Leda Self Memorial Service

Memorial Service for Leda Faye Self

Prelude / Gathering Music

(Soft live piano music as guests arrive)

Welcome and Opening Remarks (Pastor Marc)

Good morning. My name is Marc Transparenti, I’m the Pastor of Calvary Chapel Lake City here in Warsaw. Friends and family, thank you for joining us today to celebrate the life of Leda Faye Self.

Would you join me in prayer to begin this memorial service.

Opening Prayer (Pastor Marc)

Our Loving Eternal Heavenly Father, as we meet this day to remember our dear loved one, Leda, we ask you to be to us the God of all comfort, and the God of all grace. Give us perspective as we face the reality of death, to grow in our perspective of the truths of life. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Today is a day of mixed emotions as our beloved Leda has gone home to be with the Lord. Leda placed her faith in Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior and because of her faith in Him and His finished work on the cross… we therefore hold to the Christian hope that she has joined Him in heaven.

As Paul wrote in 2 Cor 5:8 “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”

Scripture Reading (Linda Hoover)

Psalm 23

I’d now like to ask Linda Hoover to come up and read from Psalm 23.

A Psalm of David.

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

2     He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters.

3     He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness

For His name’s sake.

4     Yea, 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 runs over.

6     Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord

Forever.

Congregational Hymn

Pastor Marc- Please join us in singing Leda’s favorite Hymn: “The Old Rugged Cross”

Led by Amanda Transparenti

Life Sketch (Pastor Marc)

A little over a week ago, I had the privilege to meet with Linda, Barry and Chris and they shared so many sweet memories of Leda which helped me to put together a sweet sketch to celebrate the life of Leda Faye Self. She was a beloved mother, sister, aunt, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend.

Leda Self surname “Murray” (an Irish, Dutch, and Welsh background) was born on August 13, 1935, in Oklahoma, and entered the presence of her Savior on July 28, 2026; 16 days prior to her 91st birthday.

She married Hallie “Junior” Selfon July 10, 1952, when Leda was 16 years old. Together they built a life centered primarily on loving their family, and instilling in their three children (Linda, Shirley and Barry) good moral values such as honesty, family connection, spiritual seeds, and commitment. They were married for almost 65 years, before his passing in 2017 at age 88, which was one of the greatest struggles in Leda’s life.

Leda grew up very poor. Her family worked as sharecroppers and their home had no electricity or running water. She was tasked as a little girl with getting the eggs, but she was afraid of the chickens! But from this hard upbringing certain values were instilled in her…  like work ethic, strength, and perseverance.

Leda was one of five siblings, her being the fourth and youngest girl. And over the years, Leda kept contact with her siblings, and kept her children informed of how their extended family was doing. Her brother Jack Murray presently resides in California but could not make it here today due to his own health issues. Though he was informed of his sister’s passing.

After Oklahoma, Junior and Leda moved to California largely in part because of the Dust Bowl that hit Oklahoma for a decade between 1930 to 1940. The Dust Bowl was a hard time when droughts and dust storms removed the rich topsoil and decimated farming in the Great Plains.

Upon moving to a few towns in California, like Redondo Beach and Lawndale, they settled in Norwalk… all just south of LA. California would become where Junior and Leda raised their family. Junior worked second shift and Leda was a homemaker, so many of the responsibilities of caring for and raising the children fell on Leda. Linda and Barry agreed that mom was the matriarch of the family AND the boss.

She wasn’t shy to speak her mind… she was direct. Even in her final days, she didn’t hesitate to tell family, “It’s time to go home.” Or to tele-marketers, she would say, “Don’t call here again!” Amen to that!

Those who knew Leda best describe her as strong, feisty and stubborn, but ALSO unconditionally loving, caring and understanding. She did not run from problems but faced them with determination and courage. She was fighter… in health, or problems in life… She faced them head on without giving up. And her strength… it became a source of stability and encouragement to those around her.

And she deeply loved her family. It was her family she was most proud of.

She passed many values along to her family… honesty was paramount. She modeled a balance of truth and love. She encouraged those she cared for to do your best, but there was also freedom to make mistakes.

