer hardship, to live poor or have hard times
We want them to have a future and a hope.
What is interesting is this verse is written to people who had so forgotten the Lord that He allowed them to be taken captive by Babylon
And marched off to be exiled in a country hundreds and hundreds of miles away from home.
In that horrible situation, the Lord reminded his people, that He would never let them go.
He has “plans” for them.
I’m sure Shirley and Dewitt had plans for Cathy, plans for a future and a hope.
Holding that little baby in their arms, they dreamed the dreams of most every parent that has ever lived.
Cathy was raised off of Second Street in Macon, right down the street from Jimmy Waters
The eventual “Pastor of Macon” over at Mable White.
Over the course of the next ten years, Shirley and Dewitt would have four more children.
3 more girls and one brother.
Being the oldest, Cathy quickly became the second mom.
She helped look after the kids.
There was one time when they had moved to Beaumont Circle that one of the neighborhood kids had mistreated one of Cathy’s sisters.
Seems they often had rock battles, but this day - Cathy made sure that her rock flew straight and true.
Ain’t nobody gonna mess with her kin.
As hard as it might be for some of you to imagine, but Cathy was very talkative.
Like extremely talkative
Like never met a stranger she wouldn’t or couldn’t talk to.
Back in the day when the family went camping, while everyone was setting up camp, Cathy was out making the rounds.
Finding out who everyone was, where they were from
Before the campsite was completely ready, Cathy already knew everyone.
Now, we all knew that Cathy could talk too much - and sometimes said things that got her into trouble.
But God gave her the ability to never meet a stranger, and He had plans for that skill.
Did you know that Cathy went to Cosmetology school?
Can you imagine what her life would have been like if she could have opened her own hair salon like “Truvy” in Steel Magnolias?
I suspect with her creativity she would have been good at it except the Lord had other plans.
Turns out Cathy was allergic to the chemicals she had to use for perms and such.
So she moved on to other things.
I didn’t make a list - Jennifer said she did every job imaginable.
Working hard to keep her and Randy going in the early, very lean years.
Her ability to talk to strangers served her well during Randy’s career.
His job took them to England, Wales, Scotland
And Finland.
Randy was working 12 hour shifts in Finland, so Cathy would drop him off at work
Take the car and go sight seeing.
Randy said one day he asked Cathy what she had done that day and she said she, “Shared a coke with a friend.”
Seems Cathy sat at a table with a Finnish lady
Cathy, who could only speak English.
Sat at a table with Finnish lady
Who could only speak Finnish.
And somehow they figured out how to share a Coke
And I don’t doubt for a skinny minute that they both talked and laughed
And had not one single clue what the other one was saying.
If you needed evidence that Cathy could have a conversation with a fence post, well, here’s you sign.
So let’s talk about Cathy and Randy for a bit.
They were married for 53 years.
They took their vows seriously - till death do us part, they said
And they followed through.
You did a good job Randy.
You took care of her every need, right to the very end.
That was a Godly thing to do, brother.
They knew each other and dated for about 7 years before they got married.
And ya’ll, Randy was Tuesday years old - day before yesterday, when he found out Cathy had orchestrated the beginning of their relationship.
Seems Randy went to Lake Sinclair with a friend of his that was a relative of Cathy’s.
Cathy was there and was immediately smitten by Randy.
So the whole crew was going somewhere, and Cathy made sure that she would end up seated right beside Randy.
And she’s been there ever since.
And listen, these two elderly people that I have seen for the last 15 years or so - they weren’t always elderly.
Randy and Cathy made a very handsome couple.
They both had some adventure in their souls
They tell me Cathy was always up for any adventure at any time.
For instance, Randy had a 1971 Corvette - convertible no less.
She loved to drive that thing.
She took it out one day and pulled up beside an 18 wheeler.
She told Randy the truck revved up his motor
So she revved up hers
And when the light turned green, Cathy peeled off and left that truck “in a cloud of dust.”
Well, I suppose she did.
She loved convertibles.
If it was a convertible, the top was going to be down.
Summer, winter - no matter.
Jennifer remembers her mom taking her to school in the dead of winter in their MGB.