Even to the next generation, she continued to pour into them. For her grandson Chris, he said she was more like a mom than a grandma to him. She loved him unconditionally through hard times and was always there for him. She even taught him how to sew and cooked for him… and Chris loved her cooking.  

I also learned that Leda loved flowers and had huge rose and petunia gardens. Her and Junior also took the family camping and fishing often… at places like Lake Isabella, Bass Lake, Salt & Sea and Tom’s Place. They had great Christmas and Thanksgiving celebrations, and very much valued family dinners. Her famous call to come and eat was “Y’all come on.”

Linda also shared that almost never a day went by where her and her mom didn’t talk on the phone… just talking about anything… flowers, life, how the family was doing. They were very close… only about 18 years apart… yes mom and daughter, but more like sisters.

Leda was also fun to watch sports with… be it basketball, football or baseball, but basketball was her favorite… especially watching the Kansas Jayhawks since her nephew Bill Self has been the coach since 2003 and won two national titles amongst many other accomplishments. I attempted to connect with Bill to see if he had a couple words to share, but found out through his assistant he is out with a knee replacement surgery. I did pass along the message that she was proud of him, rooted for him, and that she has departed this life.

But, as mentioned earlier, Leda was a woman of faith. She was sometimes private about her faith, and attended church on and off, but her roots of faith go back to her childhood. Even in the past several weeks she confirmed to Linda that she believes in Jesus Christ who is her Savior.

Linda remembers Leda telling her she was praying for Linda, especially with Dwayne’s passing. And Leda shared with her Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

That was probably one of Leda’s favorite verses as Leda struggled herself with worrying and had to work at not worrying. But she could anchor herself in Scripture and faith in Jesus Christ to carry her through.

I’m sure we could reflect on many other moments to honor Leda as she has exited this life and gone home to be with the Lord, and the family and I would like to extend to you an opportunity to do so.

In a moment I’m going to read a tribute to Leda by her son Barry. After that, if you would like to share a memory or an encouraging word, feel free to come up to the mic…

For those of you who do NOT like public speaking… but would like to share a word… there are note cards for you to jot down a few thoughts, and I would be happy to read for you.

Family Tributes or Memories

Tribute from Barry Self (read by Pastor Marc)

“My best memories of my mother was that she always took such good care of her children as we were growing up. She gave us unconditional love. She made sure that we always had food and clothing and had family meals every night. She was a protective mother but not overly protective.

I remember when I was 17 and the surf in Huntington Beach hit 20-foot waves and I went to surf them. There were numerous warnings on the news of the dangerous surf, and 2 people had already drowned. When I left, she told me to be careful and not to take any risks. I surfed that day and only caught 5 waves, all 20 footers. I was scared on every wave. I did not wipe out that day and decided to quit while I was ahead.

When I got home, she asked me how I did surfing those big waves and she wanted to hear everything about it. When I told her about my fear and the pure adrenal rush I got, she said that she understood that I needed to challenge myself because at 17 years old I was already a really good surfer. But she knew I was still just a dumb kid. But she never tried to stop me from going.

Other fond memories were from camping at Salton Sea in the desert in Southern California.

The last 10 years or so of her life she really enjoyed reading books with me. I bought her a Kindle and at first, she was intimidated by it as she always read hardback books from the library. She read the same books as me, so we always had something to talk about. Interestingly enough, she enjoyed books with homicide detectives as the main characters; all were best sellers. But what surprised me most is that she really enjoyed reading about knights in medieval times and we both read about two dozen books of that genre.

Lastly, she stood by me throughout my whole life unconditionally and showed her love for me every time I talked to her. She always called me ‘son’ in an endearing tone of voice that I will never forget. I will miss her dearly.”

Invitation to share memories of Leda at the mic.

Gospel Message (Pastor Marc)

Before we close this service, especially since Leda was a believer in Jesus Christ, I would like to take a moment and share how you can know for sure that you’re going to heaven.

The Bible contains both bad news and good news. The bad news is about you and I. The good news is about God.

The bad news is that we are all sinners. Romans 3:23 states, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Sin is an archery term and it means “to miss the mark.” None of us always hit the bullseye… in our thoughts, words and deeds… we miss the mark of God’s standard of perfection.And Romans 6:23 declares, “For the wages of sin is death…” The wage, or the earnings of sin, is death… pointing to eternal separation from God forever, but God knew this, and that brings us to the good news…

Christ died for you. Romans 5:8 declares “But God demonstrates His own love towards us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Sin is like a cancer that Jesus Christ took from our body, and put in His body… so we could live, and He died in our place. He took the penalty that we deserved for sin, death, and placed it upon Himself and died in our place. Three days later Christ came back to life to prove that sin and death had been conquered and that His claims to be God were true.

And you can be saved through faith in Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9 promises, “For by grace (or undeserved favor) you have been saved (or delivered from sin’s penalty) through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Faith means trust, and what you must trust Christ for is to forgive you and give you eternal life. Many of you came in here today and sat down in a chair and trusted it would hold you with no effort of your own. Likewise you must trust Jesus Christ to get you to heaven through no effort of your own.

Admittance to heaven is not because of being a good person, helping the poor, going to church, or not doing bad things. You must trust in Jesus Christ alone and God will give you eternal life as a gift. John 3:16 declares, "Whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

Leda has eternal life because of her faith in Jesus Christ. If you want to receive the free gift of salvation and trust in Jesus Christ, I’m going to give you a chance to pray and trust in Him today. And I imagine Leda up in heaven right now saying, “Y’all come on.” As much as she loved her family, I’m confident it would bring her and heaven great joy for you to believe in Jesus Christ.

And if you want to trust in Jesus now, simply just raise your hand as a simple sign of your belief.

And if you raised your hand, or if you wanted to but were too shy… pray this prayer now… even silently to let God know of your decision.

Dear God, I know I am a sinner. I know my sins deserve to be punished.

I believe Jesus died for me and rose from the grave.

I trust Jesus Christ alone as my Savior.

Thank you for forgiveness and the everlasting life I now have. Amen.

Scripture of Hope (read by Chris?)

1 Corinthians 13:13

“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

Closing Prayer (Pastor Marc)

Our Father in Heaven, in as much as you, in your sovereign love, have seen fit to allow our friend and loved one Leda to leave this earth and this life, we express our thanks for the privilege of knowing her.

We thank you for the way she impacted many lives, and for your grace through difficult times. We are grateful for your love and for sending us the Good Shepherd Jesus Christ. You have prepared a place for all who trust you,

You who alone are worthy of our faith… to you we turn for continued strength, continued comfort, continued perspective, continued purpose.

Please lead us into a deeper, more personal walk with You. We pray this In Christ our Lord, Amen

Closing Hymn

“Amazing Grace” led by Amanda Transparenti

Benediction (Pastor Marc)

Numbers 6:24-26 “May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.”

Dismissal

Graveside Service

Opening

“We have come together today to commit these remains of our sister and brother to their resting place, while remembering the hope we have through faith in Jesus Christ. Though we grieve, we do not grieve as those who have no hope, for Christ has conquered death.” At the gravesite of Lazarus, Jesus said in John 11:25–26 “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”

Words of Committal “In the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, we now commit these earthly remains of our sister to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, looking for the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body.”

Prayer

“Our gracious Father, we thank You for the life of Your servants and for every evidence of Your grace in their lives. Comfort this family in their sorrow. Remind them that because Christ died and rose again, death is not the end for those who belong to Him. Strengthen them in the days ahead, surround them with Your peace, and help them to look forward with hope to the day when You will make all things new. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Benediction

“Today we lay this body to rest, but God’s Word reminds us that this grave is not the end. Jesus said, ‘Because I live, you also will live.’ Our confidence is not in our goodness but in the finished work of Christ. For everyone who has placed their trust in Him, death is a doorway into His presence, and one day this body will be raised incorruptible. Until that day, may we live with our eyes fixed on Christ, ready for His return. Thank you for gathering with us today. May the Lord comfort you and bless you all of your days.