Heater blasting wide open
And the top down just as big as the sky.
Someone talked about the time Randy and Cathy were riding a motorcycle and it started to rain.
Someone said something to them about it, and Cathy simply replied, “Put on a rain coat,” and off they went.
Randy was the stability that Cathy’s eccentric needed.
She knew it and she loved Randy deeply.
Again, in her Bible she had written:
“My heart, my soul, my love, my life, my Randy
My reason to keep going.
My Randy - then she quoted this scripture: Ruth 1:16-17
“Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”
Cathy was a handful, but she was Randy’s handful and that brought a certainty to her life that she desperately needed.
And Cathy and Randy made an iconic ministry team.
See the Bible tells us in Ephesians 2:10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
I’m not sure Cathy ever really understood this deep down in her heart,
But “beforehand,” as the Apostle Paul puts it, before Cathy was ever born, there were certain good works given by God that Cathy was destined to do.
God created her - in Christ Jesus - for these works.
Works that would need creativity, works that would need compassion, works that would need someone who could talk to a post.
If you are a Christ follower - you need to remember that - it wasn’t just Cathy who had works lined up for her
It’s you too - can’t get out of it - God prepared them beforehand for you.
So, when Libbie Hardin died, I knew we were going to have trouble with our homebound ministry.
There was no one in the world as dedicated and committed to those folks as Ms. Libbie was.
I wondered how in the world we would replace her.
But I didn’t have to wonder for long.
Randy and Cathy took over the homebound ministry and where Libbie left off, they simply picked it up.
Yes, there was some drama involved - if Cathy was in it, there would be drama and way too many pictures on Facebook.
But putting that aside, I can’t express how much Randy and Cathy helped folks.
I can’t image what Mr. Bobby’s life would have been like had they not been there.
Going to a nursing home during covid - the lockdowns were so cruel and now we know so unnecessary.
Mr. Bobby whose whole life had been spent rambling around the United States driving an 18 wheeler
Ended up in Lynn Haven on lock down.
No one in - no one out.
And there was Cathy and Randy.
Sitting outside his window - getting a phone sent in to him so they could talk.
For hours upon hours.
Almost every day they were there - being a friend to a very lonely old man.
I’m certain, it helped him stay alive as long as he did.
And Ms. Margie.
Well into her 90’s, living alone most of the time, slowly but surely showing the mental affects of aging
I truly believe Ms. Margie would have died a tragic death had it not been for the care of Randy and Cathy.
More than once, in the middle of the night would call them up needing something.
And there they would go, rain or shine, taking care of her.
There is no telling how many blankets Cathy crocheted for the nursing home residents.
There is no telling how many gourds she painted and gave away to residents and staff.
They helped give those folks hope - again a God thing, right.
It had to be - helping those folks was helping Jesus.
Remember Matthew 25:40?
And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
I’m not sure Cathy realized exactly, that Jesus considered everything she did to one of those helpless old people
Something that she did for Him.
She knows now.
That’s good stuff.
So, let me encourage you to get together with each other and with Cathy’s family
And remember some good Cathy stories.
Ask Randy about the brand new 68 Camaro that she shifted into reverse instead of drive.
Ask Haley about broken toe walk on the beach
And Cathy’s intense love for animals
They were her favorite thing.
Randy said she would often set up her easel and sit outside and paint pictures of the birds coming to her bird feeder
Then she’d give the pictures away.
She adopted about every animal she could and a few she shouldn’t have.
Ask the family about Cathy’s intense desire to tell everyone how her family hung the earth, moon and stars.
Ask about her drinking fingernail polish remover instead of Dr. Pepper
Ask about how she called things by not normal names - Dr. Pepper Sugar Free she called Dr. Pepper Zero.
Ask about the Jeep ride home from Toys r’ Us in Macon with a 6 foot playground in the back of an open air Jeep
And the ticket they should have gotten when Cathy ran EVERY red light in downtown Gray.
Ask them about their bowling days - I had no clue they were that good.
And add your stories to it.
As Jimmy Durante said, (If you are young you have no clue who I’m talking about)
Jimmy Durante said, “I’ve got a million of them.”
We’ve got a million Cathy stories - at least.
I want us to finish up on a little different note - not sure how it will land, but let’s see.
Haley told me a story about the family playing a card game called Skip Bo
And Cathy got mad at them.
She didn’t quit playing - she just quit talking to them.
Haley even did some razz-ma-tazz with her phone to get Cathy to answer and make her talk.
But Cathy was too cagey and didn’t fall for the trap.
I don’t think it’s unfair to say, if you had a relationship with Cathy, she would get angry with you at some point.
And she’d quit talking.
It’s not a secret that she and I got sideways more than once.
She’d quit talking to me - then after some period of time - a cake would appear
And we’d talk again.
Sometimes Cathy’s talking caused her some trouble and sometimes it hurt people.
I guess to some extent we can all see that in us sometimes as well.
So I say this, not as an excuse - she was as responsible for what she said and did and each of us are
But I say this in the way of explanation.
Cathy and I talked several times - especially as her mother lay dying.
She told me stories of growing up
Of some pretty hard times
And pretty hard things that happened.
And as I listened, I started to understand something about Cathy.
Haley made the statement, “She did for others what she wanted for herself” and I don’t disagree.
What Cathy wanted more than anything, was to know she was loved
Or better still, that she was worthy to be loved.
A lot of what she did was driven by that hunger
And unfortunately, no one on this side of glory would help her with that.
When she was in the hospital, she told me, “I’m scared.”
I told her that was a perfectly acceptable response to what was happening to her.
Somewhere along the line, the Lord led me to understand something and I told her about it.
The Bible tells us to “fear not,” not to make us feel guilty about being afraid.
The Lord tells us in His Word to “fear not” because He KNOWS we will be afraid
And we need reassurance.
It’s not very compassionate to scold a scared child for being afraid
It’s very compassionate to show a scared child that as long as you are there, there is nothing to be afraid of.
Jennifer bought her Mom a Bible for her birthday in 2016 and on the inscription plate she wrote
“You are loved forever…” and then she printed a scripture reference.
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Lord didn’t tell us that so He could say never feel unloved.
He had it written down so when we felt unloved, which we all do sometimes, we could read it and remember that we are loved.
I want to add one more verse - one of my absolute favorites - Romans 8:29
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
I hope you remember that foreknew means that God chose to love us before the foundation of the world.
He chose to give us a hope and a future - to be conformed to the image of his Son
He chose to do that so that we might be a brother or sister of Jesus - the firstborn to new life.
Because of life - some really hard things in life - Cathy’s hurt mind simply could not comprehend the depth of Jesus’ love for her.
She knew Jesus loved her - but she just didn’t know how much.
In her Bible she had this clipped out from something - it’s a poem called “The Weaver”
My life is but a weaving
Between my Lord and me.
I cannot chose the colors
He worketh steadily
Oft time He weaveth sorrow.
And I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper
And I, the underside.
Not till the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly
Shall God unroll the canvas
And explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful
In the Weaver’s skillful Hand
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned.
Cathy has stood before Jesus to have her works judged by fire, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3.
Every worthless thing will be burned away.
But once those things are burned away
Jesus will reveal to Cathy the tapestry of her life
She will get to see the beauty of the things she did that gave glory to God.
Jesus will welcome her home
And for the first time in her entire existence, Cathy Ann Byrd Smith will know
Beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is worthy to be loved
Because Jesus Himself made her worthy.
I promise Jesus did that for Cathy.
If you will follow Jesus, He will love you that way too.
Dr. Don Long - Remarks
Dr. Don Long - Beaulahland
Closing Prayer - Randy Darnell
Let us pray:
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you Father, for the comfort we find through the Holy Spirit
As He speaks to us right now of Jesus.
Thank you for whispers of Jesus love to us
Thank you for assurance when we are afraid
Thank you for a tenacious love when we are so broken.
Lord, I thank you that I know you will comfort this family and all of Cathy’s friends
Not only with the best memories
But also with the unfailing assurance that our salvation isn’t resting on us
But is resting on you.
Thank you for your grace and mercy,
Thank you for Cathy and for the lives that she touched for your glory
And thank you for Jesus,
Our Savior, our Comforter and our Friend.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
